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The foundation for Early Mountain’s nationally renowned wine program came in large part through the hard work and contributions of our next Founders, Ben Jordan and Patt Eagan. Ben and Patt brought their passion for wines from around the world as well as Ben’s experience in Sonoma Valley winemaking and Patt’s family ties to Champagne to their time at Early Mountain. This expertise and knowledge in turn helped create wines beloved well beyond Virginia’s borders

The vision for Early Mountain's unique hospitality offering was carefully crafted by several key food and wine professionals. Among those esteemed professionals were Michelle Gueydan, sommelier, and Jenn Crovato, Executive Chef. Michelle and Jenn endeavored to create a tasting room experience that was more elevated and vibrant than what was being found elsewhere in Virginia. The concept of expert curation lays at the heart of the Early Mountain experience. Both Michelle and Jenn made sure that our guests enjoyed the most interesting and lauded wines from all corners of the Commonwealth, as well as the freshest local ingredients used to comprise our menu items, both highlighted in our features this week.

Michelle curated a flight of Virginia wines that represent exceptional quality with distinguishable terroir driven characteristics, focusing on bottlings where the people behind them embody what it means to be true stewards of their land. Highlighted wineries inlcude Glen Manor, Linden Vineyards, and Ankida Ridge.

Jenn wanted to take things back to our iconic grilled cheese sandwich, a highlight of her tenure at Early Mountain, a sandwich with a bit of a cult following. Executive Chef Tim Moore created his "Eccentric Grilled Cheese" an open-faced interpretation with local alpine cheese, Kite's country him, stewed apples, arugula, and Cou Cou Rachou pumpernickel rye.

Early Mountain is fortunate to have had these two amazing professionals as part of the original team. Michelle and Jenn helped define our unique brand of winery hospitality and set a course for the business that has led to numerous awards and accolades.

We invite you to celebrate Early Mountain Vineyards' 10th anniversary with us! We have come so far thanks to the amazing talent and hard work of many, and we are honored to continue this journey with our exceptional team and all of you. In celebration and appreciation, we will be offering special "Founder's Flights" in the Tasting Room beginning October 20th, as well as delicious dishes inspired by foundational contributors here at Early Mountain. We hope you can join us to raise a glass (or two)!

We’re so pleased to highlight Neal Wavra for our first set of features, available October 20th-24th. Neal is the proprietor of award-winning Field & Main restaurant in Marshall, VA and a long-time wine educator who helped lay the groundwork for the strong knowledge of our hospitality team. 

Summer is here and Early Mountain Rosé makes every gathering a party! This summer, we want to see photos or videos of your #EMVRoséParty. All #EMVRoséParty photos or videos will earn the chance to win a personal Rosé party. Post your  favorite Rosé photo via Instagram feed, and we’ll pick our favorite three to win one of our Insta-worthy prizes. Prizes include a Rosé brunch for you and 7 friends in the Early Mountain Meadow ($500 value), a curated Rosé Party Set ($250 value), or a voucher for two 2021 Rosé Magnums ($110 value).

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HOW TO ENTER:

1. Post your #EMVRoséParty inspired photo or video on your Instagram feed prior to Wednesday, June 15th at 11:59 pm EST
2. Use hashtag #EMVRoséParty on all posts and tag @earlymountain
3. Tag three friends that you would invite to your Rosé party
4. We know how fantastic you are behind the camera, and it might be hard to choose just one pic. You can post multiple entries but each must feature a different photo or video.

(US Residents Only. Must be 21 years old to enter. Contest is in no way endorsed or sponsored by Instagram. Winners will be contacted by June 17th at 5 pm EST.)

All photos must be original work, taken by the entrants. All persons included in submitted photos must be 21 or older. No third party may own or control any materials the photo contains, and the photo must not infringe upon the trademark, copyright, moral rights, intellectual rights, or rights of privacy of any entity or person.

