Our
Story.
Julie and Roger met and quickly became friends four years ago. They bonded over common interests and a united dream of owning land and being their own bosses. Roger comes from generations of farmers, and helped his father farm 600 acres in southern New Jersey on their family home, the Rockhill Brothers Farm.
Roger currently works as a project management and corporate finance consultant. He works on projects in the pharmaceutical and renewable resource industries around the world. COVID shifted Roger’s job to work-from-home, which has been a blessing in disguise – especially in dealing with two goats (Starsky and Hutch, four dogs (Lola, Barney, Henry, and Hank) five cats (Monet, Knox, Walt, Millie, and Red) and even a school of fish in the natural spring-fed pond that was converted from an old pool (Not all the fish have names just the two koi, Moby and Batman).
Julie has worked in the hospitality industry for over 18 years as a general manager and project manager of new hotel construction. Once those hotels are built, she turns the keys over to a new GM and moves on to the next project.
Julie and Roger shared many common interests such as canning, gardening, cooking, and yes, enjoying a wide variety of wines.
Julie started their wine-making journey by fermenting hot sauce, then graduating to more challenging things such as hard ciders and hard lemonades (that she affectionately refers to as her booze babies).
Julie eventually progressed into brewing and fermenting mead, a honey-based wine. She found the fermentation process so intriguing that it naturally progressed into making wine. Initially, the wine production started at a smaller level, with batches of one to five gallons. Over the course of time, these batches gradually increased to hundreds of gallons each.
Really, what started the entire winemaking operation was when Julie and Roger both said, “Why not? It’s all about scale!” They then embarked on this self-proclaimed ‘crazy journey’, while looking for property in Center Valley. In an amazing stroke of luck, one day they took a wrong turn in the beautiful countryside and stumbled upon the former JCC Day Camp, where Stone Farm Cellars & Vineyards stands today. By the grace of God, this proved to not only be the perfect location for their home, but also the vineyard where they could start their future together as well.
It was their joint vision, combined with tireless hard work, that turned their dream into a reality. There have been plenty of struggles along the way - like living in temporary living quarters with no hot water while their farm house was being completed (or more accurately, gutted and reconstructed), but seeing their vision come to life has been more amazing then they could have ever imagined.
Julie and Roger both have had help in perfecting our craft, which they believe can be continually improved but never perfected. They continue to strive each day to make exceptional wines through thoughtful vineyard management, sustainable cultivation of vines, and endless research. Their goal is to provide is and will always be to create the best possible wines, one glass at a time.
Julie, Roger, and their entire team invite you to celebrate all of life‘s milestones and special events, creating memories to last a lifetime here at Stone Farm Cellars and Vineyard.