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As you drive slowly up the steep entrance way—framed by vineyards—one is struck by the wall of glass windows at Delaplane Cellars.<\/p>\nStylish tasting room pouring velvetly wines<\/b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
As you drive slowly up the steep entrance way—framed by vineyards—one is struck by the wall of glass windows at Delaplane Cellars.<\/p>\n
Upon entering the sleek and tastefully decorated tasting room, a stunning artist-like mural of the Virginia countryside unfolds with waves of rolling hills stretching to the western horizon.<\/p>\n
And you haven\u2019t even tasted the wines yet. This is going to be fun.<\/p>\n
Such are the impressions when visiting one of Virginia\u2019s most respected wineries.\u00a0Owners Jim and Betsy Dolphin opened their winery just five years ago, but accolades on what they\u2019ve achieved are heard whenever quality Old Dominion wine is discussed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to be first class. We want to be at the \u2018top of the mountain\u2019\u2026right up there with the big dogs,\u201d says Jim Dolphin smiling. Whoof. Whoof. Goal achieved.<\/p>\n
Passion is an overused word in the Virginia wine business but no term better describes what the Dolphins have brought to bear in creating their vision.<\/p>\n
Jim Dolphin spent the better part of his career working for a real estate investment trust. When he joined the embryonic company in 1979, it had three employees. When he left nineteen years later, he was chief financial officer and the company had grown to 3,200 employees.<\/p>\n
Betsy Dolphin was a portfolio manager at the same firm managing 12,000 apartment units. This couple knows from success.<\/p>\n
Love of wine<\/strong> \u201cBy the time I opened the winery in 2009, I had a 1,500 bottle wine cellar. I know what good wine is and I don\u2019t want to waste my time making plonk.\u201d<\/p>\n So how did a man who carried one of the sharpest pencils in the financial trade become a vintner and winery proprietor? Enter passion, stage right.<\/p>\n After years of enjoying wine he asked himself \u201cHow’s this stuff made?\u201d The question drew him to Jim Law, owner of Linden Vineyards. Law has a reputation for making some of the best wine on the East Coast. Several of the budding vintners who studied under him later went on to open their own wineries.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know anything about making wine. I took every winemaking and viticulture seminar Jim gave. Twice. In 2005, he let me help out with his harvest. I couldn\u2019t get enough of it,\u201d says Dolphin, while he continued to refine his home winemaking skills.<\/p>\n \u201cI also enrolled in a UC Davis online winemaking course and began meeting many of the leading figures in Virginia wine.\u201d The university has the most prestigious wine curriculum in the US and its graduates include some of the biggest names in American wine.<\/p>\n At the height of his home winemaking ventures, Dolphin had as many as 28 different wines in various stages of aging in the basement of his Maryland home. It became obvious turning professional was the next step and he launched his search for ideal winegrowing land, which is often steep and rocky to stress the vines and produced the highest quality fruit.<\/p>\n \u201cIn 2005, I started looking for land. I looked at more than a 100 properties finally settling on a 32-acre site in the northwestern part of Fauquier County, off Route 17. \u201cI wished I had brought three times that amount of land so I could have put in more vineyards. I\u2019m looking for more acreage now.\u201d<\/p>\n In June 2009, he started construction on the winery and opened in November of that year; total investment in land and faculties ran to $2.5 million. He lives in a home nestled next to the winery and says, \u201cI have a 150 yard commute.\u201d<\/p>\n The wines<\/strong> Dolphin\u2019s red wines are often blends that typically emphasize a single vineyard where the grapes were sourced from. The emphasis on the French concept of terroir—the somewhereness of where the fruit is grown—dominates his offerings with names such as, \u201cSpring Lot\u201d and \u201cWilliams Gap\u201d, referring to the name of the vineyards producing the grapes.<\/p>\n In reflecting on the state of Virginia wine, Dolphin says, \u201cA lot of people in the business have no business in the business. But that\u2019s not news to anybody.<\/p>\n \u201cSome people have gotten into the business who realize pretty quickly \u2018This is not the romance I thought it was.\u2019 There are twenty or so wineries that are always seeking to improve and get better and wines from those places will continue to get better and better.\u201d<\/p>\n For those interested in tasting one of those producers\u2019 efforts, a visit to Delaplane Cellars will enlighten.<\/p>\n
\nAs a young college student, Jim Dolphin fell in love with wine, especially Bordeaux from the Medoc region. \u201cA fellow college student got me interested in quality French wine. Back then it cost four dollars a bottle,\u201d he recalls fondly.<\/p>\n
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Given the influence of French wines on his palate, it comes as no surprise his focus is on reds, although his white lineup is impressive, including a medium bodied, lightly oaked Chardonnay.<\/p>\n