VIRGINIA, (March 4, 2025) — The Virginia Vineyard Association’s (VVA) annual Winter Technical Meeting (WTM) is Virginia’s premier wine and grape trade show and conference. It gathers the region’s wine industry professionals, and provides technical programming from industry leaders and research and extension specialists.
Every year the VVA announces the recipient of the Grower of the Year award, an individual who actively manages vineyards in the state and has been deemed to be exceptional in their work or advocacy. Nominated by peers and confirmed by the board, VVA Grower of the Year is a prestigious honor to hard-working industry members leading by example.
Every 5 years the VVA Awards the Dr Tony Wolf Lifetime Achievement Award which honors those who have provided a career of high level service to the state’s wine and grape industry. Originally the Virginia Vineyards Association Lifetime Achievement Award, in 2022 it was renamed after Tony Wolf, who’s tireless work for the betterment of vineyards across the state strengthened our vineyards as well as our industry. This year’s meeting was the first time the renamed honor was awarded.
The 2024 VVA Grower of the Year is Awarded to Doug Fabbioloi of Fabbioli Cellars
Doug Fabbioli is one of the great leaders of VA’s wine industry. Few growers can match the energy and charisma that Doug casually sustains. His excitement is contagious and his desire to help others and grow the industry comes in spades.
“Doug’s passion for the vineyard and the Virginia wine industry is tireless. He loves talking about how to promote our industry almost as much as he loves teaching newer members what it takes to be successful,” said Skip Causey, Potomac Point Winery.
Doug got his first taste of viticulture back in 1981 by working at a small vineyard in the Finger Lakes region, 5 years later after finishing his degree at Syracuse University, he immediately followed his budding passion to the west coast to begin work at the historic Buena Vista Winery in Sonoma. Doug spent 10 years in Sonoma working with many great mentors and continuing his study of viticulture by attending classes with UC Davis and the Santa Rosa Junior College.
In 1996, Doug, his wife Colleen, and two sons became motivated to move closer to home, and Colleen was offered a position that would anchor them in Richmond; thus, the Fabbioli’s began their eastward transit. During the process of moving, a fortuitous opportunity arose for Doug to lead production at Tarara Winery, which led to an immediate switch in the Fabbioli’s relocation plans.
Fully experienced and ready to dig in his heels Doug took the reigns at the relatively young Tarara Winery and began working toward his dream of establishing his own vineyard and winery. In 2001 he broke ground on his farm by planting Merlot, and the then relatively experimental variety for VA, Petit Verdot. These were planted at the Bella Luna Estate in Loudoun County, which would later become the home of Fabbioli Cellars.
Since the late 90s until the present Doug has consulted and assisted many wineries in the state and many have benefited from his efforts and advocacy; currently, Doug manages about 55 acres on 6 sites in Northern Virginia, and custom crashes for 5 wineries in the state, all in addition to managing the production and sales for his own brand, Fabbioli Cellars.
Over the years Doug has generously offered his time to promote the growth of the state’s now-established wine industry. For 8 years he was a board member of the Virginia Wine Board and for 12 years he served on the Loudoun Rural Economic Development Council.
“The key to the success of the Virginia Wine industry is to grow in quality to a point of recognition and grow in volume to a point of availability. The pace of both has been quite rapid and relatively successful over the past 28 years that I’ve been here in the trenches. It has been an honor to be a recognized player in this effort,” said Doug Fabbioli, Fabbioli Cellars and The New Ag School.
In 2008 Doug took his advocacy yet another step further by founding The New Ag School in Loudoun County which hosts programs focused on sharing agricultural experiences with younger generations. This landmark project, with a progressive objective, has been making a large impact in the lives of young people, and provides much-needed attention to fostering the next generation of VA’s wine industry.
“Doug does not know how to say no, clearly by this long resume, with his endless energy and passion, there’s no doubt that everyone loves Doug,” said Matthew Lohr, VA Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry.
