“Located” on the Sweet Briar College campus in Sweet Briar, Amherst County. This is a unique player in Virginia’s wine industry, owned by an academic institution, Sweet Briar College. Sweet Briar’s wines are produced from grapes grown in 17 acres of vineyard in two locations on the College’s campus, and in collaboration with Michael Shaps wineworks in Charlottesville.
Wine. Tier II. For the first time in 2025, the College Farm entered wines in the annual state-wide Virginia Governor’s Cup competition. The winery’s rosé, “Earned the Rosé” (a reference to the college motto) was awarded a gold medal, while their 2023 vintage Chardonnay and Merlot both received silver medals. Sweet Briar Farm’s vineyards, started in 2019, include merlot, chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, and cabernet franc grapes. The gold medal wine, Earned the Rosé, was made from merlot grapes from Sweet Briar’s vineyard. Sweet Briar College Farm entered two other wines in the Governor’s Cup competition, the 2023 Leading the Way Chardonnay and 2023 Meadow Merlot; both earned silver medals, also significant achievements.
Setting. This unusual vineyard/ winery does not include a tasting room. One can stroll through the beautiful college grounds, and buy bottles of the College Farm’s wines at the Wailes Wine Shop on campus.
Stories. Wine and Academia. There are a tiny handful of American colleges known for their contributions to viticulture, of which the most famous is the University of California at Davis. UC Davis and its fellows have played important roles in technical and agricultural training, supporting the development of the vineyards and wineries in California and elsewhere. Virginia, thanks to Sweet Briar College, has now gone beyond these precedents into a whole new frontier: a college that produces its own wine. Sweet Briar opened its doors as an all-female college in 1906. Its campus is known for its Georgian Revival architecture and picturesque setting in the hills of Southern Virginia. The school went through a difficult period in recent decades, nearly closing in 2015 until it was rescued, largely by alumni donations. Since then Sweet Briar has refocused on some key areas, including agriculture. U.S.World News & Report has recognized Sweet Briar College three times in five years as one of the country’s most innovative schools, partly because of its focus on diversifying its programs and stewardship of its natural and agricultural resources. These resources include a honey-producing apiary and a 26,000 foot greenhouse. Alumni Cornelia Matson ’58, who with her husband had owned and operated a winery in the Dordogne region of France, provided the funding to develop Sweet Briar’s vineyards. In 2019, Sweet Briar planted rootstock for chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc varietals, which were identified as most appropriate for the college’s microclimate. The business was originally established in response to demand from Virginia wineries for a larger supply of Virginia-grown grapes. After two years of Sweet Briar selling its entire grape harvest to Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards, the college joined hands with Virginia’s #1 winemaker, Michael Shaps, and launched into producing wines with its own label. Vineyard management is by the students, under the guidance of a professor. Depending on the day, you’ll find students clad in their beekeeping veils harvesting honey, with dirt under their fingernails from planting in their greenhouse plots, or walking back from the vineyard after educational sessions with leaders in the Virginia wine industry.