wedded to the land , determinedly working to keep it as in Bill ’ s and Bonnie ’ s case ? Bill muses that maybe it was his great grandfather ’ s ancestral influence , a steamship captain and owner who lost his ship and everything he worked for on one fateful day when caught in the current at the mouth of San Francisco Bay . He was able to rebound three years later becoming stronger and more successful than ever . Or his father who never knew his own father , yet intent on giving his family a life on the land . “ My dad used to say about the land you own , ‘ Once it ’ s gone it ’ s gone . You can be someplace else but it ’ s not this place ,’” remembers Bill . “ Optimism comes with farming — it ’ s the most addictive gambling there is . Last year we had six frost events and somehow we survived . So far we ’ ve never lost the whole crop . And now vintage 19 is coming up , and we ’ ve only had three that were problematic .”
Saving farmland takes serious effort and the Hatch family has taken on the task of preserving the beauty and bounty of a Loudoun legacy farm , whose operation dates back to the mid-1700s , with the determination for it to remain for generations to come .
Unfortunately , according to John Piotti , American Farmland Trust CEO , farmland is being lost at a rate of “ 1.5 million acres a year ... or three acres a minute . It ’ s an irreplaceable resource that we need to grow our food . Some loss of farmland is inevitable , but that level is simply unsustainable .”
Bill says , “ We ’ re doing it because we want to keep this land and the home we have in our family . Being somewhere else is not here . This place is where we have connection . This is where we ’ ve seen everything happen . I feel like an old timer sometimes because holding onto the important things is getting to be harder and harder . And it ’ s rewarding when guests see who we are and what were trying to do ... and they ’ re all for preserving this place and relaxing and enjoying it . Bonnie and I want people to have conversations . We want people to see that the grapes can be grown here and enjoy this land , too .”
As for the wines at Zepheniah ? Bonnie will tell you that you won ’ t find any descriptions of the wines at the vineyard . “ When people describe wines so intently , it often doesn ’ t allow the person drinking the wine to experience it themselves . And I want people to trust what they perceive , not listen to me . Bill and I will taste wine , we ’ ll disagree , and that ’ s fine ,” she laughs , stating that a woman ’ s sense of smell has been scientifically proven to be superior to men ’ s . “ Our wines are a bit less expensive than others , too . One day a visitor exclaimed that the Zephaniah wines couldn ’ t be that good because of their lower price point . Bonnie ’ s response was perfect . “ Actually we price our wines so teachers like me can afford them .”
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