Carrington King Named the VA Vineyard’s Association Wine Grower of the Year
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Carrington King at the King Family Vineyard, winter 2021. Photo by Jack Looney.
By Robert Garsson, Virginia Vineyards Association
On February 26, Carrington King, the vineyard manager and co-owner of King Family Vineyards, Crozet, VA., was named Grower of the Year by the Virginia Vineyards Association (VVA). The award was presented to Mr. King by the Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry, Bettina Ring, during the VVA’s annual Winter Technical Meeting, which was held online Feb. 25-26.
“Carrington is one of the most experienced and professional vineyard managers in Virginia,” said Skip Causey, who assumed office as the VVA’s new president during the same meeting. “He’s been a leader in handling the challenges of weather, employing helicopters and wind machines, for example, to protect his vines from late spring frosts.”
Under Mr. King’s management, the King Family has expanded to 50 acres, including 20 acres on an adjacent property that he also manages full-time. A producer of award-winning wines, King Family has been included in the Virginia Governor’s Cup Case, which showcases the Commonwealth’s best wines, in seven of the past nine years.
Mr. King has worked at King Family Vineyards since its founding in 1998, helping to plant eight acres of Merlot and Viognier vines while he was still in high school.
“We ordered the vines when I was 18 years old, and I was 19 by the time we started planting,” Mr. King recalled. “During the fall, I would come home from college on the weekends to work in the vineyard. And back then, we did everything by hand –all the leaf pulling, all the hedging, and all the canopy management. We didn’t use grow tubes. We trained every vine by hand.”
Mr. King said he learned valuable lessons about managing a vineyard from his father, the late David L. King, who was a prominent force in the Virginia wine industry.
“He was always about doing the work and getting out there and being a leader,” Mr. King recalled. “Don’t go sitting in the house and direct people from there. Get out there, and do the work with them, and they’ll be inspired to treat the ground and the vineyard like it’s their own.”
”Mr. King said the vineyard and winery are truly a family operation. This is a team effort every single day. My brothers, James and Stuart, have been with me every step of the way, so this is very much a shared honor.”
In addition to the Merlot and Viognier that made up the initial planting, King Family now grows Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Petit Manseng, and Malbec. Mr. King, a former member of the VVA Board, continues to serve Virginia growers by participating in the Legislative Collective, which represents the interests of the Commonwealth’s vineyards and wineries. Mr. King graduated from the University of Maryland in 2002 with a degree in horticulture and lives in Crozet with his wife, Corie, and their three daughters. Since the early 1980s, the VVA has grown along with Virginia’s burgeoning wine industry and has played an important role in its development.
Since 2005, the VVAhas been pleased to honor one of its members with the annual Grower of the Year Award. Recipients are active participants in the Virginia viticulture community with a track record of commitment and service to the industry.
About the Virginia Vineyards Association (VVA)
Since the early 1980s, the VVA has grown along with Virginia’s burgeoning wine industry and has played an important role in its development. Our members are commercial growers as well as backyard hobbyists, farm wineries, companies that provide goods and services to grape growers, and anyone with an interest in viticulture, whether in-state or out-of-state. More information is available here.
