// origins
A bottle of wine — perhaps more than anything else on earth — reflects its time, its place, and the people who made it.
In January 2016, our team — farmers, winemakers, and dreamers — partnered with distinguished geologist Ernest “Bubba” Beasley to search for the perfect hillside to plant a new vineyard. With Bubba’s expertise in advanced geologic mapping and weather data, we set out with clear intentions: healthy soils, high elevation, ideal topography, and a climate suited for growing vibrant, expressive wines. No vineyard should be planted in unexplored ground.
Months of searching led us here: Burnt Hill Farm — 117 acres perched high in the hills of Maryland’s Piedmont Plateau, just 30 miles northwest of Washington, D.C. At the end of a long day digging soil pits across the ridge, Bubba stood up, brushed the dirt from his hands, and said:
"This site has the potential to grow extraordinary wines."
We purchased the farm on December 20, 2016. Then, we built a foundation. For two years, we cultivated diverse cover crops, integrated animals, and applied biodynamic practices to enliven the soil and establish a thriving polyculture system. By spring 2019, the ground was ready.
We planted the old-world grape varieties we love — Cabernet Franc, Gamay, Syrah, and more — alongside native American vines and multi-heritage hybrids like Regent — a cross of Silvaner, Müller-Thurgau, and Chambourcin. These grapes, resilient and full of character, allow us to farm organically and craft wines that are uniquely our own — expressive, wild, and unmistakably Burnt Hill.
// the name
This wild hillside, known as Burnt Hill, gets its name from the fires early settlers used to revitalize the land. In the 1800s, farmers found it difficult to grow crops on this steep, rocky ground — so instead, they burned timber to make charcoal, lye, and potash for cooking, soap making, and fertilizer.
Fast forward 200 years, and we believe the name Burnt Hill still speaks to the potential of this place. As the Romans discovered millennia ago, the best wines aren’t grown on flat, fertile land — they’re grown on rocky hillsides where other crops struggle.
Today, Burnt Hill is a beautiful farm with a new purpose: growing mighty grapevines that yield wines with distinctive character you can taste.
// The Mark
Our logo is a portrait of sensible and ambitious winemaking. The sun, just appearing at the crest of the hill, sprays beams upwards and shadows down. This creates a network of deep roots, which can alternately be read as a soil map – irregular, geometric and contained in the clean arc of the hillside. The patterns contained in the horizons both differentiate the soil types, and also hint at the simultaneous diversity and repetition of the tasks that yield exceptional wine.
The sun’s rays reach the edges of the atmosphere, leading further up into the cosmos, which takes the shape of a labyrinth. This adds further dimension to the mysteries of agriculture. The path is not always clear but there is both wisdom and direction all around us.
The Burnt Hill Project mark is a dynamic picture of the multifarious and singular identity that it embodies.
// regenerative farming
We think of our farm as a living, breathing organism. Like a human body with its network of organs, Burnt Hill is a complex system of interacting forces — soil, plants, animals, fungi, and people — all working together in delicate balance.
Much about a hill — its elevation, its slope, its exposure — can’t be changed. But other things — like biodiversity, soil health, and resilience — can be shaped and strengthened through the way we farm.
While the vineyard is at the heart of what we do, we invest just as deeply in the life of the farm as a whole. We raise longwool sheep, woodland hogs, honey bees, log-grown mushrooms, heritage grains, and a small orchard — always with reverence for the relationships between the land and all things who call it home. In beautiful symbiosis, we give to this place, trusting it will give back in time.
Burnt Hill is both a reflection of those who came before us and a responsibility to those who will come after.
// Terroir
Our wines are a love letter to the place they call home.
Burnt Hill Farm is a wild, windswept hillside overlooking the Appalachian Mountains, shaped by ancient geology and an airy landscape.
Steep slopes and rocky, well-drained soils — composed of phyllite and schist, layered with veins of quartzite — challenge vines to dig deep and reward us with wines of remarkable energy and character. Naturally low in potassium — a mineral that, in excess, can dull a wine’s acidity — these shallow, skeletal soils help our wines retain their freshness, vibrancy, and ageability.
We work by hand, in rhythm with nature, to honor this place. Harvesting at peak ripeness, fermenting with wild yeast, and aging in ash wood foeders — crafted from trees grown right here on the farm.
The result is wine that offers a true taste of Burnt Hill.
