STANLEY, Va. (AP) - It’s easy to miss the entrance to Wisteria Farm and Vineyard while driving along the winding roads skirting Stanley along Hawksbill Creek. But turn the bend past the hedges mounted high, under the cascading tree branches and suddenly a white and fuchsia Victorian farmhouse emerges from the countryside, and the personalities within are certainly hard to miss.
Sue and Moussa Ishak are the owners of Wisteria Farm and Vineyard, a 16-acre micro-winery on the western slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains that uses only locally grown grapes in its wines and keeps a free-range flock raised with sustainable farming practices.
Sue was born a city girl, growing up in Washington, D.C., but she always longed for the quiet country lifestyle. Moussa was born and raised in Lebanon surrounded by sheep roaming the mountains. The two met in D.C. through a recreational volleyball league while working office jobs. After they married, they fantasized about running away to a small farm.
“The road just led us here. It had everything we wanted,” Moussa said. “It fit what we wanted, and we’ve enjoyed it since we’ve been here.”
The vineyard annually produces 1,500 cases or, 3,000 gallons, sold only on-site.
“We’re on the small side of small,” Sue said. “Our theme is casual, comfortable, relaxed.”
Keeping small allows the pair to interact with customers, Sue said, and guests are invited to stroll the property and lose themselves while admiring the views at the foothills of Shenandoah National Park. The surrounding woodsy feel is reflected in the rustic doors and wooden bar tabletops, each crafted by Moussa using cedar the couple cut down.
In the summertime, the delicate and bushy purple bloom of its namesake wisterias dust the peaceful landscape in tendrils of flowers.
“It came with the place. It was called Wisteria Bed and Breakfast,” Moussa said. “ There’s wisterias all over the property.”
When the couple purchased the property, it was a sprawling scene of trees, but the pair carved out sections for sitting, growing and perusing the backyard waterway, which hugs the property.
“We lose people down there all day,” Sue said.
While the wisteria trees are striking against the peaceful winery layout, the business’s real character comes from the animals dotting the farm. Eight long-wool sheep and too many chickens to count freely roam the Stanley field.
The couple admits they originally had hopes to be self-sustaining farmers living off the land and animals, but they grew fond of the creatures and were unable to continue harvesting the animals for meat.
“We’re not very good farmers. They live to a ripe old age,” Sue said. “We couldn’t kill them.”
Instead, the bunnies, goats, chicken and sheep became part of the family.
“We named them. They follow us everywhere,” Moussa said.
And like each grape, Moussa takes great pride and care in his animals, naming one with deliberation. Sunshine was born at sunrise, Stardust has the appearance of dust coming down her eyes and the literal black sheep, Antar, is named after an Arabian folklore about a Black warrior.
In the tasting room, which is painted with a mural depicting the village where Moussa’s family lives, visitors can purchase eggs and wool sourced from the creatures wandering nearby. Each spool of yarn sold is listed with the names of the sheep from which it was harvested.
In the backyard, grape arbors dangle chandeliers of juicy table grapes for eating and a small orchard of apples, peaches and plums grow.
While the animals and landscape are charming, the crown jewel of the vineyard is unmistakably the wine. To honor Moussa’s heritage and upbringing in Lebanon, several blends are named after Phoenician gods and mythology, which were worshiped across the Mediterranean.
“They were the first ones to make wine. They made wine for pharaohs and Mesopotamian kings,” Moussa said.
Adonis, characterized in tales for his beauty and favor of the goddess Aphrodite, lives on as a blend of merlot, petit verdot and traminette with deep cherry aromas. Ashtaroot, the principal Phoenician goddess who represented nature’s productive powers and was adopted in Greek mythology as Aphrodite, takes form at the Stanley winery as a blend of seyval, traminette and apple wine.
Carmine, chardonnay, norton, pinot gris, seyval and traminette are the staple varietals, and Moussa tends to five rows of each variety every year. Wisteria Vineyard wines are only sold on the property, and the couple said they are not interested in competing against other wineries for accolade.
“A judge saying it’s a good wine doesn’t mean you’re going to like it,” Sue said. “It’s a matter of philosophy and money.”
On Aug. 29, the winery will celebrate its 11-year anniversary. Moussa said that when the couple began their vineyard, the local wine industry was a spring chicken. Today, national acclaim is frequently awarded to wines from the Shenandoah Valley.
“The whole population in general likes wine more,” he said. “We have no desire to get bigger.”
Last year’s late winter added salt to the wound of Wisteria Farm and Vineyard, causing the loss of nearly half the season’s grapes.
Each year on the last weekend of August, the winery hosts an annual Pick ‘em & Stomp ’em festival, where guests are invited to stomp the grapes by foot and press them the next day. Prior to the physical involvement, Moussa leads a blessing of the vines prior to harvesting the grapes.
While the couple consider their property at 1,100-feet elevation a personal empire, they have no intent to expand or change. Not even to the fading fuchsia farmhouse.
“It’s Sue’s favorite color,” Moussa said.
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