Delaplane Cellars
Located on Lost Mountain, in the township of Delaplane in Fauquier County, between I-66 and US Route 50. Winemaker Jim Dolphin was making wines at home for a decade before purchasing this winery in 2007. Aside from the basic walk-in wine tasting (with two options), Delaplane also offers tasting of their higher-end wines by reservation (for $40 and at limited times). The winery was sold in September 2019 for $5m to Arlingtonians Daniel and Katie Gomez, who have retained winemaker Rick Tagg. It is now one of a few minority-owned wineries in the state, with the Gomezes being Hispanic and their partners African-American.
Wine: Among the Top 40 wineries in Virginia, and among the Top 10 wineries in Northern Virginia. The Delaplane 2020 Petit Manseng was awarded a gold medal at the 2022 Virginia Governor’s Cup state-wide wine tasting competition; their Tannat was awarded a gold medal at the 2021 Governor’s Cup, and their Williams Gap the same at the 2020 Governor’s Cup (along with being named one of the 12 best wines in Virginia that year). Six Delaplane wines received silver medals at the 2022 event: their 2020 Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay Reserve, and the 2019 vintage Adjacency, Rusticity, Piedmont Station (all three red wine blends) and Tannat.
Setting: Two stars. Delaplane is a beautiful place. The Cellars’ wraparound balcony offers excellent views over the vines, the valley of Crooked Run and the ridge of the Shenandoah Mountains. The winery faces west, so sunset is an especially beautiful time to be tasting. Sky Meadows State Park – a great place for short hikes — is across the road, and the Appalachian Trail cuts across the top of the Park. It’s also a great place to try multiple wineries in a small area, as the Delaplane zip code claims to have more wineries than any single zip code in America! Generally locally-sourced farm-to-table light food selections available with the tastings. No kids and no groups here.
Stories: Infrastructure gets militarized. On July 19, 1861 Stonewall Jackson’s brigade of General Joseph E. Johnston’s corps marched to this station from Winchester. They crowded into freight and cattle cars and travelled to the 1st Battle of Manassas. This marked the first time a railroad had been used to move troops into battle. The use of a railroad to carry more than ten thousand troops to the Manassas battlefield gave striking demonstration of the arrival of a new era in military transport and contributed significantly to the Confederate victory there.