11/26/2022
Up next we have one our writers, AJ Greely, the Associate Winemaker at Hark Vineyards!
With over a decade in the Virginia Wine Industry, AJ’s seen or participated in it all, starting in the vineyard and moving into the cellar.Her love of wine stems from a childhood helping her grandfather grow grapes in his backyard in Baltimore, and then helping him make those grapes into wine, not good wine, but still…wine.
As an adult, the bottle, that first bottle, the one that we all know and remember, the one that draws us into this wonderful world of wine, was a Chateauneuf-du-Pape at The Antrium in Taneytown, Pennsylvania. As soon as the cork was popped, that aroma, those notes filled the air, and AJ was hooked.
Making wine is not just a job for AJ, it’s a passion. She loves the people in the wine world, from the vineyard folks to the cellar staff to the others that circle this fascinating world. To her, the wine in the bottle isn’t just about the varietal, the terrior, the vintage, but about the people involved, all of them, and the love they put into each vintage.
Perhaps her favorite thing about making wine in Virginia is the collaborative way the folks in the Virginia Wine and Vineyard Industries work, meeting up, sharing ideas, helping each other out, and cheering each other on.
Currently, now that harvest has finished, and the cold weather has settled in, AJ’s sitting in front of her wood stove, and drinking a lovely port, or opening up a bottle of Bandol that she’s been saving!
AJ surely knows how to write and draw people in, and truly one of the biggest joys of being a member of The Wine Guild is being able to delve into the wine world through the lenses of our writers. Thanks AJ for your words and all that you do 🥂
