and Leisure named Zephaniah as one of the top twenty-five wineries in the US . Husband and wife owners Bill Hatch and Bonnie Archer consistently take home awards for their wines . In 2020 they were among several Governor ’ s Cup Gold Medalist winners . That their wine is some of the finest in Virginia is a given . But their story is more about a sense of place , the land , and what one family was called to create over four generations .
Bill Hatch was a year and a half old when his father purchased the Leesburg dairy farm in 1949 . Bill ’ s dad , Captain William N . Hatch , had never known his own father who died in the pandemic of 1918 after soldiering in WWI . He spent a good deal of time with his grandfather on the family farm in Stockton , California . Enriched by those formative years , Captain Hatch determined to raise his kids on a farm . “ He had a magical connection with his grandfather and the farm ... and a real connection with the land ,” recalls Bill .
The middle child of five , Bill remembers having free reign as kids gallivanting everywhere in a full throttle discovery mode . Nature was their playground . “ We ’ d ride ponies back into the woods and be out until dinner when our mom would ring a bell to get us in . That bell was from my great grandfather ’ s steamship , S . S . Monticello , and you could hear it all over the farm ,” Bill remembers .
Of course , there was work to do , too . “ Summers seemed like they lasted most of the year ,” Bill recounts . “ We ’ d all go up and follow a sled that was being pulled after the field had been disked . Our job was to pick up rocks and throw them on the sled . Later we ’ d toss them into areas on the farm that needed filling in . It was hot and very dusty , and when we came back to the house , our mother would throw us in the shower . The water coming off us and circling down the drain was orange from the clay dirt .” Daily farm chores were part of growing up from a young age . “ We ’ d carry milk buckets from the dairy barn to the milk cows and do our best to lift the full bucket of milk up while standing on a cinder block , to be high enough to pour it into a filter and then the cooler .”
Dairy farming was good for a number of years . In the early 1980s however , the handwriting was on the wall . Due to mechanized breakthroughs there was too much milk and not enough demand . Some farm operations started cashing out as land prices rose , and as is too often the case , the plight of farmers struggling to keep their land became overwhelming . Some farmers found new ways to survive . Bill ’ s family was no different ; with milk production up , demand down and debt mounting , they quickly expanded their small beef cattle operation . It saved the farm .
Then two events occurred decades apart that propelled Bill and family into the grape growing business . “ Back in 1980s my mother went to visit her mother in Wytheville , Virginia , and on the way saw a sign for Shenandoah Vineyards ,” Bill recalls . “ She stopped by , bought some wine and brought it home . We were both really impressed . I had never tasted Virginia wine before and it surprised me .” At the time Shenandoah Vineyards was only the second winery licensed in Virginia . That stuck with Bill .
Then in the early 2000s another bit of serendipity took place . By this time Bonnie and Bill had twin girls , Emily and Meredith , and son Tremain . Emily was in college doing a semester in the Italian Alps , ensconced in a 1200-year-old castle with a vineyard on the property . It was a visit from father Bill and his alpine wine tasting that brought about an epiphany of sorts . “ I remember tasting that wine — the students made it as part of their studies , and they were making wine the same way winemakers did 1200 years ago ! It was amazing , and I began to think maybe I could do it , too .” So Bill sat down with Emily ’ s professor and suggested that perhaps he could grow wine in Virginia , but “ maybe that ’ s beyond me ,” he confessed . “ Bill , it ’ s farming ... just plant the damn grapes ,” was the professor ’ s reply ! “ That really rang true for me ... I ’ d been farming all my life ! Maybe I should try it .”
And so they did . The family got busy . That spring
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