Located in North Garden, on a farm southeast of Charlottesville. The winery, originally founded by Jerry Bias, has been closed and renamed, but since July 2016 has been open in the hands of new owners Jason and Laura Lavallee. Jason has a background in finance and media, and now operates as the winemaker, while Laura operates the Tasting Room and manages administration. A large 100+ acre estate but a cozy winery with small batch focus on wines.
Wine. One of the Top 25 wineries in Virginia. The Wisdom Oak 2019 vintage “Nineteen,” a Bordeaux-style red blend, was named “best in show” at the 2022 Monticello Cup, an impressive result given the number of high power wineries present at the competition. The same wine also was named part of the “Governor’s Cup,” the top 12 wines in the state, in 2022. The Wisdom Oak 2019 vintage Chambourcin was awarded a gold medal at the 2023 Virginia Governor’s Cup state-wide wine competition, while their Petit Manseng received a silver medal at the event. Their 2019 Petit Verdot was awarded a silver medal at the 2022 Governor’s Cup, and a bronze medal at the Atlantic Seaboard Wineries Association 2022 wine competition. Red wines also include Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, along with several blends, while white wines also include Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Rosewood, a blend. There are 19 acres of vines in two close-by locations; grapes include the only Virginia planting of the unusual Teroldego grape, a red wine grape grown mainly in northeastern Italy from the Syrah family.
Setting. A small tasting room with plenty of outdoor space for warmer days. Good views of the vineyards and surrounding hills. A key feature of Wisdom Oak is the long unpaved dirt road into the property – beautiful views but not great after a rain. The owners are generally doing the service and are very friendly. Shelby, Franc, Abbey and Bailey – all rescue dogs – are part of the hospitality committee. Cheese and crackers are available
Stories. The Monticello Wine company. While many know the winemaking tales of Thomas Jefferson and the 1970s pioneers of Virginia’s wine rebirth, few know about what came in between: Virginia’s first large-scale commercial winery, a behemoth compared to the wineries of 21st-century Virginia. The Monticello Wine Company was the brainchild of Oscar Reierson, who founded it in 1873 with several other German grape growers. Adolph Russow, a 21-year old immigrant also from Germany, established Bellevue Vineyards at Proffit in 1872, and then became Reierson’s first cellar supervisor. The Monticello Wine Company was established as a cooperative, and many of Charlottesville’s leading citizens joined the wine-making bandwagon by buying stock in the company. The company’s stated objective of producing “healthful, low-alcohol table wines,” aligned with the dream of Charlottesville famous son Thomas Jefferson, the creation of an affordable table wine that would lead to temperate drinking habits. The winery bought the mainly native varietal grapes produced by Albemarle County farmers: Catawba, Delaware, and especially Norton. In its first year, the Monticello Wine Company staged a major public-relations coup, taking a bottle of Norton, labelled “Virginia Claret Wine,” to the 1873 Vienna Exposition, where it won an award that set the company’s advertising for life. There was nothing small in the vision of Reierson and the other founders: the cellar they created could process up to 200,000 gallons of wine, and made the Monticello Wine Company for a time the largest winery in the south (until the arrival of Garret & Co on the scene). The winery was in the middle of what are now Perry Drive and McIntire Road, where a historical marker stands today to commemorate the company. Business began to get choppy in the winery’s second decade. In 1887 the Black Rot arrived and decimated Virginia’s vineyards. The Monticello Wine Company was forced to buy grapes from outside of Virginia, and supply became a major ongoing issue. Then in 1916, Virginia adopted Prohibition, and that was all she wrote for the Monticello Wine Company.
Until 2013, that is. That year two Charlottesville-area brothers, Luke and Michael MacFarlan, officially reestablished the company. Like the original Monticello Wine Company, the plan is to have a winery without a vineyard, and buy area grapes. Michael is the winemaker at nearby Glass House Winery, and the starting concept is to have Glass House sell the wine under the historic name. Keep an eye out.