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

Production Manager | Winemaker CW22
Hailing originally from the Pacific Northwest in Portland, OR, Zach has worked wine harvests across the world from California to New Zealand. After some years in the Rockies in Colorado and Montana, he returned to California to make wine full-time and has carried his craft on to wineries large and small in Georgia and now Virginia. When he’s not making top notch wine at Common Wealth Crush, Zach indulges his outdoor side with hiking and trail running, and his creative side through painting, gastronomy, and travel.

Elia Chaves

Assistant Winemaker

IYKYK

Blair Williams

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.

Roshi Arnold

Tasting Room & Design Lead
After beginning her academic journey in VCU’s Art Foundations program, Roshi earned a degree in Media Arts & Animation from the Art Institutes of Austin. From there, Roshi played a pivotal role in the Austin Street Art community, curating shows & events, designing for national & international brands, and implementing ATX Free Art Friday, which quickly became a city wide phenomenon. Eventually, Roshi traded arid Hill Country summers for brisk Blue Ridge Mountain winters and returned home to Virginia to raise her family closer to nature. After being invited to paint a cuvée at Common Wealth Crush, Roshi’s artistic path led her directly into the heart of Virginia viticulture. The creativity fermenting in the historic Virginia Metal Crafters building inspired Roshi to join the Common Wealth Crush team, where she ensures every guest’s experience is memorable. A self-proclaimed philomath, her passion for wine extends beyond its taste to its deep historical layers and the endless opportunities for learning and creative expression.

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.

Sydney Love

Tasting Room

Originally from Southern California, Sydney Love is a chronic transplant who lives a double life as a wine professional and freelance writer. After college, she started working in wine shops and built her writing chops at Wine & Spirits Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, and other publications. Her latest fascination with the history of African American winemaking and a fellowship at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello brought her to Central Virginia. The next wave of Virginia wine compelled her to plant roots here. When she’s not in the tasting room, Sydney is likely in the field researching her next project, busily typing at a coffee shop, or sipping a glass of wine with friends.

Lee Campbell

Partner | Hospitality & BRAND
After getting her start in Washington D.C.’s and Manhattan’s top culinary and oenological establishments, Lee has been instrumental in establishing America’s natural wine fair circuit and promoting Virginia wines. A certified sommelier also working as a consultant, she draws from experience in nearly every aspect of wine and hospitality – retail, import, distribution, hotels, restaurants, wine fairs – and advocates for the integration of food and wine into a balanced, healthy, and joyful life for people of every background to savor. A native New Yorker, Lee is a graduate of the University of Virginia.

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. A lifelong musician and songwriter, Patt is passionate about the role of arts in society, particularly the intersection of creative pursuits and sound business fundamentals in creating a more vibrant, connected, and equitable world.

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.