Virginia’s Mentor Farmers: Doug Fabbioli
As part of our Rural Business Strategy, the Loudoun County Department of Economic Development has partnered with Virginia Cooperative Extension-Loudoun and Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to create the Virginia Certified Farm Mentor Program. The idea behind the program is to have the experienced certified farmers provide assistance to beginning farmers in areas including field and crop planning, farm management, buying and selling livestock, organic production, and marketing. Recently, four Loudoun farmers graduated from the program, earning their mentor certifications.
Doug Fabbioli, owner of Fabbioli Cellars in Lucketts, is one of the first graduates. Fabbioli brought his love of wine to Loudoun County in 1997, when he accepted a job as a winemaker at Tarara Winery. In 2001, he began growing grapes on his own 25-acre parcel of land in Lucketts. These Merlot and Petit Verdot vines became the genesis for Fabbioli Cellars.
Winemaking has always been in Fabbioli’s blood, and the many gold medals and other awards that his wines have won over the years are a testament to the care he puts into every bottle. Family and community also play a large part in everything Fabbioli does. He works at the winery alongside his wife Colleen, and he often calls Fabbioli Cellars’s network of family, friends, employees and volunteers his “extended family.” Fabbioli also serves on numerous industry boards, including the Rural Economic Development Council and the Loudoun Winegrowers Association.
While running a successful winery certainly keeps him busy, Fabbioli has recently expanded his interests into creating the Piedmont Epicurean and Agricultural Center. PEAC’s mission dovetails with the Farm Mentor Program, with its stated goal of gathering professionals in food, wine, agriculture, education and government to collaborate and pass their knowledge on to the next generation of ag producers.
Fabbioli is always looking toward the future, and sees the Virginia Farm Mentor Program as a tool to preserve Western Loudoun, saying, “having more farmers will give us the opportunity to utilize our lands for short-term and long-term economic benefit and to contribute to the preservation of our agricultural lands in western Loudoun.” –