The Dr. Tony Wolf Lifetime Achievement Award is Presented to Dr Douglas Pfeiffer and Jeanette Smith.
Dr Douglas Pfeiffer, Fruit Entomologist Virginia Tech
Members of the VA fruit industry for any length of time can attest to the valuable impact Dr. Douglas Pfeiffer has had on their success. His work enhanced the resilience of our industry through the uncertainty of harrowing threats and perennial challenges. Smart entomological resources are of tremendous value to VA’s fruit industry and much of the modern entomological resources we have access to can in some way be credited to the research and extension work of Dr. Pfeiffer.
In the words of the namesake of this award, Dr. Tony Wolf, now retired, Professor of Viticulture at Virginia Tech writes:
“Dr. Douglas Pfeiffer has served the Virginia wine and grape industries since the mid-eighties in his capacity as a fruit entomologist. Doug’s research and extension efforts focused on integrated pest management of existing and introduced arthropod pests of grape, small fruit, and tree fruit.
I had many occasions to collaboratively work with Doug, both in the field and through our extension programs. Doug was responsible for annual updates to the essential Virginia Cooperative Extension’s Pest Management Guides, which provide invaluable information on Integrated Pest Management.
His extension presentations drew upon his own research, as well as relevant research by other entomologists. Doug was always interested in minimizing negative, collateral effects of insect management. He was a pioneer of non-insecticidal mating disruption for grape berry moth in Virginia, and was involved with the foundational research on the newly introduced spotted lanternfly.
In addition to his extension program, Doug taught undergraduate courses and graduate students. He was a passionate teacher and was recognized for this service with the Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching by the Eastern Branch of the Entomological Society of America in 2021.
On a personal note, I’m grateful to Doug for his early mentorship in my program as a viticulturist with Virginia Tech. Doug was hired a few years before I came on board with Virginia Tech, and was very helpful with my orientation to the Virginia wine industry and to the academic role that we both pursued. We collaborated on several research projects, and Doug was always eager to help out on the VVA technical programs which I helped orchestrate.”
Jeanette Smith VineSmith LLC and Consultant
Jeanette is the definition of an industry legend. She began her career in Virginia vineyards in 1981 while studying for her bachelor’s degree at Virginia Tech. Since then, she has been an asset to the industry in many capacities and has overseen vineyard planting and management in several states along the east coast.
Jeanette is responsible for developing the exhaustive IPM toolkit, known as VineSmith, which has become an essential part of many vineyard managers’ decision-making processes and has certainly resulted in a wealth of good management choices in and out of the state.
For many years Jeanette further served the industry by serving in various roles on the VVA Board as well as serving on the Education Committee, handily taking over the reigns as Chair from the award’s namesake, Tony Wolf, when he retired. The VVA technical programming has much to owe Smith. By utilizing her vast knowledge, combined with her industry connections, Jeanette has been critical to the ongoing success of our Technical Meetings, both in the winter and summer by designing programming that brought valuable content to industry members.
Jeanette’s recent retirement as an independent consultant comes after a long term of service to those she worked with. She has truly been critical for the growth of the industry which now owes so much to her efforts.
Jeanette continues to manage the vineyards on her property in Shenandoah County where, in addition to producing high-quality fruit for several of the area’s wineries, she continues to progress the industry by planting and studying a collection of the cutting-edge Resistant Varieties from VCR.
“Jeanette Smith has been, and will continue to be a source of knowledge and innovation for our state’s vineyards. Without her, the Shenandoah Valley would not be as well established as it is now. It has been an honor to work alongside her on the Board of the VVA, but more importantly, it is an honor to call her both my friend and mentor,” said AJ Greely, VVA President, Hark Vineyards.
Since the early 1980s, the Virginia Vineyards Association has played a critical role in the development of Virginia’s wine industry and has been helping growers produce great wines in the Commonwealth for over 40 years.
Photographed, written, and edited by David Eiserman
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