Our Story - The Williamsburg Winery

With over 50 acres of vineyards, a bountiful on-site garden, a hotel and a restaurant, The Williamsburg Winery is more than just a Winery.

To fully appreciate the ambitious goal to create a home an ocean away, in a place with free air and a pleasing climate to raise a family and start a business in an industry where most doubted we would succeed, we start with a look at history. It’s a timeline that began nearly a century before my late wife, Peggy, and I began the exhaustive search for a farm where we could plant grape vines.

While the first grapes were planted as early as 1609, wine and Virginia wasn’t anyone’s ideal pairing. I can’t say I wasn’t daunted by the challenge, but I accepted it, knowing no worthwhile project is ever easy. I was neither a winemaker nor a viticulturalist, but I had a firm grasp on both and the business acumen to persist.

Like all of us, I was shaped by events that happened well before my birth, a history that dates back to 1900. No, I wasn’t born until 1942, but many of the people who influenced me as a young boy — my father, George; my grandmother, Scarlett, and my great uncle — were shaped by the times that included two world wars. My Uncle Henry was a World War I veteran and one of the most genuine people I’ve ever met. What he saw as a 24-year-old soldier, the stories he relayed to my brother and me about a fractured society give me perspective to life in the modern day, which is not quite as bad as what some of the members of my family lived through.

The events that shaped them shaped me, a boy born in Brussels, Belgium in wartime Europe. The simplicity of conversations with them, many held outdoors in the fresh air underneath a canopy of trees, wasn’t lost on me. Many today would consider the world my family grew up in as primitive. Forget computers. My grandmother didn’t grow up with a phone and rarely knew of telegraph. My father and I remember a world with faces pressed against storefront glass watching pictures on a screen — the first televisions.

Williamsburg Winery owner Patrick Duffeler.
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But technology and its evolution all the way up to two people sitting in the same room sending text messages back and forth didn’t change my core belief shaped by my roots. The best communication is eye to eye, face to face. It’s not through a device. We do that best outside in the fresh air or indoors over good food and a glass of wine.

From an early age, I learned that family and family time are precious, worth preserving. We all, too, should be humble enough to walk past a mirror without looking at our own reflection thinking, “I’m important.” We all are born the same way and we all finish in dust.

That set of lessons ingrained in me, I came to the United States as a student finishing high school my senior year followed by the opportunity to study economics and finance at the University of Rochester. I was hungry to achieve in a country where I saw freedom and opportunity. I worked in marketing for an international division of Eastman Kodak while still in college.

The rest of my professional history has been well documented – a move to Switzerland to work at Philip Morris and subsequently head up the creation of the inaugural Marlboro Formula One Racing team. I owe a measure of my success to both at Kodak and as the youngest director of  Philip Morris International — Kodak from a formative point of view, Philip Morris from its management.

I stayed with Philip Morris for seven years, seven incredibly rich years. Being involved with Formula One racing was a thrill.

I was never a smoker nor was the president of Philip Morris at that time, for that matter. But when my father developed emphysema, that affected me and my future path. My father, a publisher by trade, was exceptional in so many different ways. His father was an importer of mechanical equipment from the United States that he distributed in Europe. In 1929, he had debt in dollars. Everything collapsed. Banks took over businesses. My father was a very cautious person. You would be after that.

He married my mother, Cornelia, in 1935. While they planned to have no children, my brother, Eric, was followed by me. My mother was a historian who loved taking us to castles and parks. By the time I came to the United States, I had traveled from Sweden to Portugal from Norway to Italy and everything in between.

We did things as a family and those times and their value wasn’t lost on me as a businessman. “I’m working for what?” I asked myself after my father’s diagnosis.

I joined an investment group in Geneva, where every week I was driving back and forth between that city and Beaune, the capital of Burgundy. I learned about the wine world. That’s wasn’t my first introduction to it. Back in 1956, during one of our family trips we visited Périgueux, an epiphany for me.

We were in a white tablecloth restaurant. I was 13; my brother was 15. My father wanted to baptize us in what fine wine and fine food represent. We enjoyed Foie Gras, a delicacy of the French. It was one of those epiphanies that clicked in my brain – rich food with rich wine, the right wine, matter.

