The Williamsburg Winery is buzzing with new plans, adding beehives to vineyard

The Williamsburg Winery is buzzing with new life in the 10 new beehives that were recently added to the vineyard.

The winery’s new operators see the hives — and the honey that will eventually come — as a way to not only introduce new practices and programs to the nearly 40-year-old winery, but to also help veterans.

The winery’s new CEO and chief operating officer, Michael Weatherly and Michael Kokolis, worked with a local beekeeper to install the beehives in May and expect to harvest their first batch of honey in September.

Weatherly and his wife, Cierra, founded Vet First Inc., a nonprofit that employs veterans in regenerative farming methods that grow produce for those in need. Weatherly is a supporter of agritherapy as a way of helping veterans with PTSD.

“Good for the soul, good for the mind,” Weatherly said.

Weatherly, who owns and operates Ecco Adesso Vineyards in the Shenandoah Valley, plans to bring the Vet First Inc. model to the Williamsburg Winery, where the hives will be maintained by veterans. They will be trained to care for the bees and harvest honey.

For now, the bees are being tended to by Maureen Anderson, a goatherd, shepherdess and soapmaker in the Williamsburg area with her own goat milk soap business. Anderson has worked with bees for 20 years and said she first started beekeeping as a way of bringing healthy food options to her family.

When asked what she loves most about beekeeping, Anderson said that she appreciates their production and work ethic.

“They take something from nothing,” she said.

The idea to collaborate with the Williamsburg Winery first came to Anderson five years ago, but she said the timing wasn’t right until recently.

She has helped install beehives in farms and golf courses and hopes to continue helping other companies establish bee colonies.

“You want to go to a place where what’s on the plate in front of you came from that place,” Anderson said.

The beehives, each encased in wooden boxes, are located near a dense section of forest of the 400-acre vineyard property in a meadow of thistle, red clover and milkweed. The space was chosen because bees are attracted to the pollen and nectar from the trees.

Anderson and her husband have been visiting the beehives at the winery frequently in order to feed and strengthen the colony. The hope is that the 10 hives will grow so that eventually she can split them into 20 hives. By winter, Anderson will be ready to pass the job onto a veteran trained in beekeeping.

Kokolis and Weatherly hope to incorporate the honey into the menu at the vineyard restaurant, Gabriel Archer Tavern. They also plan to make honey-based products, such as soaps, candles, lip balms and a honey mead wine.

However, the winery is not just about the wine, Kokolis said. There’s great opportunity for families to make it a part of their Williamsburg visit, he said.

Kokolis wants to offer a variety of family-friendly programs and activities, such as beekeeping presentations and projects in which kids can bake their own honey desserts to take home.

“We don’t want just a winery to be a place where grownups come to drink wine,” Weatherly said. “It’s cool when the kids can have a place, like green space, to run around.”

Inspired by his European travels, Weatherly wants to adopt elements of agritourism.

The beehives represent just one step toward Weatherly’s and Kokolis’ goal of incorporating nature into their guests’ experience. Weatherly noted the mile and a half riverfront, hiking trails and 70,000 trees included in the winery’s surrounding area.

“This is a place for you to recharge, renew yourself. There’s no better place to do that than in some expansive green space,” Kokolis said.

The bees will benefit that green space by pollinating the land, enriching the soil and making it more water retentive.

With regenerative farming methods, Weatherly has also used sheep to reduce weeds at his Shenandoah location, where veterans herd and care for them. He hopes to have sheep at The Williamsburg Winery by next spring.

Evelyn Davidson, evelyn.davidson@virginiamedia.com