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By LISA G. CURRIE
Rappahannock Neva Staff Writer
(Editor’s note: This is the final installment in a three-part series on wineries and vineyards in Rappahannock County.)
Snuggled into the countryside along Route 647, outside Flint Hill, is Farfelu.
.Owned by Charles “Chuck” Raney, it’s one of Rappahannock County’s oldest vineyards. It is also the county’s first farm winery.
Mr. Raney carefully attaches labels to bottles of a dry white picnic wine, made and bottled in his bamtumed-winery — for a special order.
“We are a small winery,” his wife Jinnie Raney said, wiping the sticky glue from the bottle as she helped him label bottles.
“We sell most of our wines right here, at the winery,” she said, setting the bottle aside.
“Maybe some are sold in stores, but we don’t market it that way,” she said.
The long bam — about 130 years old — is built into the hill behind it. Over the years, the Raneys have converted the cool earthen building into a winery. In the back of the bam, grapes are fed into an overhead shoot, dropped into the presser and later sent to storage tanks or holding tanks. In the comer, under the hill, the Raneys have put in a cold storage area, nearly complete, to store grapes and aging wine.
The tasting room and small storeroom act as a foyer, with Raney’s own laboratory off one side. The bam was extended in this area, windows removed and insulated to be kept cool. Beyond the laboratory is the labeling room. Nearly all the work is manual.
The farm-winery is found fourand-one-half miles from Flint Hill. The red gate and sign invite curious guests to tours of the hillbam winery and into the tasting room at any time.
“Just call to make sure we are here,” Mr. Raney said from his laboratory.
The retired United Airlines pilot moved to the county in 1967 and planted his first vines up hill and down across the vast expanse of his property. Hence, the name Farfelu.
“It’s an archaic French word that means strange or peculiar,” Mr. Raney said, explaining he always liked the word.
“Besides, it was coincidental.” He added at the time, 16 years ago,
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