farm and land
FOR THE LOVE
of the farm WILLIAM AND JENNIFER LAYTON CHAT WITH FARM CREDIT LOAN OFFICER JIM NEWCOMB IN THE TASTING ROOM
A G O L D S TA R
OF THEIR WINERY. ALTHOUGH JOE’S
for the palate
COOL RED IS THEIR BEST SELLER, WHEN CUSTOMERS ASK WHAT THEIR BEST
WINE IS, JENNIFER REPLIES WITH, “IT’S THE ONE YOU LIKE TO DRINK!” THE
LAYTONS GROW 14 ACRES OF GRAPES ON A TOTAL OF 1,350 OWNED AND LEASED ACRES. THE VINEYARD HAS
BEEN A HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE FROM THE BEGINNING. “I WAS A BELIEVER
IN
CING OUR 2 U D O 01 TR
9
scholarship winners
THAT THE GRAPES WERE GOING TO
GET A BETTER START IF I DUG A HOLE AND PUT THEM IN HERE MYSELF,” SAYS WILLIAM. LEARN MORE AT LAYTONSCHANCE.COM.
STORY AND PHOTOS BY NANCY L. SMITH | “WE STARTED THIS FOR THE LOVE OF THE FARM, NOT BECAUSE WE JUST
LOVE WINE,” SAYS JENNIFER LAYTON OF LAYTON’S CHANCE VINEYARD AND WINERY THAT SHE AND HUSBAND WILLIAM OPERATE IN VIENNA, MARYLAND. THE BUSINESS IS A SUCCESS, BUT YEARS OF THOUGHT AND PREPARATION OCCURRED BEFORE THE FIRST POST HOLE WAS DUG.
The Layton family has farmed the land since the 1920s, starting as share croppers. William’s grandfather bought the property in the late 1940s. When William returned to the farm in 2003, he, Jennifer and his parents needed to find a way for the farm to support two families. They weighed diversification options against a set of criteria including “which of these will put us in the best position 20 years from now?” William says. Jennifer, who was completing an MBA at the time, wrote two business plans: one for the vineyard alone because “what if we get two years in and 8
| VOLUME 24 | ISSUE 2 | mafc.com
we don’t want to open a winery?” William explains, and another for the winery. In 2005, they decided on a vineyard and “we took two years to convert the ground from growing grain to growing grapes to get the soil correct,” Jennifer says. By 2009, they were harvesting grapes and making wine. It cost $12,000 to $13,000 per acre to plant grapes on the first two acres in 2007, including tile drainage, irrigation, vines and posts. Farm Credit handles the financing for the vineyard as well as the farm. Farm Credit handles the financing for the vineyard and farm, as well as writes the crop insurance for the
vineyard. Loan officer Jim Newcomb reflects, “Adding the vineyard and grape rotations to the farm wasn’t a big issue for Farm Credit because of the credit history and management structure of this family. Starting the winery took a great deal of planning and talking through every detail.” William learned wine making from several sources. “The University of Maryland has a grape researcher and I took his beginning grape grower class three times before I ever planted my first grape.” He also studied grape growing and wine making at Virginia Tech and Penn State.
