Lee Hartman stands at sunset between rows he helped to plant at his family’s vineyard south of Bridgewater. The award-winning Virginia vintner is about to celebrate the launch of two special wines under the 1200 Park label in honor of his alma mater. In a few moments he’ll greet local alumni business owners and other members of the EMU community in Bluestone Vineyard’s tasting room, joined by his father Curt, a former board member and adjunct business instructor, his mother Jackie, and his brother RC, a 2015 MBA graduate and the company’s operations manager.
While 1200 Park isn’t the first small-batch, special-label wine Hartman has crafted, it holds a special place in his heart. He identifies as a Mennonite winemaker, just one of two he knows of in the United States.
“I was really, really tickled about making this wine for EMU. I hope it’s something we do for a long time,” he says, as the sun slips toward Reddish Knob. “I’ve really been looking forward to sharing more about this place and seeing people connected to EMU celebrating what we do.”
The confluence of events during that October evening inspires a pause, an accounting of Hartman’s path and appreciation for his family and the team of employees at Bluestone Vineyard who share a vision of winemaking excellence and hospitality.
Since opening in 2011, the winery has steadily gained acclaim. The tasting room draws visitors from around the world, joining a loyal, growing local customer base. Bluestone won three gold medals in the 2022 Virginia Governor’s Cup and a trove of awards in two prestigious national competitions in 2021, including two Best in Class awards and two double gold medals (meaning the judges are unanimous in their selection).
All of this, Hartman says with a laugh and a wave of his hand, was not in his plans when he returned to EMU after a year with the Intermenno exchange program in Europe and declared himself a history major.
“But Mark Sawin, I took a lot of classes from him … he would say that I am proof that you can do anything with a history degree,” he adds.
When told of Hartman’s comment, Professor Mark Sawin agreed: “While an EMU history degree doesn’t specifically prepare you for a career in viticulture, it also does not NOT prepare you. The qualities that made Lee a strong history major are those that make him a great wine-maker: he is good at understanding complex scenarios, asking questions, and knowing how to research and find answers.”
Sawin also sees the Hartman family vocation in a distinct cultural context. Mennonite opposition toward the consumption of alcohol is a relatively new and uniquely American disposition, he says: “Mennonites were historically excellent brewers and distillers, a tradition that really only came to an end with Prohibition in the 1920s. The Hartmans’ venture is a renewal of an older tradition… they are going back to the roots of Mennonite culture.”
The art of winemaking is rooted in hospitality and community-building, added President Susan Schultz Huxman. “Our peace-making friends at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding and around the globe have long recognized that the best way to forge friendships, create community, embrace difference, and celebrate is through music, sports and food,” she said, tracing the genesis of the idea for an EMU wine label back several years. “Hospitality and community-building — gathering round the table — are key values at EMU and here at Bluestone Vineyard with the Hartman family.”
So perhaps winemaking is exactly what Lee Hartman is supposed to do: This lover of global cultures and exploration, waylaid in his early plan to work in the international travel industry, has instead planted his roots deep into this limestone-rich valley and intricate craft.
When prompted, though, he describes all that he loves about his work through a concept called terroir. “A bottle of our Chardonnay is just a bunch of dirt and water and sunlight, but it’s something more: The grapes that come off of this vine are special because that vine is right there and nowhere else, and the soil there and the weather and the hands that take care of that vine are unique. And so because of that, our wines are unique and there’s a commonality that gives them an identity. I love that. This is what keeps me here. We are literally sharing our home with our customers. They carry it with them, they drink it, and share it with others.”
Home for the Hartmans is a landscape greatly changed from the first years of experimental vine plantings in 2008. What was at first a retirement project for Curt and Jackie expanded in both infrastructure and acreage after they sold their car dealership and were able to immerse themselves. Curt describes his learning experience as “an apprenticeship.”
“I knew how to make wine before we started but if you’re making commercial wine, you can’t just make pretty good homemade wine,” he says. “You need to make really great wine. For a time, I was learning from a really outstanding consultant who essentially kept us moving forward towards that goal.”
Bluestone Vineyard wine was first sold in 2009 with a tasting room opening two years later. This was the scene when Lee graduated from EMU. “While he was making plans to launch his career, we invited him to work for us and that was pretty much it,” Jackie remembers. “He started learning from Curt and our consultant and eventually took that over.”
Jackie says owning and operating a winery brings a special joy. While customers came to the dealership with a businesslike mindset, customers at the winery “always want to be here,” she adds. “And taking care of problems is simple. You can’t easily replace a car but you might be able to help make a customer happy with another bottle or glass of wine.”
Both she and Curt have enjoyed meeting and conversing with visitors, whether they come to unwind after work or for a wedding celebration. Sometimes those conversations lead to serendipitous coincidences, for example, two New Jersey couples who find out they live blocks apart or the visitor from rural Pennsylvania who tells Curt that his mother and aunts were her babysitters.
The couple has also enjoyed watching their sons grow as people, as business owners, and in their particular niches. While Lee focuses on winemaking, his brother concentrates on operations.
With an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering, strong tech skills and a “jack-of-all-trades” mentality, RC has long played the role of the intermittent on-call troubleshooter, “the person who handles small things before we call in the outside help.” One major early contribution was updating the winery’s point-of-sale system and training his mom on it. Earning his MBA degree from EMU also afforded practical opportunities to systematically analyze various aspects of the viticulture business. But other interests took most of his time and energy — he was involved in both his parents’ dealership and in owning his own car dealership — until about 2019.
RC focuses mostly on IT, wholesale and marketing, finding renewed purpose in preparing for a leadership transition and lessening his parents’ heavy workload.
“They’ve run nonstop for most of their lives and made a lot happen, so we’re really looking to help with that transition so they’re not always needing to be so involved, and they’re more comfortable with easing out and leaving things to us,” RC says. “It feels like a good place to be able to help with that.”
Visitors who stop in to purchase 1200 Park varietals will most likely see one of the Hartmans on the premises. “We so look forward to welcoming our EMU friends and sharing this gift from our home to yours,” Lee says.