Another snippet from my past — when I was at the airport in Paris prepared to catch a flight to Geneva. Wait, I was told, there are no planes in and out due to a fire. The traffic around the city was completely paralyzed — a four-lane highway underneath the airport was blocked in both directions. A short in the electrical wiring was the culprit that impacted the entire system over Europe.

The engineers who designed that airport never thought about what could happen. Don’t trust what’s fashionable. Don’t trust mental projections of fools. Details matter.

Everything matters and explains what came later and why.

Peggy had a disdain for big business, and the decision to be fully independent and forge our own path stemmed from her watching me working nonstop, spending days without seeing our family.

“You should do something you should really like,” she suggested.

We were drawn to Williamsburg, where we had previously visited. After an exhaustive search of 52 farms, we found this one — 300 acres alongside a creek where an agricultural business could blossom, a large parcel of land that we called Wessex Hundred, as the use of “Hundred” to name a property dates back to the Colonial era and describes parcels of land sufficient to support 100 families regardless of actual acreage. With several oversized barns in the middle of the property, amid hundreds of trees impressive in size, with the James River in our view, we went to work on a vision that no one else shared.

The steps to planting our first grapes in 1985, releasing the first wine in 1988 and earning our first Virginia Governor’s Cup in 1990 are detailed in a series of blog posts. Sharing my history and the history that came before that, adds a layer of context that permeates every step along the way of this 40-year journey.

The green space at Wessex Hundred reminds me of the woods where my uncle shared from his youth. The fresh food complemented by quality wine our patrons enjoy sitting under the wisteria at the Gabriel Archer Tavern take me back to that elegant meal in Périgueux.

The snarl at the Paris airport — what a mess you can have on your hands if you fail to account for everything that could happen. Be purposeful and intentional in what you do. We have strived to do that at Wessex Hundred, whether that be in the vineyards, as winemakers or as stewards to the environment.

History is our best teacher. Don’t overlook its wisdom. Learn it and even better, learn from it.

Patrick G. Duffeler, Founder


Meet our Leadership Team

Patrick Duffeler with The Art & Science of Viticulture and Winemaking Thursday June 3, 2021.

Patrick G. Duffeler

Founder & Chairman

Patrick Duffeler was born in Belgium of a Germanic family and educated in the United States. While earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics & Finance from the University of Rochester, New York, he embarked on his professional career at Eastman Kodak.

He later joined the international division of Philip Morris in Switzerland as Director of Marketing and Promotions. Patrick was instrumental in the development of the Marlboro World Championship Racing Team project which ushered the Marlboro brand into international motorsports, proving the value of promotional activity as a brand building mechanism. During these years, Patrick and his wife Peggy became the parents of two sons, Patrick II and Terence.

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Patrick’s travels took him not only to Europe, but also Latin America, the Far East, the Middle East, and Africa. He independently became involved in the wine industry in Burgundy, France and forged relationships with many producers. Likewise, his interest in the hospitality industry burgeoned, and he had the chance to participate in a study for the development of a country hotel in Beaune, Burgundy. Both interests were the building blocks for a life-changing decision Patrick was about to make.

Patrick went on to serve as the International President of Fragrances Selective and balanced his time between two continents. In 1983, Patrick and Peggy, after an exhaustive search, purchased 300 acres of land in Williamsburg and founded The Williamsburg Winery in 1985. In 2007, his dream of a European-style Country Hotel came to fruition as the doors to Wedmore Place opened for the first time after 10 years of planning. Sadly, Peggy Duffeler, a driving force behind the business, had passed away in 2004, not surviving to witness the launch of the hotel.  Nevertheless, her spirit lives on throughout Wessex Hundred.

In 2007, Patrick was married to Françoise, a native of France.


Matthew G. R. Meyer

Executive Vice President & Winemaker

Matthew came to wine at an early age; he purports to have swirled his milk as a child! Born in Great Britain, Matthew learned to appreciate wine from his father.

Matthew attended one of the world’s premier wine schools, the University of California at Davis, where he obtained a double degree in Oenology and Viticulture with a minor in Business and Marketing. Matthew was elected President of the prestigious Davis Enology and Viticulture Organization.

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Matthew was recruited by Heitz Wine Cellars, one of the premiere wineries in the world and known for its ‘Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon’. It was here that Matthew apprenticed under the Heitz family and Joe Norman. Later as Cellar Master/Assistant Winemaker he took over the Cellar Select Chardonnay program. Collectively, Matthew, like a fine wine, had come of age and was now well-prepared to create his brand of wines in a new and challenging environment.   Matthew came to The Williamsburg Winery as head Winemaker in 2002 with the goal of helping to establish Virginia as the next big wine region in America.

