If you have a few grapevines in your backyard, what do you do with the vines you prune off?  Sarah O’Herron and Ed Boyce, owners of Black Ankle Vineyards in Mt. Airy, Maryland tackled that question this past winter. They do however have a few more than a couple of grapevines. Their vineyard has thousands of vines planted on 22 ½ acres. That’s a lot of pruning. Sarah and Ed are about to open a tasting room on the estate in a few weeks. They are using sustainable practices to build the tasting room and much of the material came from the estate. After learning about a countertop manufacturer in Minnesota, Shetka Stone, that makes countertops from consumer waste paper, they decided to send the company some of their grapevine prunings and ask them to see what they could come up with.

The result was an awesome countertop with pieces of grapevines, grape seeds and skins. The countertops will be used in the Black Ankle tasting room. It is beautiful and my immediate thought was how much I’d like to have this as a counter top in my kitchen or bath. You can actually take the time to stare at the countertop identifying the parts of a grapevine that was pruned off.

With the numbers of wine enthusiasts perhaps Shetka Stone should market their grapevine counter tops to consumers.  I would certainly love a piece in my house.

Shetka Stone: website
Black Ankle Vineyards: website