By Doug Fabboli

I have talked about this in the past, but the most important attribute of my business is the many hands needed to operate a business like mine. Each set of hands plays an important part in my success and each set have unique skill sets. But what makes it all work is teamwork.

Let’s start with the core of my business, the vineyard. Planting the grapes is a whole process unto itself, but maintaining it is fundamental to get quality growth, flavor development, and balancing those to maintain the health of the vine. Most of the cost to operate a vineyard goes into labor, and generally a team of 4 can manage about 25 acres.  Extra hands are often needed at harvest and for shoot thinning. Team work is crucial to ensure the safety of the team and growing the best grapes possible.

In the fall, when the grapes are processed into wine, the cellar is buzzing with activity. Receiving fruit, crushing, sorting, punch downs, pumping juice, making additions, pumping into barrels and many other procedures. Cleaning is a mandatory part of each of these processes. Making sure things are clean at the end of the day as well as during the day keeps the wines safe from spoilage and ensures the safety of the team. Everyone cleans together as a team.

The cellar gets a little quieter once fermentation has finished. But, with a variety of wines, ciders and various clients who we make wines for, we seem to always be getting wines ready to bottle. Whether we are bottling with our smaller hand set up, or the larger bottling line, we need skilled hands to make this process happen as well.

As we shift from production to selling the wine, I want to emphasize how critical this part is to the overall operation. Many of our tasting room sales team are part time. The commitment they make is essential to sell the wines that we grow and make. We offer gourmet styled food pairings with our tastings which our kitchen team works diligently to assemble the plates that our tasting room manger magically comes up with every month. The entire tasting room needs to work as a team to ensure a good product along with hospitality is enjoyed by every customer.

Landscaping, building maintenance, construction, equipment maintenance, wholesale sales, inventory, materials ordering are all skills we need to ensure we run smoothly and offer the best customer experience. More labor, more skill sets and yes, more cleaning. Most important to all this is the leadership. I am very grateful to have a manager that can lead the retail side of the operation with style and strength in order to keep the team on task and the customers coming back. Each of our managers have the understanding of the vision and freedom to make their team function successfully.

I bring this all up because I was recently awarded the Grower of the Year by the Virginia Vineyards Association. I do not receive this award without the great team around me. Winemaking is a team sport and each of us continues to embrace the idea of training and encouraging others to do better for the operation and the industry. This is only possible with your continued patronage of our local products. Thanks for your support!

About the Author: Farmer, winemaker, entrepreneur, educator, and leader, Doug Fabbioli has been accelerating the growth and quality of Virginia’s wine industry since 1997. With his wife Colleen, Doug is the owner/operator of Fabbioli Cellars in Leesburg, VA. He is the founder and director of The New Ag School, which focuses on teaching the next generation of farmers and agriculture-related leaders. No wonder they call Doug Fabbioli the Godfather of DC’s Wine Country.