Our Story

Kendra and Rob Knapik founded Ellison Estate Vineyard in 2018 when they purchased an abandoned vineyard on a 50-acre farm in Grand Isle, Vermont. With their three young children in tow, the Knapik family lives on the farm during the growing season. Together with a small team, including sheep that are integral to the process, they grow the grapes, make the wine, and run the business. Kendra and Rob are working to restore the land’s health using organic and biodynamic farming practices and have a strong commitment to regenerative agriculture. At harvest, the grapes are processed in the family’s basement winery in Stowe. 

Ellison Estate Vineyard makes natural wine from one of the oldest and largest single plantings of grapevines in Vermont.  All wines are made with native yeast fermentations and minimal intervention in the winery, which means that nothing is added or taken away during the winemaking process. The only ingredient is grapes with no filtering and zero to only a small responsible amount of sulfites added at bottling (20-30ppm if any).  Ellison Estate Vineyard wines are designed to achieve the purest expression of the Champlain Islands’ terroir. 

Kendra’s family is originally from the Lake Champlain Islands so a deep connection to the land anchors their pursuits. After almost losing their third child to pregnancy complications, Kendra and Rob re-assessed what was important to their family. They decided to take a risk to build something generational that would bring them closer to the land and bring joy to their community. Kendra, a veterinary oncologist and Rob, a particle physicist, use their strong scientific and problem solving skills from their unlikely backgrounds as the foundation to run their farm and winery. They embrace the creative, messy, and sometimes unpredictable journey they have embarked upon as they strive to achieve balance in their lives, their vineyard, and their handcrafted wines.