September 19, 2023
Luke Lukert
WTOP News
Maryland wine aficionados will get a taste of a new vintage next month from an African-born vintner. Ifeoma Clyopatra Onyia is opening Clyopatra Winery and Vineyard in Laurel, Maryland, next month, and according to the winery’s website, she will be the first African winery owner in the U.S.
Onyia told WTOP that her dream is coming true as she sat in front of her very own vineyard on Brooklyn Bridge Road.
“Being the first person doing a lot of things, you get a lot of pushback. You get a lot of, ‘Are you sure you know what you’re doing? Do you think you can succeed?’” Onyia said. “I had somebody asked me a question saying, ‘So who are you going to sell your wine to?’ I looked at him and I said the same people you sell your wine to.”
She grew up in Udi, Nigeria, with seven siblings and eventually went to school in England before settling in Maryland, where she began a nursing home care company. But wine was always on her mind.
To continue reading this article, please visit WTOP News.
