On a March evening at Richmond’s Main Street Station, the 2026 Virginia Governor’s Cup was presented to Valley Road Vineyards for its 2023 Cabernet Franc Reserve. The award, now in its 44th year, is the state’s highest winemaking honor. It was the young Afton winery’s first Cup, and its winemaker Corry Craighill is only the third woman to win it. She is Virginia-raised, world-trained, and back home at a time when Virginia wine’s quality and reputation is surging.
Craighill grew up in Lynchburg and studied religion and bioethics at the University of Virginia. Her entry into wine was at a job in the tasting room at Jefferson Vineyards during her senior year. She went for fun but stayed because she found “her people.” After graduating, she worked the harvest at Blenheim Vineyards under winemaker Kirsty Harmon, and her passion was clear.
Eventually, after she had been splitting time between Blenheim and King Family Vineyards, mentor Matthieu Finot laid out the choice plainly: Stay and build here, or leave your comfort zone, explore, and learn more. Over the next several years, Craighill chased harvests across four continents, working in Australia, Oregon, New Zealand, South Africa, and Burgundy—each opportunity opening a connection from the last. “Traveling reminds me to stay curious,” she says. “I try to bring that curiosity to my own winemaking.”
In 2016, she returned to Virginia for a permanent opportunity as the head winemaker at Sunset Hills in Loudoun County, where outgoing winemaker Nate Walsh helped guide the transition. By 2019, Craighill was named Loudoun County Winemaker of the Year. In 2020, encouraged by nearby family, she came back to the Monticello AVA as winemaker and vineyard manager at Septenary Winery, where she’s remained since.
Today Craighill carries a full plate. At Septenary she makes estate-driven wines and produces wine for several other small Virginia operations, including Chisholm and Southern Revere. At Valley Road, she made the Cabernet Franc Reserve that won this year’s Cup. And then there is Wound Tight, her own label launched in fall 2024, which is something else entirely.
Wound Tight is where Craighill gets to be, as she puts it, as weird as she wants. The wines are small-batch, low-intervention, and driven by genuine curiosity. Her sauvignon blanc, for example, is made by bundling dried grape stems in cheesecloth and steeping them in the wine like tea. Her husband Jake designed the labels. “There is room for both ends of the spectrum,” she says. “In my mind, in my cellar, and in the industry.” She sees the experimental impulse not as a departure from Virginia wine culture but as a reflection of it. “The opportunity to experiment is an expression of Virginia wine culture.”
About the Governor’s Cup win, she is characteristically understated, noting that the fruit was perfect, the fermentation healthy and vibrant, and that she did nothing out of the ordinary. “I just ushered the wine towards its next step.” Even so, knowing when not to intervene may be one of the hardest things a winemaker learns.
The response from industry peers following the award reflects something genuine about where Virginia wine stands. One colleague told her, “When you won, it felt like we all won.” That sentiment captures a sense of community that is not often highlighted but may be the industry’s greatest asset: A group that learns together, grows together, and celebrates success together. Winning the Governor’s Cup, she says, is less an arrival than an opportunity for “new knowledge, new people, and new ideas.” For Craighill, and perhaps for Virginia wine, that curiosity is the whole point.
Fulfilling the cup
The Virginia Governor’s Cup competition is judged in two tasting rounds. Wines submitted must be produced from 100 percent Virginia fruit and wineries are limited to six entries per year.
In 2026, there were more than 670 wine, cider, and mead entries. Judges typically include Masters of Wine, Master Sommeliers, wine writers, and other industry professionals. Gold medals are awarded to wines scoring 90 points or higher. In the final round, all gold medal-winning wines are tasted again. The 12 highest-scoring red and white wines make up the Governor’s Cup Case, with the top-scoring wine named the overall Cup winner.
2026 Governor’ Cup Winner
Valley Road Vineyards 2023 Cabernet Franc Reserve
2026 Governor’ Cup Case
- 7 Lady Vineyards 2023 Meritage
- Barboursville Vineyards 2024 Vermentino
- CrossKeys Vineyards 2024 Cabernet Franc
- Fifty-Third Winery and Vineyard 2023 “Two Springs”
- Glen Manor Vineyards 2023 “Vin Rouge”
- Granite Heights Winery 2024 “Humility”
- Michael Shaps Wineworks 2023 Cabernet Franc
- Pollak Vineyards 2023 Merlot Reserve
- The Winery at La Grange 2024 Petit Manseng
- Trump Winery 2018 Blanc de Noir
- Valley Road Vineyards 2023 Cabernet Franc Reserve
- Woodbrook Farm Vineyard 2024 Petit Manseng
More information at virginiawine.org.
