Located in Earlysville, about 10 miles northwest of Charlottesville. Family-owned by Candice and Aaron Hark. The Harks bought the initial 70 acres of open grazing land in 2015, and opened for business in December 2019. Through a wine class at Piedmont Valley Community College, Aaron Hark met industry veteran Jake Busching, who signed on as a grower, winemaker and general consultant. Busching has worked with Jefferson Vineyards, Keswick Vineyards, Horton, Pollak, Grace Estate, and with Michael Shaps. Busching is also using the Hark production facility as a base from which to bottle his own line of Jake Busching Wines.
Wine. One of the Top 50 wineries in Virginia. Hark’s “Spark,” their Bordeaux blend produced from Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Merlot, has been their most successful wine. The 2022 vintage Spark was awarded a gold medal at the 2025 Virginia Governor’s Cup state-wide wine tasting competition, while the 2019 vintage was awarded a gold medal at the 2024 Governor’s Cup — as well as being judged one of the state’s 12 best wines by inclusion in the “Governor’s Case.” The 2019 Merlot was also awarded a gold medal at the 2024 event. Five more Hark entries at the 2025 Governor’s Cup received silver medals: the 2021 Merlot, the 2022 Petit Manseng and Cabernet Sauvignon, and the 2023 Rose and Petit Manseng. Two vintages of Hark’s Petit Manseng, the 2019 and 2021, were both awarded gold medals at the 2023 Governor’s Cup. Six of their wines also received silver medals at the event.
Setting. The tasting room at Hark provides great views over both the vineyards and the winery’s production facility. Family-friendly.
Stories. Religion in early Virginia – Buck Mountain Episcopal Church. Anglicanism came to Virginia with the first settlers of Jamestown, and was designated as the official religion of Virginia Colony in 1619. The early colonial Anglican church faced many challenges, foremost of which was a constant shortage of ministers. With no bishops in the colonies, only new arrivals ordained in England, or colonists who made a round-trip to England and back, were available to serve. Lay readers and vestries organized by the local legislature assumed far greater importance in Virginia than they had in England. In 1684, James Baird arrived as empowered commissary of the Bishop of London and, serving for 58 years, helped stabilize many aspects of the young Virginia church. Anglicanism remained the denomination for an overwhelming majority of Virginians until the Great Awakening of the 1740s. One of the rare surviving example of the simple wooden Anglican parish churches scattered through Virginia in the colonial period is Buck Mountain Episcopal Church, a historic Episcopal church on VA 743 in Earlysville, where Hark Vineyards is located. It is considered one of the finest surviving examples of rural Virginia Greek Revival churches.