Trump Winery

Patricia Kluge, former wife of American billionaire John Kluge, kept Albemarle in their 1990 divorce settlement.[6] Afterwards, Kluge spent her fortune establishing an award-winning vineyard and winery which opened in 1999. She and her third husband, William Moses, took out $65 million in loans and mortgaged the mansion to finance production expansion and a related real-estate venture.[10][11][12] In 2011, the couple defaulted on the loans and Bank of America acquired the mortgage on the mansion, Albemarle House. The land outside the mansion's front door and bordering its long driveway is a 217-acre stretch of rolling greenery that had a former life as John Kluge's private Arnold Palmer–designed golf course. A quirk in the divorce settlement let John Kluge own this patch, as his ex-wife took the mansion and the land underneath, insulating it from Patricia's financial woes. The land was still the family's to give, after Mr. Kluge died in 2010, leaving it in a trust to his son with Patricia as trustee.[3] [6][11][12]

Trump, a longstanding friend of John and Patricia Kluge, purchased the 1,300-acre estate, including the vineyards and winemaking operation, out of foreclosure from three different banks for $8.5 million. He initially offered the banks $20 million to bail out Kluge Estate, but when they refused, he began to buy the property through foreclosure auctions and private purchases. After acquiring the winery, Trump hired Patricia Kluge as vice president of operations and William Moses as chief executive officer.[6][12] He also bought the parcel directly from the Kluge trust for $150,000.[11] The bank alleged that Trump subsequently arranged for "No Trespassing" signs to be placed around the mansion allowing the lawns to become overgrown in order to ward off potential buyers and to give the appearance of Trump's exclusive access to the property, although the bank's interest in the main house included right-of-way easements. Trump placed a winning bid of $3.6 million at auction for the mansion property, a significant discount from the $16 million the bank had paid at the foreclosure auction and Patricia's original $100 million asking price. Bank of America rejected the bid and retained possession.[3][11][13][14][15][16][17]

In October 2012, Trump bought Albemarle House from Bank of America for $6.7 million, completing his acquisition of the entire estate.[18][19]

Trump Winery contains the largest vineyard in Virginia, and the largest French vinifera acreage on the East Coast.[9][20] However, Donald Trump's March 2016 claim to own "the largest winery on the East Coast"[7][8] was found by Politifact to be false: Trump Winery makes 36,000 cases of wine per year, roughly half the production of Williamsburg Winery or Chateau Morrisette Winery.[21][22]

In addition to the winery, the site contains a hotel, the 'Albemarle Estate', that opened in May 2015.[11][23]

The winery's manager, Kerry Hannon Woolard, supported Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and was a guest speaker at the 2016 Republican National Convention.[24]

James Suckling scored the winery's 2009 Blanc de Blanc 90 points and the 2010 Sparkling Reserve 91 points.[25]

In March 2013, Wine Enthusiast magazine gave the 2007 Trump SP Reserve a 91-point rating, which was at that time the highest rating for a still or sparkling Virginia wine.[26]

The 2020 San Francisco International Wine Competition awarded the winery’s 2014 Sparkling Reserve, Best in Class-Brut, Double Gold, 97 points, scoring higher than those from Napa, Sonoma, Spain, Italy, Australia & Champagne.[27]

• Official website