Gauthier Vineyard
- Located in Barhamsville, New Kent County, east of Richmond and between the York River and Interstate 64. Part of the Colonial Virginia Wine Trail. Gauthier is a combination winery, vineyard, working farm and equestrian center. Purchased in 2010 by Mo and Sandi Gauthier, both retired Navy Captains. Small production of about 2,000 cases a year.
- Wine. Tier II. Given the relatively recent planting of the vines, many of the grapes are brought to the winery from the Shenandoah Valley. The Norton and Viognier were from the first estate plantings in 2011. There are two fortified wines well-named for the area’s military history: a “Lafayette’s Reserve” and a “Rochambeau’s Starboard”.
- Setting. Low key compared to many of the wineries immediately around Washington. Nice view of the pond from the winery’s patio and wraparound porch. The tasting room uses solar power.
- Stories. One star. The Revolutionary War – France delivered more than Wine. Appropriately near to this ex-military owned vineyard is a path used in the critical Virginia phase of the Revolutionary War – the 1781 Siege of Yorktown and the Surrender there of British General Lord Cornwallis to combined revolutionary and French forces. Cornwallis’ army passed through New Kent on June 22, 1781, moving eastward toward Yorktown. Three days later, Lafayette and his 1,200 troops passed through in pursuit, to bottle the British forces up near the end of the peninsula. In September, General Washington, commanding the Revolutionary Army, and General Rochambeau, commanding the 4,000 strong French expeditionary force sent to aid the colonists, passed through here on their way to begin the siege. Joined by General de Grasse’s French naval forces, Washington and Rochambeau forced the surrender of the British on October 19, 1781. It was the last major land battle of the war. Lafayette and Rochambeau’s countrymen today help deliver winemaking skills to a number of Virginians; back then they helped turn the entire colony into a state. As a bonus, you can have the fun, after a couple of glasses at Gauthier, of trying to pronounce the General’s full name: Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau.