Meet Loudoun’s ‘Mr. Wine’

Now off his four-wheeler, Doug Fabbioli—whose beard, glasses and wrinkled, untucked shirt conjure up comparisons to an overworked college professor—speed-walks through the row of leafy bushes looking for the perfect specimen. Time was of the essence for Loudoun’s Mr. Wine. Another interview had to wrap before a gaggle of Whole Foods representatives arrived.

“Not that one,” he says, not commenting on a grape, but rather another building block of one of his more popular wines, a raspberry. “Here we go. Taste this one!” he insists, before injecting the crimson berry into the mouth of a sweaty cameraman. “See what I mean,” he says smiling, as if already knowing the reply.

Reporter, beverage buyer, guest: No matter the label, when one tours Fabbioli Cellars winery north of Leesburg, one gets the Fabbioli Treatment: High energy infused with a wealth of love and knowledge of the grapes and berries that grow among the rolling landscape that is western Loudoun.

No, he’s not really called Loudoun’s Mr. Wine. But, in his case, the moniker fits like a well-worn pair of gardening gloves.

You see, Fabbioli not only makes wine (he owns a slew of awards as proof of is prowess in that endeavor), but he has been keenly instrumental in making Loudoun a winemaking county. He is Loudoun’s--and Virginia’s, for that matter--loudest trumpeter of wine, extolling the region’s industry and varietals to just about anyone who’ll listen.

In fact, it’s a good bet that if locally made wine is being poured somewhere, Fabbioli will be there--or on the way--as he rarely misses a chance to engage Loudoun wine neophytes on what they have been missing out on.

“He has really been a good promoter of Loudoun,” said Warren Howell, a manager in the county’s Department of Economic Development. “He has a great personality for talking about Loudoun wines. He could take it to California, New York or London and people would listen because he knows what he’s talking about.”

For those not familiar with Loudoun’s wine industry, in a phrase, it’s growing. In 2003, there were nine wineries in Loudoun. Today, there are 24 that are raking in $8 million a year in sales, thanks in large part to Fabbioli, who has consulted for or worked at nearly half of them.

“Doug knows the locations where grapes will grow,” Howell added. “He probably knows the wine industry better than anyone else in Loudoun.”

Born and raised in upstate New York, Fabbioli got the wine itch while studying business at Syracuse University in the mid-1980s. Spurred by an urge to make a living from grapes, he headed west after college and settled in America’s wine capital of Northern California in 1987.

For a decade, he toiled in the scene there, working at various wineries, all the while, hoping to find a piece of terra firma to call his own. However, with his family growing, as well as the land prices in California, Fabbioli and his family decided to return east.

Soon enough, the Fabbioli family landed in Loudoun, where Fabbioli took a job as a winemaker at Loudoun’s Tarara Winery in 1997.

“After speaking with a few local winegrowers, I saw potential here,” he said.

Eventually, as a side-business, he started consulting other local start-up wineries, passing on to them what he learned in California. Around this same time, he also founded the Loudoun Winegrowers Association.

Today, Fabbioli still works with other winemakers and advocates for local wines, but also promotes Loudoun agriculture as a whole as chairman of the county’s rural economic development council.

Despite the busy workload, Fabbioli also manages to find time to nurture his own grapes and make award-winning wines at his 25-acre farm near Lucketts. In June, his wines captured four medals--including two golds--at the Indy International Wine Competition in Indianapolis.

“We have been working really, really hard in building this,” he said, gazing out over his operation from atop a mound near the home he built.

As for Loudoun’s place in the industry, he said word is spreading. As more awards are garnered, recognition is gained.

Also, Loudoun benefits greatly, he said, from its proximity to well paid wine lovers living in and around the District. As a result of their growing popularity, more local wines, Fabbioli said, including his own, are turning up in area restaurants and grocery stores.

Not surprising to Howell, who said that not only is Loudoun’s number of wineries growing, but so is the quality of the wines coming out of them.

“And again,” he noted, “Doug has something to do with that.”

Fabbioli Cellars is at 15669 Limestone School Road, Leesburg. To learn more, call 703-771-1197, or visit www.fabbioliwines.com.