Holding the Land in Your Hands
Material Things at Burnt Hill
Several years ago I had a crazy idea. What if the bottles that held our estate wines were made from Burnt Hill clay. Wines of place, fermented and aged in ash wood foeders from this hillside, then bottled in handmade vessels of the same ground. I even found a producer in Mexico City who was willing to collaborate. Turning our soil into bottles was possible, but the project hit a wall with logistics and cost. The dream did not disappear. It simply changed shape and came closer to home.
That search brought me to ceramic artist Katie Aldworth of Material Things in North Brentwood, MD. Katie is an artist who listens to the land. Her curiosity and energy reignited mine, and with her craft we began turning Burnt Hill into our tableware. Plates, bowls, cups. Everything that carries the food from this farm, through Chef's hands, to your table now comes from the same earth that nourishes everything we grow.
In June 2025 we gathered 2,100 pounds of Burnt Hill soil and brought it to Material Things Studio, where Katie Aldworth and her team began shaping it by hand into functional art that now anchors our tasting experience: seasonal garden snacks and warm house-milled sourdough served on earthenware made from this hillside, alongside estate wines fermented with native yeast in large wooden vessels crafted from our ash trees. Every detail is intentional, not for show, so you can literally hold the land in your hands and feel a deeper connection to this place.
Burnt Hill is my life’s work. Bringing this place to life with my family has been the privilege of a lifetime. This farm carries our fingerprints in every element. We built it slowly, by hand, with love. It is a pioneering model of animal-integrated regenerative agriculture, estate winemaking, and sustainable gastronomy. Our grand cru vineyard, woodland pigs, longwool sheep, honeybees, heritage grains, orchard, and garden work in harmony. Together they produce food and wine with integrity and a deep sense of place.
Making tableware from our soil feels inevitable in that context. If the vines pull character from this ground, then the vessels that carry them should belong to this ground too. Clay holds mineral, color, and texture that reflect the hill. When a plate made from Burnt Hill holds a tomato from our garden, or a slice of bread milled from our wheat, something simple and profound happens. The circle closes. The object matches the origin. The story becomes clear without anyone saying a word.
People sometimes ask why we do not sell our wines online or in stores. The answer sits right in your hands when you visit. You taste the wine where it was grown. You break bread milled on site. You eat from plates made of our hillside. You see the long wool sheep, the woodland pigs, the vines catching the last light. That context changes everything. It slows you down. It makes food and wine feel like gifts rather than products. It turns a tasting into a memory.
I am proud of this work, but more than that, I am grateful. Grateful to my family, to our team, to our animals, and to this land. Grateful to Katie and Material Things for helping us carry the story from soil to table with such care. Welcoming people to lounge at our table and feel the beauty of this farm brings me joy.
Burnt Hill is an escape from the daily grind. An ideal. A place where the details are considered so you can sit back, relax, and enjoy.
