About Us
Founded in 2022, Common Wealth Crush Co. is the first winemaking operation of its kind in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Built with small producers in mind, we are custom crush meets business incubator meets thinktank cooperative.
As small producers ourselves, we founded CWC to help grow the next generation of fellow Virginia winemakers, bringing these minds together under one roof where collaboration and creativity can flow. Leveraging strength in numbers and community, we strive to generate “common wealth” for all the makers in our ecosystem.
We are passionate about the winegrowing potential of our region, and believe sustained momentum requires a thoughtful and honest approach to winemaking. We aim to use each vintage to convey the time and place our grapes are grown, while seeking out fellow makers who share this philosophy.
The Team
We are a team with deep and diverse experience in Virginia as well as the West Coast and internationally. This foundation ensures our relationship with winegrowing on Virginia land will be forward-thinking, collaborative, and globally-minded – while remaining uniquely our own.
About our winemaking titles: very rarely can one say they were the only person involved in the making of a wine. That in mind, members of our winemaking team who have been with CWC for a year are officially given the title of “Winemaker CW##“, with the number indicating the vintage they started with us.
Zach Clancy
Winemaker CW22
Elia Chaves
Winemaker CW24
IYKYK
Blair Williams
Winemaker CW23 & Lab Manager
Blair began his career conducting cardiac research in academia. During his postdoctoral training, he developed a passion for wine, especially Virginia wine. Seeking balance from long hours indoors, he began hiking on weekends and often explored the Virginia wineries nearby. This passion for Virginia wine grew and in 2023 he joined Common Wealth Crush. Blair now leverages his scientific training in biology and chemistry along with his knowledge of fermentation to provide lab services for CWC. When not at the winery, Blair can likely be found either hiking, fly-fishing, or gardening with his wife Melissa and their two small terriers (aka “terrors”), Winnie and Rue. A Shenandoah Valley native, Blair is a graduate of the College of William & Mary where he received his PhD in Applied Science.
Kylie Britt
Tasting Room, Events & Wine Club
Kylie got a happenchance start in VA wine production after pursuing a graduate chemistry degree and landing in yet another lab, this time at a winery. She’s been enamored ever since, trying to keep one foot in production and the rest of herself in the service side of things. Whether behind restaurant bars, on retail floors, coordinating festivals, or deep in a well-organized wine cellar, Kylie has always found herself navigating service as a conduit between winemaker and consumer. A Shenandoah Valley girl at heart, Kylie is grateful to tack on her role as DTC Director at CWC to an obsessive collection of Virginia wine experiences and connections, and looks forward to welcoming you.
Jeff Latchum
Cellar TEAM
A longtime food and wine professional, Jeff spent nearly two decades in wholesale wine importation and distribution. Prior to joining CWC’s winemaking team, he spent 15 years in a variety of roles with Williams Corner Wine in Waynesboro. Jeff has studied as a cook, both through toil and formerly at The Culinary Institute of America. He resides locally in Staunton, VA, with his wife, daughter, and large dog.
Robin Hurst
Operations Manager
Robin hails from Cleveland, Ohio and is a graduate of the University of Virginia. She began her career in the intelligence field before moving first to corporate marketing and then eventually the Virginia wine industry. Robin earned her winemaking certificate from U.C. Davis and was employed at both Michael Shaps Wineworks and King Family Vineyards prior to joining our team here at CWC. In her free time, Robin loves to cook, garden, travel and spend time with her husband and their English Bulldog, Walter.
Lee Campbell
Partner | Hospitality & BRAND
Tim Jordan
Co-founder | Winemaker CW22
From overseeing winegrowing brands Star Party and Midland in Augusta County, to his winemaking and vineyard responsibilities at Common Wealth Crush, Tim has his finger on the dynamic pulse of Virginia wine. Born and raised in the Shenandoah Valley, he holds a PhD in entomology from Virginia Tech, with a focus on grapevine insects. This specialized knowledge and passion for Virginia winegrowing has propelled him through numerous roles in the industry over the years, including as vineyard manager for Michael Shaps Wineworks, winemaker at Barren Ridge Vineyards, consultant with Shenandoah Vineyard Services, and now co-founder of Common Wealth Crush.
Ben Jordan
Co-founder | Winemaker CW22
Ben began his career in Sonoma County and has worked in Virginia as winemaker at Early Mountain Vineyards, as well as GM and winemaker at Michael Shaps Wineworks. Alongside his brother, Tim, he oversees his family’s wine project, Midland, and associated vineyards planted on their Shenandoah Valley farm, Mount Airy. Ben is also a partner in Lightwell Survey, a collaboration wine project utilizing Shenandoah Valley grown grapes. He recently co-founded the grape breeding program, ViRV, which works with the USDA and Virginia industry to develop resistant varieties that produce high quality wines in the state’s shifting climate. Ben is a graduate of Duke University and received his MFA in playwriting from Carnegie Mellon University.
Patt Eagan
Co-founder
Patt began his wine career nearly to the day he turned 21, inspired to follow in the footsteps of his champagne-producing French cousins. He moved to Charlottesville in 2012 to join the opening team at Early Mountain Vineyards where he spent 7 years working across hospitality, winemaking, distribution and strategy functions. He and fellow co-founders Ben and Tim Jordan began pursuing their concept for CWC upon Patt entering the MBA program at UVA’s Darden School of Business. Outside of wine, Patt is a lifelong musician and songwriter, passionate about the intersection of creative pursuits and sound business fundamentals in building a more interesting, connected, and equitable world.