Afton Mountain Vineyards gets new owners

Longtime customers of Afton Mountain Vineyards have started stopping by the farm to say goodbye to its founders.

Shinko and Tom Corpora, who started the Nelson County winery, are selling the 52-acre farm and its winery buildings, residence and about 12 acres of vinifera wine grapes to Elizabeth and Tony Smith, its owners announced today.

The Smiths live in Suffolk but grew up in Albemarle County, the winery owners said in a release announcing the sale.

The sale officially will close Tuesday, and the Smiths will take over operation of the farm winery immediately. The Corporas will provide consulting services through the 2009 growing season, and then they plan to retire from the wine business.

The vineyard contains some of the oldest European wine grapevines in Virginia. David Mefford of Richmond planted the original vines on what would become the Afton Mountain Vineyards site in 1978 and 1979. The Corporas bought the property from Mefford in 1988, and they made their first commercial wines in 1990, under the tutelage of vineyard and winery consultant Gabriele Rausse. The Corporas opened their winery to the public in 1991.

“We were very naive about this when we started,” Tom Corpora said. “The Virginia wine industry wasn’t what it is today. We’ve accomplished what we set out to do. We didn’t have great expectations, but a dream.”

Shinko Corpora said Tuesday that the winery wasn’t on the market when the Smiths discovered it through a real estate agent. The Corporas hadn’t been thinking about retiring now, but Shinko Corpora said the price was right.

The Smiths have a number of local ties. Both graduated from Albemarle High School. They have parents living in Albemarle County. Their daughter, Tess, will graduate from the University of Virginia in May.

Elizabeth Smith said she and her husband got interested in grape growing a year ago at a university symposium. Their quest for the best vineyard site led them to Afton Mountain, where they had been before to taste wine. She said that the beauty of the land also impressed the couple.

“We thought it would be a three- to five-year program,” Elizabeth Smith said about creating a vineyard. “Several months later, it’s a three- to five-month program. We’re putting our house here in Suffolk on the market next week.”

The Smiths’ son, Hunter, will get married in May, and then he and his bride, Danielle, will join the Smiths at work at the winery.

Tony Smith has been in the real estate development and management business in the Tidewater area. For the past two years, he has taught a real estate course the Darden School of Business, from which he graduated. Elizabeth Smith earned an undergraduate degree at UVa and was an investment analyst and teacher, as well as a civic leader in Suffolk.

As for the Corporas, they’re trying to figure out where to go next. A home in Tom Corpora’s native California is a possibility, as is a place in North Carolina or the Charlottesville area.

Moving on won’t be easy.

“I think it’s going to be very difficult for Tom to leave this place because he’s put so much of his sweat into making the vineyard look as nice as it is,” Shinko Corpora said.

Wherever the Corporas land, their future probably will include travel. Almost every member of the family has walked part of the Camino de Santiago, a system of trails across Europe that leads to the rumored burial grounds of St. James the apostle. After they return from a walking tour from France to Northern Spain with their older son, the couple may take similar walks in England and Ireland.

The Corporas will introduce the Smiths to guests who attend the second weekend of the winery’s Spring Open House. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and admission is free.

The Spring Open House this weekend will give visitors a chance to sample the first of the 2008 vintage of white wines, including Gewurtztraminer, Riesling and Unwooded Chardonnay.

Complimentary hors d’oeuvres will be served. For information about the event, call (540) 456-8667.