At Chiswell Farm & Winery, we’re not just cultivating our vineyard. We’re cultivating a community. So as we enter our second full year of welcoming guests, we’re excited to introduce our Winery & Tasting Room Manager, Kephany Powell. Since September 2022, Kephany has been serving up exceptional wine and experiences to match. She plays an important role in our close-knit community—and in the exciting new developments on the horizon.

Toward the Tasting Room

After Kephany moved to Central Virginia in 1998, she began meeting with friends and family at Crozet vineyards, sharing the pleasures of companionship, wine, and those distinctive Blue Ridge views. Along the way, she became fascinated with the history of wine and viticulture. She grew enamored with the way that wineries serve as unique places to gather and make memories.

She’d found herself in a wine region with an exciting mix of the old and the new. We have a history of grape cultivation stretching back to Thomas Jefferson, and we’re also one of the up-and-coming wine regions of the world!

Kephany’s interest increased until, one day, she made the jump from her career in retail sales and management to a new career in the local wine scene. She worked at Veritas Vineyard and Winery and Keswick Vineyards before coming to Chiswell, where she combines the skills of her former career with her passion for wineries.

Crafting the Chiswell Experience

As the Winery & Tasting Room Manager, Kephany specializes in the guest experience. Visitors should feel, she says, like guests being welcomed into a home.

One of the most unique parts of Chiswell’s hospitality, which she loves, is that its beautiful and historic Greenwood home is fully open. Guests can choose any room to enjoy wine and fellowship with one another. From the cozy sitting rooms to the Big Ash Bar, from the porch to the sloping lawn, the variety of spaces allows visitors to tailor the perfect experience for their visit.

Kephany also helps guests select their wine. Her first piece of advice is always simple: drink what you enjoy! Then she might ask about the circumstance. Are you looking to sip a glass by itself, or to pair it with a meal? What is the occasion? The answers to all of these can help shape her recommendation. 

For herself, she looks for wines that don’t feel overpowered by any single attribute. She loves when all the elements, from tannins to sweetness, reach a balance. Since she adores all the Chiswell wines she serves, it’s hard to get her to pick out favorites. If you press her, though, she just might choose the 2021 Sauvignon Blanc or the 2021 Cabernet Franc!

“I love engaging with our visitors and having the opportunity to serve delicious wines with a true sense of hospitality. It’s fun meeting new people and treating them to the Chiswell experience, but it’s also so rewarding to recognize familiar faces that walk through the front door.”

-Kephany

Exciting Developments

There’s so much to look forward to at Chiswell, Kephany says. One project she’s especially proud of is Crown Club. Since fall of 2022, Crown Club has offered members the opportunity to connect with exquisite wine and a tight-knit community of fellow enthusiasts. She can’t wait to carry out more of the quarterly celebrations where members pick up their wines and enjoy shared activities at the winery and orchards.

The elegant home and gorgeous views at Chiswell have also been drawing a lot of interest as a venue for weddings and special events. In the not-too-distant future, those special celebrations will be an exciting addition to Chiswell’s slate of activities. Already, small groups can book rooms to reserve a beautiful, private setting for their get-togethers.

Finally, the return to warmer months will bring extended hours, live music on Fridays and Sundays, and lots of other events that Kephany loves preparing for and then seeing our guests enjoy.

“I want everyone to experience the delicious wines and special qualities that characterize Chiswell, so I look forward to pouring you a glass soon!”

-Kephany

When you do come in for your next visit, be sure to say hi to Kephany!

Want a deeper experience of Virginia wine? Join the (Crown) Club!

As we continue making our mark in the Greenwood community, we are eager to welcome Amanda Gough as our Winery & Tasting Room Manager! Amanda brings her extensive experience in hospitality, a passion for fine arts, and a taste for fantastic wine to the Chiswell Farm & Winery family.

The Road to Chiswell

A Crozet native, Amanda is deeply ingrained in the local hospitality industry. From refilling bread and water at dinner tables to executing special events and banquets, she understands what it takes to be a welcoming hostess.

Of all the things she learned during this time, she is the most grateful for having developed a problem-solving mindset. This mindset is incredibly valuable as we continue expanding winery offerings and cultivating our place in the Virginia wine community.

Amanda is also traditionally trained as an oil painter and has extensive experience with charcoal. When asked about her work as a figurative artist, she said, “Art just chooses you. The two constants in my life were always art and hospitality. Growing up, I changed what I wanted to do, but those two always stuck.”

Pursuing a Passion for Wine

The Winery & Tasting Room Manager position presented itself as an opportunity for Amanda to expand her wine knowledge, of which she already had plenty. While growing up, she learned about the delights of food and wine from her mother. This sparked her interest in wine education: a field in which there’s always something new to learn or taste. 

“Wine symbolizes coming together in an enjoyable time. It also symbolizes an educational moment. I’m learning as much as I can because it never stops and there’s always new groundbreaking technologies going into wine…It’s the most delicious puzzle you get to drink!”

While wine was already a personal passion for Amanda, her love of the craft was amplified while working as a Beverage Manager for a live music venue in Farmville. Through this position, she attended different wine education gatherings and purchasing meetings to develop her palette. On a personal note, Amanda enjoys acidic, deep, earthy, and bold wines—although it always depends on what she’s eating!

In tasting different wines from all around the world—from Oregon pinot noirs to California cabernet sauvignons and French rosés—she was intrigued by how various agricultural factors contribute to the unique qualities of each vintage. Naturally, this intersects with our family’s 30-plus years of experience in growing wine grapes.  

“Picturesque doesn’t quite cover how beautiful this estate is. It’s incredibly charming, elegant, filled with history, peaceful, intimate, and inviting.”

Embracing the Chiswell Charm and Community

Amanda’s affinity for the arts is what initially drew her to Chiswell. As an Art History major, she has always been interested in historical estates, and Chiswell fit the bill. Of the many things that make Chiswell special, one of Amanda’s favorites is that the historical home is completely available to the public.

With multiple indoor sitting rooms, guests can have their own intimate and private space, even when sharing the house with other groups. The ground floor’s “Greenwood Room”, which features emerald walls, framed botanicals, and a poetic fireplace for rainy days, is one of Amanda’s favorite indoor spaces.

Equally stunning is the beautiful, peaceful environment that is the Chiswell property. With panoramic views and families of birds nesting all around the home, she describes the area itself as a work of art.

In honor of the landscape—and its fortifying beauty being impossible to capture on camera—Amanda is currently commissioned to do a painting of the surrounding property for the winery’s tasting room. This painting will be one of the many ways in which she contributes to the unique setting that guests can expect when visiting.

“We have the house; we have the food; we have the wine; now we just need the Chiswell family.”

Looking at the year ahead, Amanda wants Chiswell Farm & Winery to provide an elevated experience for guests. She understands that for many, day-to-day life can be filled with stress. For that reason, she aims to make the winery a haven for folks to enjoy the people that they’re with, the wine that they are drinking, and their free time.