Spotlight on Pennsylvania
By Rachel Brown
While it’s no surprise that most wine consumers look to California or the old world for their wine needs, there are highly regarded and award-winning wines grown right in your own backyard!
Pennsylvania is on the rise with wine, with over 380 wineries state wide that showcase all different styles of wine, ranging from the locally grown hybrids like Chambourcin, Vignoles or Steuben, to the well-known and long lived vitis vinifera varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc. Pennsylvania is ranked #5 for grape growing within the U.S.
With all of these possibilities, the selections of wine are endless!
Pennsylvania is split into 5 AVA’s (American viticultural areas), spanning from the Western side of the state near Lake Erie, all the way down to the southeast. Soils range from shale and clay into limestone and sandstone, all of which allow excellent drainage and add a touch of minerality and terroir to the wines.
While most of the state experiences a humid continental climate, nights are typically cooler, allowing for excellent development of acids in grapes.
Here’s what to expect when drinking a Pennsylvania wine:
Bright acids. With higher acid development in wine, the palate will feel light and cool. Acid is a key factor in wine, and helps keep the mouth from feeling viscous or oily. Think of drinking lemonade or Coca-Cola on a hot summer day. A sip of either of those beverages will send the taste buds at the back of your mouth dancing! Acid will showcase itself in underripe fruits. Think about cranberries or the way a raspberry lingers in your mouth if we’re tasting red wines. Or, if we’re tasting white wines, it will be more common to find notes of lemon, green apple or peaches on the back half of the palate.
Fruit characteristics ranging from sweet to tart. While many look to California for their jammy fruits, in red wines especially, PA can deliver very similar notes! From baked plum or stewed blueberries to peach pit and watermelon rind, our wines will give you tons of texture and taste to work through.
Terroir. With all of those rocky souls, we can find traces of that minerality on the palate, especially in wines like Pinot Grigio or Merlot, that can be reminiscent of slate or wet gravel!
While many consumers gravitate towards well known vinifera grapes, our region here in PA showcases some unique and fun finds!
French American Hybrid grapes have played a key role in Pennsylvania wine making for decades, but are still relatively new to the wine scene and to consumers alike.
With their naturally thick skins and disease resistance, grapes like Chambourcin add jammy red currants and spice to any wine. This grape is extremely unique because it is a teinturier grape! This means that not only are the skins of the grape nearly black, but unlike normal grapes, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, the flesh inside is pink! During maturation (the process during which dark grapes ferment on their skins to extract color) Chambourcin pulls even more color into the glass, often resulting in an inky, purple hue. Chambourcin can be fermented in a multitude of styles, from dry rosés, to light or medium plus bodied wines.
Grapes like Vignoles or Vidal Blanc boast naturally high acid and brix (natural sugar levels within the grape) and are able to create wines ranging from bone dry styles to Eisweins (which are lusciously sweet). Both of these grapes showcase fruits that move from pineapple and papaya to candied honey and overly ripe pear. They're dynamite to feature with a myriad of pairings and won’t let you down when you reach for a bottle.
No matter what style of wine you’re looking for, I can guarantee Pennsylvania will have the wine you’re looking for. Some of my personal favorite wineries/wines in the area to check out are:
Chaddsford Winery: 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon, 2019 Vignoles, 2019 Redux
The Inn at Grace winery: 1734 Cab Blend, 2018 Cuvèe, 2017 Chardonnay
Galer Estate: Huntress Vidal Blanc, Pinot Gris, 2017 Albariño.
Pennswoods Winery: 2019 Viognier, Brut Rosé, 2016 Pinot Noir Reserve.
Recommendations? Suggestions? Leave them in the comments below!