Md. winery breaking barriers is now breaking ground on something bigger

In 2023, Ifeoma Onyia opened Clyopatra Winery and Vineyard, one of a handful of vineyards operating in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

Born in Nigeria and raised in London before establishing roots in the D.C. region, Onyia said she was the first African immigrant to open a winery in the U.S.

Clyopatra is also the only Black-owned vineyard in Maryland.

Her small company is aging as well as the wine she makes. It’s also getting a lot bigger.

Last week, Onyia broke ground on a new vineyard and winery on 40 acres off Duckettown Road, less than two miles from Old Town Bowie.

“I think at the beginning, when we opened up two years ago, folks thought it was going to be a passing phase,” she said. “But they didn’t know the tenacity that is behind it.”

The project is ambitious. By the fall, the goal is to have a new tasting room and the first of two banquet halls up and running, with room for 400 guests. Eventually, a boutique-style hotel and another banquet hall that can accommodate 1,000 people will also be built.

Surrounding the site will be a nature trail lined with fruit-bearing trees that guests can pick from as they walk around.

“I’m excited about the agritourism that we are bringing out here,” Onyia said. “I’m excited about the fact that we’re going to be employing a whole lot of people.”

Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy said in a statement that between 50 and 100 permanent jobs will be associated with this project.

The site’s restaurant will be farm-to-table, serving dishes with fruits and vegetables grown on-site. Onyia said she hopes that will provide a learning experience for children, whether they’re with their parents or there on a field trip.

“The idea is to get them to dirty their hands and play with the soil,” Onyia said. “And to understand that everything they eat, where it comes from and how it’s done, how it’s grown.”

Anything that isn’t grown there will come from other small businesses based in Maryland.

Setting down vine roots

The wine industry includes few Black people overall — and even fewer Black women.

But when the new venue is finished, Onyia said it’ll be the largest Black-owned vineyard on the East Coast. County leaders expect it to be an international destination.

“I want the legacy to be: Black folks can join this,” Onyia said. “Most Black people that own wineries are all first generation. We haven’t built that generational wealth. So let me use part of this here — we’re also going to be teaching the kids everything about farming and horticulture. Let me use this opportunity to show the Black people you can do this.”

While there’s a lot of support within the Black and African communities, she said there’s actually a lot of support for Clyopatra everywhere.

“Everybody loves it,” Onyia said. “It’s wine! Everybody loves wine, as long as you’re over 21. So they’re happy.”

In fact, she’s more interested in promoting the wine-growing industry in Maryland, which now has more than 100 vineyards spanning both sides of the Chesapeake Bay, even if you haven’t heard of many of them.

“No shade to folks in Virginia, but I think we’re tired of going to Virginia all the time,” she said with a smile. “This is something local. This is where you can come in, have your celebrations, come and have a date night, come in and have a wedding — any kind of party that you want to but it’s in your local area.”

That proximity means area guests are able to more freely indulge in the wine.

“It’s an area where you can take an Uber or Lyft to come in,” she said. “You don’t have to get into your car. You’re not driving for hours to get here.”

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