Since joining the The Williamsburg Winery, Matthew has emerged as an industry leader.  His wines have been awarded numerous Double Gold, Gold and ‘Best Of Class’ awards.  A pinnacle moment in the history of the Winery came in 2014 when Matthew’s signature blend Adagio was awarded the Virginia’s Governor’s Cup Award as the state’s highest rated wine.  Since then, the Adagio has become one of Virginia’s signature wines and has received multiple 90+ Point ratings from the renowned Robert Parker’s the Wine Advocate and the prestigious Beverage Testing Institute.

Matthew was recruited by Heitz Wine Cellars, one of the premiere wineries in the world and known for its ‘Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon’. It was here that Matthew apprenticed under the Heitz family and Joe Norman. Later as Cellar Master/Assistant Winemaker he took over the Cellar Select Chardonnay program. Collectively, Matthew, like a fine wine, had come of age and was now well-prepared to create his brand of wines in a new and challenging environment.   Matthew came to The Williamsburg Winery as head Winemaker in 2002 with the goal of helping to establish Virginia as the next big wine region in America.

Since joining the The Williamsburg Winery, Matthew has emerged as an industry leader.  His wines have been awarded numerous Double Gold, Gold and ‘Best Of Class’ awards.  A pinnacle moment in the history of the Winery came in 2014 when Matthew’s signature blend Adagio was awarded the Virginia’s Governor’s Cup Award as the state’s highest rated wine.  Since then, the Adagio has become one of Virginia’s signature wines and has received multiple 90+ Point ratings from the renowned Robert Parker’s the Wine Advocate and the prestigious Beverage Testing Institute.


Elena B at TWW

Elena Barber

Vice President, Trade Sales

Ms. Barber commenced employment with The Williamsburg Winery in April 2011 as an On-Premise Trade Sales Manager.  In this capacity, she promotes and places wines from The Williamsburg Winery with a variety of restaurants and timeshares throughout Southern Virginia.  She received her MBA in Grenoble, France, and her BA in Public Law in Moldova.  Ms. Barber is the wife of Matthew Meyer, Winemaker of The Williamsburg Winery.


Francoise C. Duffeler

Internal Consultant Hospitality and Public Relations

Born in Vendome France, Françoise attended hotel management school in Bourges and went to work for a number of hotels in Southern France as well as spent two years in Munich, Germany and then another two years in London UK . She worked as part of the hospitality management team of the Mayfair, a small boutique hotel near the place de la Concorde in Paris where she and Patrick met, in the late 70’s.

From 1981, Françoise participated in the creation of a school based on sensorial bodywork training for physicians, physiotherapists as well as patients interested in the body health field.  Until the end of 2006, she ran the organization of seminars and lectures for students in that field in over twelve countries on four continents. Françoise has travelled extensively through India and Nepal where she climbed the Himalayas, Kashmir for the Amarnath pilgrimage, Malaysia Indonesia, China, etc. 

Williamsburg Winery Francoise Duffeler.

Williamsburg Winery portrait of Jennifer Allen

Jen Allen

Director of Retail Operations

Jen enjoys educating Williamsburg Winery Wine Club members, guests and tourists about all there is to love about Virginia wine and Wessex Hundred farm. She juggles multiple responsibilities in that role that include festival planning, assisting with the Wine Club and overseeing all aspects of retail sales.

Jen is a mother of five, and in her spare time, she her husband, Brenden, enjoy following their children’s athletic pursuits, which include volleyball, track, football, wrestling, rugby and cross country.


Alex Frey

Direct Shipping Manager

During his days at William & Mary, Alex worked weekends in Susan Constant Hall as a tasting room associate and after graduating from college in 2022, he interned at Wessex Hundred during harvest. He was named the Winery’s Direct Shipping Manager in January 2023.

While it’s not a career the Philadelphia native would have predicted as a double major in government and film, he feels fortunate to continue his wine education at the Williamsburg Winery, where he is part of an enthusiastic team.

Alex loves traveling and spending time with his rescue dog, Ami, a Labrador and Chow mix.



Gallery

Experience the Winery

Come see the many ways we’ve earned our place on the world wine map.
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