Woman Winery Owner, Winemaker, and Vineyard Manager Honored during Women’s History Month
Virginia’s wine history is full of trailblazing women who fought for critical legislation, became world- renowned experts in viticulture, pushed for AVA status, and led the way in creating high quality wines and wine venues that have made wine tourism an economic driver for the state’s economy.
Each year, Virginia Women in Wine honors these women with the VWW Trailblazer Award, showcasing what each of these leaders has made possible, encouraging the next generation to follow in their footsteps, and permanently honoring their legacy. The 2025 Trailblazer Awards go to a vineyard legend from Central Virginia, one of the state’s original female winemakers from the Blue Ridge region, and a beloved winery owner in Northern Virginia.
“Having the opportunity to shine the light on the women who were here first, creating the vibrant, celebrated industry that Virginia wine has become, is one of the most joyful things that Virginia Women in Wine does all year,” said Virginia Women in Wine Founder and President Nancy Bauer. “Sharon Horton, Debra Vascik, and Nicki Bazaco inspire today’s women in wine through their leadership, accomplishment, and grit.”
Sharon Horton, Owner and Vineyard Manager, Horton Vineyards, Gordonsville
When Horton Vineyards of Gordonsville was awarded the 2019 Virginia Governor’s Cup for its Petit Manseng, the winery’s owner and vineyard manager Sharon Horton did something extraordinary—she invited the vineyard workers to the gala and to go up on stage with her to receive the honor.
“That says a lot about her as a person,” says her daughter, Shannon Horton, who is the winery’s general manager. “When the spotlight was on her, she made it about the people who grow the grapes. My parents always believed that a good wine starts in the vineyard.”
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From her profession as a nurse to a lifetime spent nurturing grapes, Sharon Horton’s accomplishments in viticulture in Virginia have been a pioneering example for other wineries across Virginia.
When Sharon and her husband, Dennis, started their winery endeavor in 1989, the task of planting and managing the 55-acre vineyard fell to Sharon. “My Dad assumed because she came from a farming family, she could run the tractor,” says Shannon. “And her background as a nurse would make her accurate about timing and spray schedules. She would just be nursing plants instead of people.”
Among the varietals she selected to grow was the Norton grape and a then little-known vinifera grape, viognier, which at the time was facing extinction. She planted 10 acres when the worldwide viognier cultivation was only 100 acres. Her early Herculean efforts, including sending out her viognier budwood to other wineries and nurseries, allowed viognier to become a sustainable varietal and the recognized grape of Virginia.
“She could tell if the budwood was viognier,” says Shannon, noting she once rejected a shipping because “she knew it was chardonnay, even though it looked like a bunch of sticks.”
In 2009, Sharon was named Grower of the Year by the Virginia Vineyards Association, and her winery, Horton Vineyards, won the Virginia Governors Cup in 1993 and 2019. In 2022 Sharon received the prestigious Monteith Award from the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association in recognition of her contribution to viognier cultivation. Receiving the Tiffany-designed trophy is considered one of the highest honors in the wine world. With that also came a resolution passed by the Virginia General Assembly. And in 2023, Sharon received the Eastern Winery Exposition’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
She still walks the vineyard daily and is involved in all aspects of the winery. When Dennis Horton passed away in 2018, the winery became a multi-generational female business with Shannon Horton running the business and Shannon’s daughter, Caitlyn, joining the family’s winery as its winemaker.
Debra Vascik, Owner and Winemaker, Valhalla Vineyards, Roanoke
In the annals of Virginia winemaking, Debra Vascik is an unsung hero.
Back in 2000, she was one of only two women winemakers in Virginia, and became the first to win the Virginia Governor’s Cup. It was a 1998 Syrah from the second harvest of Valhalla Vineyard, the vineyard that she and her husband, James, established in the mid-1990s in Roanoke.
For more than 20 years, Debra’s pioneering achievement quietly stayed in the record books until another female winemaker, Melanie Natoli, joined the roster, winning the Governor’s Cup in 2022.
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The early days of Valhalla Vineyards go back to 1994 when the Vasciks purchased a peach orchard high above Roanoke. Jim, a neurosurgeon, and Debra, a physical therapist, began planting vines, most notably syrah, one of the first in Virginia to do so, and alicante bouschet, the first planting of the grape outside of California.
With a nod to both California and the Rhone Valley, Debra concentrated on red wines with all estate-grown grapes. She didn’t release her reds until they were four or five years old, a rarity in Virginia at the time. Debra worked full time as a physical therapist while running Valhalla’s vineyard, making wine, and raising two kids.
Her wines, particularly the reds, were widely recognized, such as the Götterdämmerung Cabernet Franc/Merlot blend. The1999 Syrah was praised by Wine Spectator as being the best of its class from Virginia and the US South.
“If I didn’t like the fruit,” says Debra, “I didn’t make a wine out of it because you cannot make a good wine out of bad fruit.”
It was that quest for quality that kept the off-the-beaten track winery focused on excelling, rather than expanding.
“We wanted to be different,” she says. “We wanted to make a better Virginia wine and we succeeded. We raised the bar.”
Nicki Bazaco, Co-Owner, Doukénie Winery, Hillsboro
Nicki Bazaco has led a life marked by dedication, innovation, and passion. She and her husband, George, both devoted their careers to medicine, Nicki as a nurse and George as a doctor specializing in pulmonology. Their paths crossed over the bedside of a patient at Washington Hospital Center, where their shared commitment to healthcare blossomed into a lifelong partnership. They married and started a family, purchasing 365 acres in Hillsborough, Virginia in 1983 and planting their first grapes in 1985.
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George sought solace from the stresses of medical work by cultivating grapes, while Nicki continued her nursing career. With remarkable foresight, she effectively participated in one of the first mobile MASH units via telephone, an early precursor to what we now recognize as Telehealth. In the 1980s, Virginia’s agricultural practices commonly included selling fruit, and for many years, Nicki and George did just that. Eventually, they transformed their home basement into a tasting room, bringing their passion for wine to the public in 1995. Windham Winery was the 43rd winery to register for an ABC Farm Winery license in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The current tasting room was built many years later and was designed to replicate the barn that functioned there previously. The property was renamed to Doukenie, in 2007, which means “Duchess” in English, to honor George’s Greek grandmother.
Nicki was integral to every aspect of the tasting room’s operation while she raised their two children. She kept licensing and wine labels compliant and managed the tasting room every weekend. Her dedication and expertise earned her a place among the “Grand Dames” of the Virginia wine industry alongside Sharon Horton, Emma Randel, Felicia Rogan, Juanita Swedenburg and others. According to Nicki, “We were very good friends who consulted with each other and supported one another’s success. We created a culture where we asked everything.”
At 78, Nicki still makes time to visit the winery tasting room and occasionally attend industry meetings, still very much a part of the legacy of Northern Virginia winemaking.