JUSTIN COOK The Roanoke Times

One of the first vines has sprouted leaves at the fledgling Montgomery County vineyard owned by Rik and Melissa Obiso. The Obisos say they spent several weeks planting their first 500 vines, often working past dark by the light of their cars' headlights and recruiting their two children to help.

RINER -- When Rik and Melissa Obiso stand out on their back porch, they look out on 500 newly planted vines -- and the beginnings of a business venture they've dreamed of for years.

So far, the vines aren't much to look at.

Wrapped in tubing and, with the best-growing vines producing tiny, doll-size clusters of grapes, the plants are far from reaching peak, wine-grape production.

But give them four years and the Obisos say they will be the foundation of a more than 20-acre winery and vineyard in Montgomery County.

"I started making wine as a hobby, and it got bigger and bigger and became almost an obsession," said Rik Obiso, a New Jersey native and owner of biotech consulting firm The Microbe Company. "We didn't have the funds to purchase a fully commercial, running winery so we decided to build it from scratch."

But building things from scratch takes time and a huge amount of work.

The Obisos say they spent several weeks planting their first 500 vines by hand, often working past dark by the light of their cars' headlights and recruiting their two children, Alex, 9, and Erik, 6, to help.

Up next, the couple plan to plant an additional 2,000 vines in their back yard and plan to find 15 to 30 more acres nearby to hold a tasting room and more vines.

"This year is land, next year is planting," Rik Obiso said of his timeline for bringing Eclipse Winery into being. "The following year is building ... and then, by the fourth year, we'll be harvesting.

"We hope to have close to 12,000 or 13,000 vines planted within three years," Obiso added. "We won't be a small winery once we get kicking."

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 2007 there were 2,790 acres of grapes in Virginia and the state's grape producers harvested 5,600 tons, or about $7.8 million worth, of commercial grapes.

Developing a winery, however, doesn't come cheap.

Obiso estimated it would take at least $1 million in equipment and construction costs to open Eclipse.

And, while the Obisos have been saving for years in anticipation of starting the winery, they are also looking for outside funding.

Rik Obiso said he hopes to raise $300,000 from angel and private equity investors over the next 18 months.

"If we don't find them," he noted, "we're doing it ourselves. We're just going to take a little bit longer to do it."

Under the couple's current, 60-page business plan, Eclipse Winery is slated to open between 2012 and 2013 with a number of red and white wines on offer, including Cabernet Franc, Viognier and Chardonelle.

"We've spent a good portion of a decade learning what doesn't work at wineries," Rik Obiso said.

What they hope will work is an atmosphere Melissa Obiso said will be akin to visiting friends.

"You're just completely relaxed and comfortable," said the owner of Inkworks, a residential design firm,

"You know how people go to Starbucks and they relax and read a book and they have their coffee?" her husband chimed in. "We'd like to do the same type of thing with wine."

Rik and Melissa Obiso, who met while they were in grade school and both attended Virginia Tech, said they developed a love of wine by slowly learning its various nuances and subtleties.

"We would taste different wines and I would look at more of, well, how did they get that hint of flavor to it? Why does it have this green pepper taste to it? or something like that," Rik Obiso explained.

Yet transforming an interest into a successful business often requires not just energy, patience and funding, but also a bit of luck. And it is with this in mind, that the Obisos settled on a name for their winery.

With an eclipse, "the development of everything has to be just right to have a spectacular happening," Melissa Obiso said. "And that's kind of how we feel about this."