Press Releases And Articles

• April/May 2009:  The Virginia Sportsman 
• March 23, 2009:  History Comes Full Circle at Philip Carter Winery in Hume
• May 3, 2008: History Repeats Itself at Philip Carter Winery
• April 8, 2008: Virginia's Wine Industry Attorney and America’s First Family in Wine enter the modern Virginia's Wine Business

History Comes Full Circle at Philip Carter Winery in Hume

Hume, Virginia, March 23, 2009 -   In the mid-1700s Charles Carter, the Chairman of Economic Development for the House of Burgesses, identified Virginia wine as an alternative to the region’s failing tobacco industry. At his homestead, known as Cleve Plantation, Carter planted 1800 European grape vines and began making wine on the banks of the Rappahannock River. By 1762 Carter’s venture into winemaking gained international acclaim. The London Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufacture & Commerce awarded Carter with a gold medal for this first “spirited attempt towards the accomplishment of their views, respecting wine in America“.  This was the first ever international acknowledgement for our young nation’s wine-making industry.

In 2008, Philip Carter Strother, a descendent of Carter’s brother, Landon, brought the Carter name back into Virginia’s winemaking culture with his purchase of Stillhouse Vineyards. Strother renamed the vineyard and winery Philip Carter Winery of Virginia in recognition of the prestige of his family’s place in the history of the Commonwealth’s and the nation’s endeavors in quality wine.

“My family’s more immediate background is in farming,” explained Strother, “and I can remember my grandfather complaining about how difficult it is to hold onto family farms and stave off major development in this area.”

Strother knew long ago that he wanted to find a way to ensure that his family could hold onto their farm and continue to make it a viable and sustainable enterprise that would be passed down to future generations. With his Master’s of Law from George Washington University, Strother began practicing land use law in Richmond and soon acquired several winery owners as clients. He soaked up as much knowledge as he could and was elated when he heard, through the grapevine, that an established vineyard near his family’s farm in Delaplane was for sale.

“Even while I was at law school I began to get a growing sense of needing to start a vineyard,” Strother noted, “It’s a smart way to make farm land more profitable, viable and to promote conservation and responsible land use.”

Last year Strother honored his family heritage in Virginia winemaking by planting 1800 new vines, just as Carter did over 250 years ago. The gesture signified the “rebirth” of Carter family wines in Virginia.

This May, Strother has planned to celebrate the 247^th anniversary of his ancestor’s receiving the gold medal award for his winemaking success at his Hume winery. The event will take place throughout the day on May 23, where Strother and his staff will host an array of entertainment and activities.

In planning for the event, Strother was, with the aide of the Royal Society of the Arts in the United Kingdom, able to see exactly what the medallion presented to Carter looked like and has commissioned a replica of it to be made by renowned sculptor Paul DiPasquale. The replica will be on display during the anniversary celebration and miniature replicas will be handed out as gifts to visitors.

Strother has arranged for reenactors to depict Thomas Jefferson and Charles Carter, two of Virginia’s most notable wine pioneers, to put on a short skit during the event. Philip Carter Winery guests will also be delighted by Aston Martin with several models of their esteemed collection, the Fauquier Equestrian Society giving demonstrations and the second annual Philip Carter Fencing Classic, sponsored in part by the Richmond Fencing Club in conjunction with the Virginia Division of Fencing.

Free admission to this event also includes the enjoyment of live Jazz music and children’s activities. There will also be food and wine available to purchase throughout the festivities. Should Mother Nature weep on the 23^rd, the anniversary celebration will take place on Sunday May 24.

History Repeats Itself at Philip Carter Winery

Virginia’s Wine Industry Attorney and America’s First Family in Wine enter the modern Virginia Wine Business

Legal Counsel to the Virginia Wine Industry

 Over the years, Mr. Strother has served as general counsel to many Virginia farm wineries.  He has been instrumental in the development of legislation to promote the economic viability of the Virginia Wine Industry, including drafting legislation, testifying before General Assembly committees and serving as a participant of the Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry’s Virginia Wine Industry Study Group.  He also serves on the Advisory Board of Virginia Wine Lover’s Magazine, and he has taught and written on numerous topics that impact the Virginia Wine Industry.

The First Family of American Wine

Carter’s correspondence reveals that the prospects and methods for the cultivation of the grape in Virginia were an important subject.  Carter had already begun grape growing at Cleve Plantation, his estate in Virginia, where he made wines from both native and European grapes (it is said), and it was natural that he should have chosen commercial winemaking as one of his proposals for economic reform in Virginia.

The London society took an encouraging view of Carter’s proposals and recommended various vines and practices, including the trial of distilling brandy from the native grapes.  In 1762 Carter, who by then had 1,800 vines growing at Cleve, sent to the London society a dozen bottles of his wine, made from the American winter grape (“a grape so nauseous till frost that the fowls of the air will not touch it”: probably Vitis cordifolia is meant) and from a vineyard of “white Portugal summer grapes.”  These samples were so pleasing a taste—“they were both approved as good wines,” the society’s secretary wrote—that the society awarded Carter a gold medal as the first person to make a “spirited attempt towards the accomplishment of their views, respecting wine in America.”

These were the first recognized fine wines of America.