• Violators will be removed from the contest, stripped of any prize(s), and banned from entering future contests.
• Entries will not be accepted unless submitted via Instagram feed and following the contest rules. Entries not submitted through the proper channel will not be counted.
• Entries will be judged by Early Mountain Vineyards. All decisions are final. The Company reserves the right to disqualify any entry that is deemed inappropriate or does not conform to stated contest rules.
• By entering the contest, entrants agree that photos submitted can be used by Early Mountain for advertising purposes.
• Submissions will not be accepted once the deadline lapses.
• The prize must be collected by the winner and is non-transferable.
• The winner will be contacted via the Instagram messenger account used to submit the photo. If no response is received after two business days, a new winner will be selected and the previous winner will forfeit all rights to the prize.
• The contest is void where prohibited or restricted by law.

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Madison, VA, August 28, 2022 – Early Mountain announced the appointment of Maya Hood White as winemaker at the award-winning Virginia winery. After overseeing Early Mountain’s vineyards and playing an integral role in the development and production of multiple award-winning vintages asAssociate Winemaker, Maya’s promotion represents a doubling down on EarlyMountain’s commitment to quality, innovation and vision that have been the hallmark of the winery. 

“It is an exciting time at Early Mountain Vineyards as Maya HoodWhite steps up to become Winemaker. I am fully confident that Maya will leadEarly Mountain to even greater heights as we enter our second decade”, saidJean Case. “Our winemaking approach has been highly collaborative over the past5 years which will allow us to seamlessly transition under Maya’s leadership, while maintaining the extraordinary quality and style that has earned us significant recognition from the industry and from our treasured customers. All of us at Early Mountain are proud and grateful that we have reached such a high quality in our wines produced in Virginia and, I have no doubt with Maya as winemaker, we will continue to build on our successes and reach new heights.” 

According to long-time celebrated enological consultant PaulHobbs, “Maya brings the rare combination of detailed knowledge in both the vineyard and winery whereas most in this industry focus on only one. She is a thoughtful winemaker with serious analytical chops able to craft wines of texture, complexity, and beauty.”   

Maya has been an integral part of the Early Mountain team since2014 quickly progressing through the ranks to Vineyard Manager & Enologist and then to Associate Winemaker & Viticulturist for five harvests. She has contributed to winemaking across the portfolio as well as leading our sparkling wine program. Maya has also overseen our 55 acres of estate vineyards throughout her tenure bringing a philosophy of low intervention, sustainability, and ongoing experimentation to best bring the essence of our sites to bottle. According to Maya, “While I never planned to stay in Virginia wine country, the opportunity at Early Mountain to farm extraordinary vineyard sites like Quaker Run, while also being supported to use innovation and cutting-edge agricultural practices to respond to ever changing vintages, really drew me in. The ability to engage deeply in both viticulture and winemaking kept me here and I am fully sold on the bright future for Virginia wine.”

Maya has deep roots in wine with a childhood spent in Santa Barbara, California, and fond memories of exploring wineries together with her parents and grandmother. After a degree at Virginia Tech focusing on mathematics and a stint in engineering, Maya sought a career in which she could be hands-on in nature while also applying her tangible understanding of chemistry. She returned to her home state and achieved a MS degree at the prestigiousUniversity of California at Davis in Viticulture & Enology. Maya’s thesis work focused on bubble nucleation in sparkling wine, with her work published in The American Journal of Enology & Viticulture. A focus on the burgeoning Virginia wine industry came after a role as the first research coordinator at the Winery Research Exchange, a nascent group of young and ambitious Virginia winemakers who pool knowledge to quickly advance understanding of wine growing in this region.

Peter Hoehn, CEO, shares that, “We are deeply grateful to Ben Jordan, our winemaker since 2015, whose foundational work and leadership has helped bring Early Mountain and our wines to national attention. Early Mountain has been proud to incubate Ben's two partner wine projects and wish him well as he begins the next chapter of his career, building a new wine venture with his brother in the Shenandoah Valley.”  

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