(upbeat music) >>I'm here at Doukenie Vineyards with Bill Travis, and I love this place.

It just has such a wonderful ambiance.

Tell us a little bit about the history of Doukenie.

(gentle music) >>I'd be happy to.

The owners are George and Nicki Bazako.

George is a doctor, he's a pulmonologist.

He bought the farm here in 1983, and started growing grapes here in 85.

>>Wow.

>>And we have about 12 different varieties that we grow.

>>Wow.

>>Doukenie is a Greek name.

It's his grandmother's first name.

>>Oh, wow.

>>Yeah.

In English it means Duchess.

>>Oh, that's fascinating.

>>And she emigrated from Greece as a little girl at age of 15 in 1919.

But, she was the one that talked George into planting grapes here, beginning in 85.

>>So Bill, those planted acres sit here on a very large plot of property, that I understand is covered in walking trails and there's a beautiful pond here.

Tell us a little bit about that.

>>Well, we have about 360 acres total.

Again, 30 of it is under vine.

The rest is the winery facility.

All the open land is leased to a farmer.

We also have cattle, we have about 40 head of cattle.

>>You know, this whole area is just so fascinating and so many wineries have popped up here.

What do you think is the thing that attributes to that?

>>Well, I think it's, the more the merrier is really the philosophy.

(laughs) I think, you know, it's better to be nearer each other than to be spread out.

Now Loudoun County has, I believe 48 wineries.

Which I believe is the highest concentration >>Yeah.

>>In Virginia, in a county.

We have a lot of breweries and a lot of, some distilleries as well.

>>Yeah.

>>So, I think it's just the congregation of people out here.

Being along the Blue Ridge, it is a little better for growing grapes.

We're on a fault line, there is a little different soil here.

Still a lot of clay in the soil that's, you know, that red clay that's so prominent in Virginia.

>>Yeah.

>>But, it's more broken here, there's more stone in the soil which provides a little better drainage.

>>Sure.

And do you think you get most of your visitors from your local community, or are there a lot of visitors who come from the DC?

>>They come from all over.

You know, we're in a very nice spot, in terms of, we have a large metropolitan area with Washington and those surrounding areas.

Maryland, Virginia, DC, West Virginia is nine miles away.

You know, Pennsylvania is only about, oh, about 40 miles away.

So, we draw from a lot of different directions and it's, so that makes it a good spot.

>>Well, and I know that they come for your wine, so let's taste a little bit of this beautiful wine.

>>Absolutely.

This first wine we are having is our Vintner's Reserve, kind of our flagship wine.

>>Mm.

>>It is a very (glasses clinking) typical Bordeaux style.

Four different grapes, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cab Franc, Petit Verdot.

>>Oh, yeah.

It gets 18 months in French oak downstairs.

Just a lovely wine, you know, a great wine with- >>It's beautiful.

Yeah.

So, (glasses clinking) cheers to you.

Mm-hmm.

(gentle music) Mm.

That's lovely.

Now that, is that all, it doesn't taste like all new oak?

>>No, it's not.

>>Okay.

Okay.

>>We use a ratio, of new oak, which gives off a lot of flavor, as you know.

>>Right, right.

>>A lot of secondary, tertiary flavors.

>>Right.

>>And a lot of neutral oak.

>>Yeah.

>>But, they all get the same aging in them.

>>Yeah.

>>So it's usually, you know, 25% new oak to 75, depending on what the winemaker wants to do.

>>Sure, sure.

Wow.

Well, it takes a village to create an amazing wine.

(Bill laughs) And I know that you have to have great grapes to make a great bottle of wine, but you can also make terrible wine with good grapes.

(Bill laughs) And this is amazing wine.

Thank you so much.

Now, I know that you do a lot with education here.

>>Yeah.

>>You do a lot of different kinds of tastings.

Tell us a little bit about that.

>>Well, we provide a few different experiences.

Our current general tasting is a flight of wine.

It's four different wines in a flight, and it's kind of a self-guided tour.

But our wine educators, our people that serve you are very knowledgeable of the wines and take you through them.

We do an elevated tasting, we call an elevated tasting, which is about an hour and a half long and involves tasting six of our wines.

We give a short tour of the property and the wine making facility.

It includes charcuterie and things to pair with the wine.

It's just a nice experience.

>>Yeah.

>>And then, about once a month I do a two hour educational tour.

>>Yeah.

>>It's called From Vines to Wines.

And we literally go from the vines to the wine cellar and we talk a little bit about everything that we do.

And it just is for people who have an interest in wine, it just gives you a great appreciation for what goes in, how much work goes into a good bottle of wine.

>>Oh my goodness.

Well, this is just amazing wine and I thank you so much >>Thank you.

for having us here, (glasses clinking) for sharing the wine and for sharing the story.

>>Oh, thank you.

>>Yeah, thank you.

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