“Wednesdays with the Winemaker”

Welcome to the newest feature on our blog: “Wednesdays with the Winemaker”. Marek Wojciechowski is the founder, owner, and winemaker at Chatham Hill Winery (just say “where’s your house key” really fast, and you’ve got his last name…or close enough at least). On Wednesdays, I will post a blog on behalf of Marek. Why is Marek not posting on this blog himself? Well…we will get to that in a later blog, but for now, trust me when I say this is the easiest (and briefest) way to share news with you from our winemaker.

So, this week Marek and I sat down to talk about the history of the winery. For those of you who have been on the Chatham Hill Winery tour (and if you have not been on the tour, then stop reading this right now and get down to the winery!), you know that in 1999 the winery was the 14th bonded winery North Carolina. What you may not know is that Marek has been working with grapes since his childhood in Poland when he and his dad tended to the family’s vines. As a young man, Marek first experimented with wine making in the bath tub of his apartment. This worked well until his experiment overflowed from the bathtub and flooded the apartment below him!

Marek continued experimenting with homemade wine in his spare time while he pursued his Ph.D. in chemistry and later while on the faculty of the Warsaw University and the University of Maryland. Eventually, Marek gave up his academic career and moved to RTP and began working as a research and development director for a biotech firm developing clinical diagnostic devices and tests. Even though he was achieving professional success, Marek knew he needed more in order to achieve personal fulfillment. Not only did Marek want to be a business owner, he also wanted to create something entirely of his own from the ground up.

When the opportunity arose to begin his own winery, Marek jumped at the chance. In 1997, Marek began making connections with growers, dealing with compliance issues, learning about marketing and branding, and developing his winemaking skills all while he worked full-time at the biotech firm. In July of 1999, Chatham Hill Winery opened, and in September of the same year, the tasting room (which was painted and decorated with help of Marek’s children) opened. In 2005, Marek finally quit his “day job” at the biotech firm and now spends most days--and many nights--at the winery. In fact, on the second Sunday of every month you can meet Marek when he leads a winemaker’s tour at 2:00pm.

Marek has many more stories to share about the creation, history, evolution, and goals of Chatham Hill Winery. Join us weekly for “Wednesdays with the Winemaker”. Anything in particular you would like to learn about Chatham Hill Winery? Leave your questions for Marek below.