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Address 3550 Blenheim Rd, Charlottesville, VA 22902, USA Hours Open today · 10AM–4PMSaturday10AM–4PMSunday10AM–4PMMonday10AM–4PMTuesdayClosedWednesday10AM–4PMThursday10AM–4PMFriday10AM–4PMSuggest an edit Similar Blenheim Vineyards, Jefferson Vineyards, Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards, Monticello, First Colony Winery Profiles | ||
Trump Winery (formerly Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard) is a Virginia winery situated on Trump Vineyard Estates in Charlottesville, VA. The vineyard was purchased by businessman (now U.S. President) Donald Trump in April 2011 and was officially re-opened in October 2011. It is currently run by Trump's son Eric, under the banner of Eric Trump Wine Manufacturing LLC
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The current General Manager of the winery, Kerry Hannon Woolard, was a supporter of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and appeared as a guest speaker at the 2016 Republican National Convention as well as other campaign events.
Trump winery charlottesville virginia
Acquisition controversies
Donald Trump has been accused of having deliberately driven down the value of the vineyard prior to purchasing it out of foreclosure from Patricia Kluge, a former nude model and former wife of American billionaire John Kluge. After their divorce in 1990, she spent much of her remaining fortune over the following two decades developing it into a winery and expanding its production. She and her new husband also took out $65 million in loans to fund the expansion. In 2011 the couple defaulted on the loans. Bank of America acquired the mortgage on the mansion itself, but the surrounding property was still held in a Kluge family trust. Trump, a longstanding friend of Patricia Kluge, bought the 200-acre (0.81 km2) surrounding the property directly from the trust for less than $500,000. The bank later alleged that Trump subsequently arranged for "No Trespassing" signs to be placed around the property and to allow the lawns to become overgrown in order to ward off potential buyers and give the appearance of Trump's exclusive access to the property (although the bank's property interest in the main house included right-of-way easements). Trump then purchased the land from Bank of America for $3.6 million, a significant discount to the $16 million the bank had paid at the foreclosure auction to retain the property and to Kluge's original $100 million asking price in the prior year.
In March 2016 Donald Trump stated publicly that he owned "the largest winery on the east coast", though according to Politifact, it is not.
Awards
Before Trump acquired the winery, it had already won over 21 awards throughout the United States and the world. It received 10 Gold Standard awards, including the "Best Sparkling Wines in the World" award with Kluge SP Rosé.
In March 2013, Wine Enthusiast magazine gave the 2007 Trump SP Reserve a 91-point rating. This is the highest rating ever given to any still or sparkling Virginia wine.
Boycott
During Valentine's Day weekend of 2017, a Virginia chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) called for a boycott of Wegmans supermarkets in the state. NOW had wanted to protest President Trump by calling for shoppers to not go to Wegmans due to them selling Trump Winery products.
However, it wound up having the opposite effect as many Trump supporters who had heard about the planned boycott went to the 10 Wegmans locations in Virginia specifically to purchase Trump Winery products, causing them to virtually sell out of all of their stock on hand.