Barren Ridge Vineyards

Owner John Higgs with Rascal

Based on an interview with John Higgs, owner of Barren Ridge Vineyards in Fishersville, Virginia. Higgs opened the first winery in Augusta County just two years ago. 

Well, I guess some of it was trying to figure it out for myself. My father was an apple grower and he owned a number of apple orchards. He bought this orchard in 1934 from a Dutch company.

From the 1940's through the 1960's, the Shenandoah valley was the apple growing region of the United States. It was like the bread basket of the United States. But then as things moved west with the apple regions of Washington we just couldn't compete.

My father was a very stubborn man. He started losing money. He sold all of his orchards except for this one.
He sold our house in Staunton and moved us to the tenant house on this property when I was in between school.

I went to Hampton Sydney for college. I lived here with my father and we worked the land just the two of us. So, the land has historical resonance to me as a son.

But he still could not make money. The business eventually went into decline. The whole property became overgrown for maybe 30 years.

 I left to go to the army. I may have been the only U.S. Army draftee with a grin on my face because I was so happy to be away from this place. It was nothing but hard work and I could see no future in the business. It was a losing proposition. But still, I'm the son of an apple grower which is fruit so I think the raising of fruit is somehow in my DNA.

This property has a soft spot in my heart, which I didn't realize until later on. I spent a large portion of my career in Europe and other foreign countries. I am living proof that if you run away from a place in a straight line and you go really fast you're going to end up right back where you started and that's exactly what happened to me.

I ended up doing what my father was doing which I thought was really stupid back when I was a kid.  The only difference is that this business is wine, so it's a heck of a lot more fun to try to make a product out of than apples in my opinion. (Laughs.)

At the end of 1999 I was living in Switzerland and working in Russia for Phillip Morris. I had a retirement offer and took it. My wife and I moved back to the states and lived in Richmond.

We spent a memorable weekend at the Barboursville Vineyards in Charlottesville. They were having a festival called Opera in the Vineyards. I became very interested in opera while I was in Europe. I remember it was a beautiful day and there were tents with lots of gourmet food and we sat on the lawn  listenting to beautiful music. Somehow or another I got the idea that I could do something with the orchard property that was similar to that.

From that kernel of an idea I started plans for a winery. The land completely overgrown and I had to buy it from a family member. I also had to deal with many zoning issues.

But once I bought the property it took me two years to clear. In the winter of 2006 I started building an addition to the old packing shed along with other renovations. I completed the winery part in the winter of 2007 along with our first harvest. In the spring 2008 we opened the doors for customers.

It was not until this year that they had their first major crop because it really takes three years to get a legitimate crop for grapes. 

Patio overlooking the vineyards

The soils in the Shenandoah Valley from what I've learned and seen in my vineyard here are ideal for grapes. They were ideal for apples and generally speaking are a good place for grapes. I knew that this was one of the most beautiful orchards you could imagine. It's just spectacular. I did intensive soil testing to make sure. I was right.

Geology lesson. 

The soil has a lot of limestone and weathered shale. The broken up shale allows moisture and roots to travel through. It is in effect an ideal location for grapes. It also has the advantage of being a high plain. When the glaciers came through they did so in a very interesting way. They left a lot of ridges and a very high plain. Our elevation is at 1400 feet at its peak. It has a very good orientation because evidently the glaciers came from the north going south and carved out a valley. Most of the ridges go north and south. This is a  perfect orientation for grape vines because you have a trellis system pointing north and south. The sun comes from east gets the east side of the vine and and travels over top and gets whole west side. This is great because maximum sun exposure is needed for the grape vines energy and growth.

Young French winemaker at work

Barren Ridge offers 13 varieties of wine. The tasting room and winery are open daily.