Joanna Breault – C-VILLE Weekly

One-stop shop: Meriwether Springs offers wine, beer, and a place to lay your head at day’s end

One of the first things that catches your eye when you walk onto the patio of Meriwether Springs Vineyard & Brewery is the teepee. It’s made of gray canvas, about seven feet tall, and it’s flanked by a play castle and an assortment of balls, hula hoops, and Frisbees. Beyond this is a footbridge crafted from one huge, arching tree, spanning a dry creek bed and leading to the ruins of the original Lewis family springhouse. String lights illuminate the area. This kind of childhood paradise is not a common sight at Charlottesville-area vineyards, but owners Ed and Regina Pierce have deliberately chosen to include elements like these just for the delight of the vineyard’s smallest patrons. Within a sphere that sometimes feels stuffy or elite, the Pierces have opened a venue that has something for everyone.

Regina, whose mother is Austrian, spent some of her childhood in Europe, and fondly remembers afternoons at vineyards and bier gardens with family of all ages. Now that she and Ed are grandparents, she says, it is even more important to them that all feel welcome at their vineyard/brewery.

While the Pierces have included fun elements for kids, they are serious about making great- quality wine and beer. To do so requires expertise, and theirs came with many hours of trial and error. As career educators, Ed and Regina Pierce are used to instructing others, but as brand new vintners, they became the pupils.

The Pierces bought the 40-acre parcel of land in 2011 because it abutted their property and they wanted to keep it from being developed. But in order to afford the mortgage, they needed the land to generate a profit, so they decided to plant a vineyard and use the post-and-beam barn that had been built on the land 16 years ago as an event venue. With the advice of numerous consultants, the Pierces planted grapes in 2012, knowing it would take three or more years to grow a crop worthy of wine-making. At first, the going was rough.

“The first year we planted, half the vineyard died,” Ed Pierce says. “We had a really late April frost where it got in the single digits. We replanted, and the second year, we lost a third of it in an almost identical scenario.”

All of the experts they consulted stressed the importance of “learning the vineyard” so that they would be able to knowledgeably evaluate the input of future vineyard managers. So rather than outsourcing the care of their vineyard, Ed and Regina rolled up their sleeves and, with the help of their adult children and some local high school students, worked the land themselves.

“It’s really labor-intensive, so that added years to our lives,” Ed laughs. “If there was a mistake to be made, we made it, which is really how you learn. But now it’s in good shape. We had a good harvest last year and should have a decent one this year.”

Meriwether Springs serves six different wines, all from their own vineyards and made via “custom crush” by the King family. The current local favorites are the petit verdot and the vidal blanc.

In late 2017, Ed and Regina made the decision to add a brewpub to their business.

“We would open the winery and couples would come in and sometimes one would want wine and the other would want beer,” Ed says. “We thought, ‘Why not offer both?’”

They constructed a 10-barrel brew house and a bar and hired John Bryce, an internationally recognized brew master, to oversee the brewing. He is currently producing six different original beers. The soft opening of the brewery was in August, orchestrated by Jesse Pappas, the new director of operations.

In addition to all of that, Meriwether Springs is also an Airbnb rental. A spacious home that sleeps 14, it has been popular for UVA alumni events, family reunions, and bachelorette parties. It is the only establishment like it—combination winery, brewery, and guest house—in the state.

And Ed and Regina aren’t done expanding their offerings. In October, they will start serving wood-fired pizza made to order on the premises. As an unconventional twist, they are retrofitting an old Alaskan fire-fighting bus for food preparation, and constructing a wood- burning oven on a trailer. Stay tuned.

Along for the ride: A local equestrian takes the reins

Horses and all things equestrian abound here in the Charlottesville area. From stables offering boarding, lessons, and trail rides to venues for foxhunting and polo, this community is a horse-lover’s paradise.

Grace Ayyildiz of Free Union found her passion for horses at a young age. At 7 years old, she tried horseback riding at the invitation of a friend; the friend, like so many little girls, lost interest after a while, but Ayyildiz hasn’t stopped riding horses since.

“I just like being around them,” she says simply.

Ayyildiz rides at the Barracks Farm, a barn in western Albemarle County owned by Claiborne and Tom Bishop that is home to 80 horses. Primarily a boarding/training facility, Barracks Farm is also host to the UVA riding team, giving lessons to 50 to 70 students per week, in addition to year-round locals.

While her friends are busy with sports and clubs, Ayyildiz can be found at the Barracks Farm six days a week for as many hours as possible. She spends her time in a ring or on a trail, astride the back of her beloved Dutch Warmblood, Zambo.

“There’s something so fulfilling about it, just to go out to the barn and get away from everyone and just be with your horse,” she says.

But for Ayyildiz, horseback riding isn’t all about the sweetness of solitude; she is an avid competitor, taking lessons twice a week and showing once or twice a month all over the state and sometimes beyond. She mostly competes in the hunter division, a discipline that focuses on style, form, and evenness. Horses are expected to circle the ring smoothly and meet jumps from the proper distance. In contrast, the jumper division takes time into account, and the equitation division judges the rider’s form more than that of the horse.

Ayyildiz finds that showing as a hunter matches her personality.

“You want to be perfect,” she says. “Every time you’re like, ‘How could I have made that better? How could I just have gotten a few more points?’ I’m a total perfectionist. Oftentimes with riding, it’s five steps forward, four steps back. But I like the feeling that I’m always learning something new, I’m always finding out something about myself, about my horse.”

Ayyildiz, who started showing in late elementary school, also likes to win. She competes as a Junior (meaning under 18 as of December 1) and has won championships at shows around Virginia. This past summer, she and Zambo placed second in the Junior/Amateur section of the Virginia Hunter Championships as well as winning the Bryan trophy for an equitation class held at Deep Run Horse Show. Winning the Bryan trophy was especially meaningful to Ayyildiz because one of her trainers, Maria Shannon, won it herself as a Junior.

Ayyildiz is deeply connected to her trainers and to many others at Barracks Farm who have helped her progress to the level at which she now competes.

“They really brought me along. I learned how to canter there and now I’m showing competitively. It’s really cool to have that consistency,” Ayyildiz says. “Everyone there has always gone out of their way to help me improve not only as a rider but as a horseman. There’s a really heavy emphasis on horsemanship, which is that you’re not just coming out here to ride the horse, you’re coming to learn how to take care of one, too.”

Shannon, who has known Ayyildiz for over a decade, explains that riding and caring for Zambo is not always smooth sailing.

“Sometimes he can be a bad boy,” Shannon says. “When he’s wonderful, he’s wonderful, but we all have an alter ego. When Zambo is bad, Grace calls him ‘Bill,’ his alter ego name. But she loves him no matter what.”

Ayyildiz, who attends St. Anne’s- Belfield School, admits that balancing academics and horseback riding can be tricky, but she has learned a lot about time management. Though she doesn’t plan to pursue a career related to riding, she has never considered laying this interest aside.

“I’ve never thought about quitting,” Ayyildiz says. “A lot of people hit middle school and they quit. …They discover boys and friends and things get weird and they don’t want to do it anymore. I have never thought about quitting. I don’t know what I would do if this wasn’t a part of my life. Sometimes I think, ‘How much free time would I have? A lot!’ But I don’t know what I would do without it.