How Enchanted Green Acres Came to Be

For nearly two decades now, Hiddencroft Vineyards has been more than a place to taste wine. Since opening our tasting room in 2008 on this old Virginia farmstead, it has also been a place for conversation.

At first, the questions were the ones you’d expect.
What grapes are in this wine?
Why does this vintage taste different from the last one?
What’s the difference between oak barrels and stainless steel?

But over time, the questions grew broader—and more interesting.

People began asking about the land itself.
How old is the farmhouse?
Who lived here before us?
What was this area like a hundred years ago?
What’s that building over there?
Why do foxes seem to appear every spring?
What birds are those in the trees after harvest?

And then there were the stories—yours and ours. Stories about where people came from, the farms or towns they grew up in, the grandparents who worked land or mines, the places they no longer lived but still carried with them. Standing at the tasting counter, glass in hand, it became clear that wine was often just the beginning of the conversation.

As stewards of this property, our curiosity naturally followed. Learning the history of the land helped us care for it better—how it had been used, how it had been altered, what endured. Maintaining old buildings, planting vines, observing wildlife, and working the seasons drew us deeper into the rhythms of this place and this region of Virginia.

Eventually, we realized something: we were answering the same questions again and again—not because they were repetitive, but because they mattered.

So we started writing.

At first, it was answers to frequently asked questions. Then simple articles—stories about vineyard work, the seasons, the buildings, the wildlife, and the history we were uncovering. Writing gave us a way to slow those tasting-room conversations down and let them linger. Then came longer pieces. Then local history tours and talks. Then books. Then essays and reflections that branched out from wine into land stewardship, local history, rural life, and the small, often overlooked details that give a place its character.

That is how Enchanted Green Acres was born.

While Hiddencroft Vineyards remains our home for wine—our tasting room, our bottles, our vineyard—the deeper stories that support and surround our winemaking now live at Enchanted Green Acres. It’s where we share the “why” behind what we do: how land shapes people, how history echoes forward, how curiosity grows from simple questions asked across a counter.

In many ways, Enchanted Green Acres is a continuation of the same conversation we’ve been having with you for 18 years—just written down this time.

And like all good conversations, it started with someone asking a question.

© 2025 Terry Housel. All rights reserved.
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