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May 13, 2024 SBA Awards: Manufacturer of the Year

2024 SBA Awards: Aquila’s Nest Vineyards

Ardian Llomi and Neviana Zhgaba
Manufacturer of the Year: Aquila’s Nest  Vineyards  Check out the other 2024 SBA Award winners
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Q&A talks to Neviana Zhgaba, owner of Aquila’s Nest Vineyards.

Can you describe your business?

Aquila’s Nest Vineyards is an experience- and impact-focused vineyard, and a climate neutral certified winery, providing visitors with immersive events that embrace each of the five senses.

Aquila’s Nest was inspired by mythological tales and our love for astronomy. All our wines are branded with the image of a constellation, the name of a woman drawn from an ancient Mediterranean myth, the inscription of a wisdom Latin phrase translated in English in the back of the label, as well as a unique wine cup design of the story that brings all these elements together.

Check out the other 2024 SBA Award winners

How did you get into this business?

When our older son was 2 years old and our younger son was 3 months old, we found a 40 acre farm in the Sandy Hook area that had been in the local family for the past three generations. Even though we had our hands full with our two very young sons, we fell in love with the property and wanted it to become our family’s nest in the near future.

But our first goal was to plant the vineyard and build the winery. We wanted to create a unique place where we could bring the community together.

How has your business grown in the past year?

In 2023, we experienced a 30% growth from 2022. One of our biggest accomplishments has been our partnerships and community support. We have partnered with and empowered 80-plus women-owned businesses and 100-plus local small businesses to create unique wine and crafts/arts/food experiences for their guests.

Since October 2020, we have hosted over 580 music performances Thursday through Sunday, promoting local musicians. We have supported the arts by hosting outdoor sculpture exhibits during COVID-19 years, partnering with the Cultural Alliance of Western Connecticut.

Aquila’s Nest Vineyards has also been Climate Neutral Certified for the past two years, having offset all operating carbon emissions.

What’s a major challenge your business has overcome in the past year?

Given our rapid growth from the prior year, in 2023 the biggest challenge was to balance our staffing and infrastructure needs with the increasing number of visitors, while pivoting with the ever-unpredictable change in weather.

What we anticipated to be a steady summer season turned into the busiest part of the year, which required us to expedite a few infrastructure projects and hiring processes that were planned to be ready for our official peak season, the fall.

When the fall season came around, the weather gods decided to give Connecticut rain six weekends in a row, which in turn impacted our staff and guests.

Check out the other 2024 SBA Award winners

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