Our family vineyard is located on the south face of the Pocono Escarpment, Polk Township, in the western corner of Monroe County. Situated in the northeastern most section of the Appalachian Plateau physiographic region we have more in common with areas further to the west than we do with our neighbors to the south in the Lehigh Valley (part of the Appalachian Valley and Ridge physiographic region.
The great glaciers had a profound effect on our soils, depositing glacial drift, combined with the naturally occurring slate and shale reminds us of the Mosel in Germany. As vineyards go we are about as far north as you can get and still grow the grapes we do without the benefit of a large body of water to moderate the extremes in temperature. The south-facing slopes of our main vineyard capture what the winter sun offers, and along with the slate/shale soils, variety of grape and the manner in which we grow them, help insure a mature, healthy crop. But mother nature has a more profound influence on the character of our wines than the currently more popular regions grape growing world.
We strongly believe that wine if food, and is at it’s best on the dinner table. Putting down the fork to pick up the glass allows pause for reflection, conversation and rejuvenation of the palate.
Since our original hobby planting of Concord in the late 1980's we have gone through several transformation, most due to familiarity with our local climate and pest problems. While plantings of Nebbiolo, Riesling, Cabernet sauvignon and others, produce the wines we first came to love to drink, it became evident that we do not have the climate to produce evenly ripe, disease free grapes from them.
We still have some traditional European varieties which seem to thrive here including Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, but most of our new plantings are of a more cold tolerant, disease resistant nature. These varieties are hybrids of European and American vines, they ripen reliably and allow us to reduce the amount of spray we need to use.