January 2020
This photo was taken in December of 2019. It's sunrise. I'm having a cup of coffee watching it slowly illuminate the surrounding hills. The damp fog dissipating in the warmth of the cool winter sun. I'll end up spending the day pruning not the vines in the photo but some to the west a few 100 yards. They are still in shadows at this time. So, how is Clark & Clark, a company that makes jewelry"inspired by the sea" connected with the Virginia Wine industry? Like most families, things can get wonky and complicated. But, once explained it's usually quite easy to see how things came to be.
The abbreviated story goes something like this. Clark & Clark is a family business. As such it's intertwined with my family and my life. My husband has wanted a farm. I agreed to a vineyard. We then purchased some land in Western Virginia with plans to eventually move and build a winery there. While we continued to work in Norfolk, Virginia we would work the land when we could until my husband retired from the Navy. In 2016 we, this is a big WE; my husband and I, our children, friends my son met at Virginia Military Institute and my sister in-law with two of her close friends all came together to plant over 2200 vines.
Yep, we are a little heavier on the ambition side than the resource side of that equation. We have continued to work in the vineyard and mature it. And it is a lot of work. And it changes each year as the vines mature, some things get easier and new opportunities arise. Keeping a positive attitude is half the battle and the property is so beautiful and peaceful it's easy to do most days. We are not making wine yet. Proudly and with the help of family and friends we have managed to bring in a harvest in 2018 under terrible wet rainy conditions courtesy of Hurricane Florence and a beautiful harvest in 2019!
We shall see if Cincinnatus Vineyards influences the jewelry of Clark & Clark. Maybe a Land & Sea collection...maybe call it "surf & turf". Or maybe at a later Coastal Virginia Wine Festival we'll have Cincinnatus Vineyards offering wine tasting along side Clark & Clark.
Cheers!