The Women of Eastwood Farm and Winery

What happens when the talents and interests of three women – specifically a mother and two of her daughters – come together serendipitously? Sometimes it creates something magical. Athena Eastwood practiced as a commodities lawyer for twenty years and was recognized for her work helping agricultural and energy clients develop innovative strategies to combat and adapt to climate change.

When she purchased a small farm just outside of the city limits of Charlottesville in 2016, she was also teaching an environmental commodities class at the University of Virginia School of Law, where the discussion often turned to the importance of developing local infrastructure – including local agriculture. At the same time, her daughter, Hannah Velie, was practicing that very theory running a non-profit farm she started in a food desert in Baltimore. Athena’s oldest daughter, Megan Velie Taub, was also focused on making a local impact – just finishing a master’s degree in developmental psychology with an emphasis on American Dream research. During that course of study, she had become passionate about the critical role of small business in creating sustainable communities.

Over many shared meals and glasses of wine, the three women, along with Athena’s unstoppable partner Jeremy Christian, decided to join forces on a project in their own backyard. Eastwood Farm and Winery is now recognized as one of the fastest growing wineries of the Monticello Wine Trail.