About our Family

Smith-berry Vineyard and Winery seems, in retrospect, to be a logical conclusion to Twenty-six years of farming our place here on the northern edge of Kentucky’s beautiful bluegrass region.

Chuck and I were both raised on farms in Henry County. We bought our own farm in 1982. We had every intention of living the rest of our lives as conventional farmers. We were twenty three years old and thought we knew everything. Chuck was raised on a dairy farm and we started a dairy here. We converted the barn that is now our gallery and winery to a stanchion barn, bought a herd of Holstein cows with a Jersey thrown in for ourselves and got started. We raised corn, tobacco, hay crops, and a garden for our own use. I suppose, in some ways, those were hard years but we were home, surrounded by people we loved and we were happy.

However, after some years, several severe droughts, and a price cut on tobacco we saw that we were not getting ahead financially and the health of our farm was not improving. We were wearing it out along with ourselves. And so, we began a change that has culminated in Smith-Berry Vineyard and Winery.

We sold the dairy and started raising beef cattle, incorporating rotational grazing. Over three years we became an organic farm, raising organic vegetables for a friends CSA and for Farmers’ Markets in Louisville. We raised pastured poultry for years, processing them in what was our milkhouse and selling them directly to customers who picked them up at our farm. All the while continuing to raise tobacco. Our last crop was raise in 2002.

Through all those years our children Katie, Virginia, and Tanya have been our best help. In fact, I think it is fair to say that some of what has worked here has worked because of their excellent work.

Smith-Berry Vineyard and Winery builds on the relationship we started fifteen years ago with customers picking up vegetables and chickens at our farm. Many of those customers are still our customers, coming to concerts and purchasing wine. They are not just our customers they are our friends.

We are still farmers. We still raise beef cattle, hay crops, vegetables for ourselves and for our events (see cooking at Smith-Berry Winery for more on that), and we have replaced tobacco with grapes.

Chuck and I feel that we have something to pass on to our daughters now. If Katie, Virginia, and Tanya choose to stay here they will be the 9th generation on both sides of their family to live and farm in Henry County.

After a life spent in Henry County I still can’t think of a better thing to do on a beautiful Kentucky day than to take a walk or pick a good place to sit and enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of the countryside. Our family invites yours to visit us from 10 to 6 Tuesday through Saturday for wine tasting and relaxing. We look forward to your visit.

Mary Berry-Smith

More about our family,
our livestock and vineyard.

Smith Berry Vineyard and Winery
New Castle, Kentucky