Rockbridge Vineyard
Rockbridge Vineyard is located in Raphine, Rockbridge County, just north of Lexington in the Shenandoah Valley. Shepherd Rouse, along with his wife Jane Millott-Rouse, are the owners of Rockbridge Vineyard. Shep, who is also the winemaker, hails from 17th century Virginia roots and attended Washington & Lee University in Lexington. Having been bitten by the wine bug early on in Europe, Shep obtained a Master’s Degree in Enology from the University of California at Davis, the first and foremost of wine-making and grape-growing programs in the US. In 1988 the Rouses bought the property which became Rockbridge Vineyard.
Wine. One of the Top 100 wineries in Virginia. The star of Rockbridge’s wine collection is their Val d’Oro dessert wine, which regularly gets accolades at tastings, year after year. The 2018 vintage Val d’Oro was voted part of the “Governor’s Case,” the top 12 wines in Virginia as judged at the 2022 Virginia Governor’s Cup state-wide wine competition, and the 2017 vintage was similarly voted one of the top 12 wines in the state at the 2020 Governor’s Cup. The latest Val d’Oro was awarded a gold medal at the 2023 Governor’s Cup. The winery’s 2018 DeChiel Chardonnay also was awarded a gold medal at the Virginia Governor’s Cup in 2021, and their 2017 vintage Meritage won a gold medal at the 2022 Governor’s Cup. Five other Rockbridge wines were awarded silver medals at the 2023 Governor’s Cup: the 2017 De Chiel Cabernet Franc, 2018 DeChiel Meritage, 2021 Traminette, Tuscarora White and DeChiel White wines, while the 2016 DeChiel Merlot was given a bronze medal. The Val d’Oro, Reserve Chardonnay, and Meritage were given silver medals at the 2022 Finger Lakes Wine Competition. Their 2016 Pinot Noir Reserve, 2018 Riesling, and 2019 Reserve Viognier came away with bronze medals at the event. The wide range of wines includes Norton, Riesling, Syrah, Pinot Noir, and sparkling Blanc des Blancs. This is a mid-size to large producer by Virginia standards, with just under 10,000 cases a year produced.
Setting. Two stars. Beautiful setting at 2,000 feet, with a bucolic farm, a pond, the vines, and views of the Allegheny Mountains to the West and the Blue Ridge to the East. A patio with swings and a picnic area create good space on sunny days. Tastings are well-priced at $5 as of 2020. There is also a brewery on site at Rockbridge.
Stories. Cyrus McCormick changes farming forever. Before the 1830s, a farmer at harvest time could harvest an average of half an acre per day, and farm families would spend their entire days in the fields collecting crops by hand. Then along came Cyrus McCormick. McCormick, living on his father’s farm in Rockbridge County, Walnut Grove — in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, developed something completely different – the mechanical reaper. The 1830s were the early days of the industrial revolution that would change so many parts of American life and work dramatically, and forever. McCormick’s reaper allowed farmers, literally overnight, to be able to harvest 25 times more than they had been able to do by hand. A farm family could now manage far larger land areas than had been the case during the colonial and early post-independence period. Cyrus reportedly designed, built and tested his reaper all in a six week period in 1834, though it appears he was working from earlier designs drafted by his father and brother. After his father’s death in 1847, Cyrus moved his budding empire from Virginia to Chicago, to take advantage of Midwestern growth and the fertile soils just beginning to be developed. By 1900 the reaper had been improved into the first combine harvesters, and Cyrus H. McCormick and Brothers merged with competitors to form the International Harvester Company. And it all began just two miles from Rockbridge Vineyards. Today Cyrus McCormick’s Walnut Grove farm is an open-air museum, with free admission. Eight of the nine original farm buildings still stand. The museum is run by the Virginia Tech Agricultural Experimental Station.