Stanburn Winery became a reality with the 2009 harvest. The idea began as a small, side-operation after Nelson and David took a few winemaking classes at Patrick Henry and Surry Community Colleges. The winery only bottled 73 cases of wine in 2010 from that first year focusing on their three varietals at the time Chardonnay, Traminette, and Cabernet Franc. And they worried they would never sell all of that wine! The 2009 and 2010 harvests were taken to Charlottesville and the wine was made by Michael Shaps at Virginia Wineworks. This allowed the winery to get a product on the market while making plans to expand and become a full-fledged winery. The winery opened in November 2010 and the following spring sold out of their wines. In 2011, they bottled 265 cases of wine with six options for customers adding Meadow Breeze, Bull’s Blush, and Chambourcin.
Starting with our 2011 harvest, all of the wine was fermented, aged, and bottled at the winery in Patrick County with Jocelyn Kuzelka becoming the winemaker. In 2012, 659 cases were bottled and also added two new wines, sweet red wine called Poorhouse and a red blend called Big A Red. The 2013 bottling brought 850 cases and added Highfly to the lineup. In 2014, 980 cases were bottled and two new wines from Vidal Blanc and our newest varietal of Barbera. In 2015, 1300 cases of wine were bottled, staying at 11 wines being offered.
The winery name comes from both sides of the family, Stanley and Burnette. The family is a combination of these, so the name should be as well. They are excited about this new venture and ecstatic with the responses received from the wine.
Read more about the entire operation:
Vineyard | Winery | The Family | The Winemaker | Visiting the Winery
