Common Wealth Crush Co. (CWCC) is tough to describe at a glance because it has a lot going on. Its core business is to make wine for other customers, a process often called ‘custom crush’ but technically should be referred to as contract winemaking. 7 Lady Vineyards is one of their main customers, but they make wine for others as well.

On top of that CWCC provides a venue for vintners to make wine under their private labels. Jake Busching does his winemaking here, and CWCC rents tank space for other winemakers like Stinson Vineyards who have outgrown their own facilities.

As if that’s not enough, winemakers Ben and Tim Jordan craft wine under their own labels. This includes wine made under the Common Wealth’s logo, plus their personal and family brands.

CWCC is located in an old metal crafting facility in Waynesboro. While most of the space is dedicated to winemaking they also have a small tasting room which serves bottles from CWCC, Midland Wine (using fruit from the Jordan family farm in the Shenandoah Valley), Lightwell Survey (Ben Jordan’s side project), and Star Party (Tim Jordan’s side project).

The backstory to Commonwealth is the founders (Ben and Tim, plus partner Patt Eagan) recognized the Virginia wine scene needed a contract winemaking facility that is scalable to different customer needs. Members of the local wine industry often associate ‘custom crush’ with Michael Shaps Wineworks, who famously makes wine on behalf of at least a dozen major customers. But others have gotten in on the action, recognizing a number of vineyards lack the space, funding, or expertise to support winemaking on their own property.

In most cases contract winemaking facilities do all the work from start to finish. While CWCC offers this same beginning-to-end service, what makes them different is they allow winemakers the option of renting space and equipment so they can do their own winemaking.

This is important as many small producers, including winemakers working on their own side projects, are at risk of being displaced from their existing facility should the owner require the extra space. This makes CWCC a great incubator for micro brands that need a place to call home for an extended period of time.

The Jordan brothers also make a ‘family of wines’ that are branded separately but share broad stylistic similarities. For one, all or nearly all the fruit used for CWCC, Midland (the Jordan family farm), Lightwell (Tim’s brand), and Star Party (Ben’s brand) wines are from the Shenandoah Valley, so they tend to be higher in acidity. Ben and Tim also share a love of fanciful labels, minimal intervention winemaking, and a flair for blending, often using varieties that are otherwise rarely seen in the same bottle.

My group met up with partner Lee Campbell, a somm with extensive restaurant experience who previously acted as Early Mountain Vineyard’s New York state rep. Saying she’s a wine rock star is an understatement; we jumped at the chance of a tour.

Lee explained how their broad customer base requires multiple sizes and styles of fermentation vessels to meet different needs. Wandering down the aisles we saw a number of fiberglass tanks as well as more traditional steel ones. CWCC currently has 6 start-to-finish customers, 5 ‘winemaker’ customers, and several others who fell somewhere in-between.

After our tour we sat down for an extended tasting of CWCC, Midland, Star Party, and Lightwell wine in their cozy tasting area. Lee stayed with us to walk us through all the options.

Nearly all of these labels include ‘non-traditional’ blends or styles, which made for an exciting tasting. I soon realized with around 20 wine options at my disposal it was unnecessary to visit another winery afterwards.

There are far too many to list individually, so here are a few of the more interesting wines:

• Star Party 2021 Rosé, made with the hybrid noriet (their 2022 was a blend of chambourcin and traminette)
• Lightwell 2021 Colorwave Rosé, made with vidal, petit manseng, chambourcin and noriet.
• Lightwell “Btw Dark & the Light”, a co-ferment with 2/3rds grapes and 1/3^rd apples
• CWCC 2022 MISE, an orange wine with PM, sauv blanc, and chardonel
• CWCC The Artist Formerly Known as Sparkling, a white wine originally planned to be a sparkling but ultimately became a still wine
• Midland 2019 Petit Manseng, I can’t find my tasting notes but remembering having several stars next to it
• Midland 2018 Blanc de Blancs “Zero”, sparkling wine (also my favorite here)

20 potential tastings are too much for a single visit, but I did my best to sample the menu (being able to share with my group helped). Needless to say, we found a lot we liked and left with many bottles.

I asked about Lightwell Survey’s old space and was told they will continue to use it for big events. But otherwise, this is basically the new Lightwell tasting room.

I loved the entire idea of CWCC; you’ll have to make multiple trips before you try everything. I also love how Lee (and presumably others) are partners or otherwise paid staff since this is a gratuity-free space. With exciting wine and fair labor, so what’s not to love?