Zephaniah Farm Vineyard
- Zephaniah Farm Vineyard is located a few miles south of Leesburg in Loudoun County, on County route 704, on a 376-acre third-generation working farm. Bill Hatch and his four siblings grew up tending the former dairy farm, which today raises grass-fed Angus. In addition to being a farmer, winemaker, and a senior video operator for ABC News in Washington, DC, Bill is also a family historian and gladly shares the family, farm, and winery history with interested visitors.
- Wine. One of Virginia’s Top 100 wineries, and among the Top 50 Northern Virginia wineries. Awarded a gold medal at the 2023 Virginia Governor’s Cup state-wide wine-tasting competition, for the 2019 Friendship – a Petit Verdot/ Merlot blend, and voted the winner of the “Best Hybrid Red” of Loudoun County for their Three Captains red blend in both 2022 and 2021. The 2017, 2018 and 2019 vintages of the Three Captains red were also awarded silver medals at the 2023 Governor’s Cup event, as were the 2019 Adeline (a white blend) and Possibilities (a sparkling wine). Two other Zephaniah wines, the 2019 Steamship white and the 2017 Cabernet Franc, settled for bronze medals. Nine Zephaniah wines were awarded silver medals at the 2022 Best of Loudoun event. Travel & Leisure picked Zephaniah as one of its top 25 wineries in 2018. Hatch planted his first grapes in 2002 and uses a traditional practice of canopy management to maximize leaf and fruit exposure to the sun and incorporates sustainable farming techniques.
- Setting: one star. Century-old trees line the picturesque drive leading to the 1830 manor house that was constructed by the same builder of nearby Oak Hill, the home of former president James Monroe. Tastings are generally held in rooms of the beautiful old Quaker home, mainly the dining room, with seating also in the sitting room and the Library. For fans of old books, the Library – with its old card catalogue – is the place to go.
- Stories: two stars. A Virginia farm with a very present past. (1) Origins. Bill Hatch dreamed of owning a winery for twenty years, but it wasn’t until 2001, after meeting one of his son’s Italian professors who owns a vineyard, that Bill was inspired to take the leap into viticulture. The winery is named after Bill’s great-grandfather, Zephaniah Jefferson Hatch, who built and owned the Monticello Steamboat Company in the late 1800s. Zephaniah’s ferry crossed the San Francisco Bay three times a day, from San Francisco to Vallejo, the drop-off point for Napa Valley wine and travelers. The ferry’s bell hangs outside the home, and was used in years past to call the Hatch family to dinner. (2) Ghosts. Food & Wine Magazine ran a great piece in June 2017 entitled “the Ghostly Story of Zephaniah Farm Vineyard.” The 200-year old farmhouse was reportedly the scene of a paranormal investigation, after the owners and employees reported voices that they tied to a story about a murder committed in 1911 upon the farm. The investigation concluded that the ghosts prefer the Library.