our story
Anchor & Hope is a craft winery founded by California native and traveling winemaker, James Davids and Massachusetts born and raised, Marissa Stashenko.
In 2018, after our son Liam was born, we left the biggest wine region in the US (California) in search of a different, more fulfilling lifestyle. With us, we brought our passion and knowledge of wine and our desire to start a new kind of wine business. We landed in Providence, RI – a place that reminds us a lot of the way San Francisco used to be. It is blooming with artists, soul, diversity, and also has some grit. It’s surrounded by water, and we are able to get to the coast and to nature and open space easily. It’s also a midpoint between the west coast and Europe –opening up more possibilities for us to collaborate with our friends overseas who are doing really amazing things with wine.
We built out a winery in an old wire mill building in Rumford, RI, about 10 minutes from Providence. We initially partnered with small family farms in California, Oregon and Germany to make some really incredible wine. We now work with farms in Rhode Island and New York as well. In some cases we ship the grapes and crush them at our winery, and in other cases the grapes are crushed at the home winery, and then shipped to us. We age, finish and package all of our wines here locally into 5 gallon kegs, 250mL cans, 375mL bottles and 750ml bottles.
We are especially passionate about alternative packaging (kegs & cans) because they are better for the environment. For restaurants 'by the glass' programs, kegs make so much sense because customers never see the bottle anyways and the wine stays fresh for months. Also, because the cost of packaging is so much lower, we are able to get really amazing wine into the hands of consumers at a much better price. We provide full draft solutions for customers via Enotap services.
Our goal is to be transparent about the winemaking process and give insight into the story behind where our wines come from and the people who grew the fruit and started the process. We make small decisions in the vineyard and in the cellar that are better for the environment, and in some cases cheaper, so that we can pass along these savings to our customers.
Inspired by the Rhode Island state flag, our name ‘Anchor & Hope’ speaks to our story of anchoring ourselves in Hope, Providence to start our family, and for our hopes and dreams for our life and this business.
This business is our true passion and we are honored you are following along on our journey. Cheers!