Earlier versions of the photo caption with this story incorrectly identified one of the people as Stephane Derenoncourt. The man on the left is winemaker Adam McTaggert. This version has been corrected.
| Page 2 of 2 < |
Tackling a Legacy: World-Class Vintner
Winemaker Adam McTaggert draws a sample for John Kent Cooke and Cooke's stepdaughter Rachel E. Martin from Boxwood Winery near Middleburg.
(Photo By John Mcdonnell -- The Washington Post)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Cooke said he expects to make a profit on the operations but will probably not make back his capital investment during his lifetime. Cooke would not disclose his investment.
"Of course I want to make money at it, but it's more at this point a labor of love," Cooke said. "My heirs will probably make money when they sell the property. Almost the same thing as the Washington Redskins."
The Redskins did not turn much of profit until 1997, when the team moved from Washington's RFK Stadium to its current home at FedEx Field in Landover. Jack Kent Cooke died in 1997, and his estate sold the franchise two years later to Daniel M. Snyder for $800 million. The Redskins are now one of the most profitable teams in professional sports and are worth more than $1 billion.
After failing to buy the team from his father's estate, John Kent Cooke moved to Bermuda. In 2001, he returned to Middleburg, where his father had lived, and bought his current farm from the Rosenthal family, which owns auto dealerships. The farm was once owned by Gen. Billy Mitchell, the controversial general known for advocating American airpower following World War I.
"My wife and I wanted to settle down on a farm in Middleburg in 2001, and the best way to justify the farm was to have a vineyard," Cooke said.
Before launching their venture, Martin attended Napa Valley College in 2003, where she studied the science of winemaking. She also spent time at the University of Bordeaux, where she learned how to evaluate wine. After talking to a wine consultant, she and her stepfather decided the soil and climate were best suited to producing Bordeaux-style wines.
They bought special French grapevines -- called clones -- that could be grafted onto U.S.-grown root stocks. The goal was to grow high-quality grapes while resisting a small root-feeding bug, phylloxera. She hired Adam McTaggart, a winemaker from Ontario, Canada, in 2005 to manage the vineyard and make the wine.
Among the 12 employees are four at the wine bar and four vineyard workers. The vineyard grows five kinds of Bordeaux grapes, including merlot, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, petit verdot and malbec. The winery will bottle two labels of Bordeaux. Topiary will be a blend of merlot, cabernet franc and malbec. The Boxwood label will blend merlot, cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot.
McTaggart eventually wants the wine to be among the world's best, sharing shelf space with such highly regarded brands as Cheval Blanc and Rothschild Opus One.
"We have lofty aspirations," he said.
