Virginia's Most Prominent Winery Sold
Barboursville to change ownership but maintain continuity
The worst-kept secret of Virginia wine is now official: Barboursville Vineyards, arguably the state’s most important commercial winery and the one responsible for launching the current era of wine in the Old Dominion half a century ago, has been sold.
The announcement came Tuesday in a news release (dated March 2) from the winery and Luca Paschina, the general manager and head winemaker at Barboursville, about 20 miles northeast of Charlottesville. Paschina will stay on as president and chief executive officer “when a new investor group assumes ownership this month,” the release said.
The official statement didn’t mention other employees at Barboursville. Winemaker Daniele Tessaro and vineyard manager Fernando Franco both told me they will continue in their current roles.
The sale price was not disclosed, as is typical when non-publicly traded companies are sold. Somewhat atypically, the identity of the investor group taking ownership was also not disclosed.
Rumors of a sale began years ago and reached fever pitch last summer, with rampant speculation about who might be the purchaser. Paschina wouldn’t say who the ownership group is or whether he himself is part of that group. He did tell me the investors are American and not currently involved in the wine industry.
In the news release, Paschina is quoted as saying, “Our investor group, with no other wine industry interests, fully supports Barboursville’s mission to craft world class wines and provide outstanding hospitality, while preserving the grounds of the historic vineyard estate and elevating the prestige of Virginia wines nationally and internationally.”
Barboursville was founded in April 1976 by Gianni Zonin, a leading wine producer in Italy, on the former estate of John Barbour, a governor of Virginia and friend of Thomas Jefferson. The estate, which includes the ruins of the house Jefferson designed for Barbour, now has 170 acres under vine, with 650 more acres of forests, meadows and wetlands. Barboursville produces an average of 37,000 cases of wines each vintage. The estate includes a small inn and an outstanding restaurant called Palladio, named for the Italian Renaissance architect who inspired Jefferson’s designs for Monticello and the Barbour mansion. When Paschina created a flagship red blend in 1998, he called it Octagon, for the shape Jefferson used in designing both mansions. The only way Barboursville could be more seamlessly intertwined with the mythology of Jefferson as “the nation’s first oenophile” would be if it were located at Monticello itself.
Much of Barboursville’s growth and success came under Paschina, a 3rd-generation winemaker from Piemonte who was hired by Zonin to take over the winery after the 1990 harvest. In the past 35 years, Paschina, now 65, built Barboursville into a pre-eminent destination in Virginia’s wine country, with his keen knack for hospitality and savvy marketing. He hired Franco in 1997 to maintain the vineyards and Tessaro in 2008 to help with the winemaking.
And the wines have been outstanding. Barboursville under Paschina has won the Virginia Governor’s Cup competition several times, most recently last year for the 2023 Vermentino. Decanter magazine recently named Octagon, the flagship red, one of the top 50 U.S. wines.
Paschina said his goal under the new ownership is to build upon Barboursville’s hospitality, possibly increasing available lodging at the inn and investing more in the vineyards. In his conversations with me, he said his fear was that a winery group or venture capital firm might buy Barboursville to plunder the brand and “turn it into Disneyland.”
“I love this place,” Paschina said. “I want to retire here. But there are a few more things I want to do first.”
The sale means the Zonin family will not be part of Barboursville’s 50th anniversary celebrations in April. Paschina will preside with two new titles, his characteristic bonhomie and a message of continuity, assuring the Zonin legacy — and his own — will live on.
Thank you Dave for sharing. It is special day for our team here in Barboursville, hard work, passion and determination to produce the best wine we could for decades did not go unnoticed.
It is what made this ideal change of ownership possible, with the perfect investors that will treasure this gem, Barboursville Vineyards. I am greatly thankful for the new investors, my whole team, the support of my wife Patty and immensely for our founders, the Zonin Family.
Luca has been amazing for 3 1/2 decades! His nebbiolo is the best outside of Piemonte.