Sixth-generation Lancaster County farmers Jan and Kimberly Waltz turn fruit from their 35-acre Manheim estate into European-style wines at Waltz Vineyards Estate Winery. The family has produced estate-grown vinifera grapes since 1997 and handcrafted its first wine in 2000, now making about 7,500 cases a year in a boutique winery with Italian technology and French-oak aging. The farm’s Continental climate, shale-rich soils and rolling Lancaster County setting give the winery a distinctly local sense of place.
Vynecrest Vineyards & WineryFounded when John and Jan Landis planted 50 vines on a five-acre Breinigsville farm in 1974, Vynecrest Vineyards & Winery grows grapes and makes wine in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The family-owned winery is the county’s oldest existing vineyard and now farms 22 acres of grapes on a 75-acre property, producing about 9,000 cases annually. Its cellar tasting room, Tom’s Vyneskeller, and vineyard events connect visitors with a business that has remained in the Landis family for more than 50 years.BREINIGSVILLE, PA
Setter Ridge VineyardsFamily-owned Setter Ridge Vineyards grows grapes and makes European-style wines on steep, south-facing hillsides in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Richard Blair planted the first row in 1998, and the Blair family now tends two vineyards totaling 23 acres of vines alongside a gravity-flow winery in Kutztown. The winery opened commercially in 2004 and continues to pair small-farm winemaking with a tasting setting overlooking the Blue Mountains.KUTZTOWN, PA
Mount Nittany Vineyard & WineryFounded in 1990 after Joe and Betty Carroll turned their Mount Nittany family farm into a winery, Mount Nittany Vineyard & Winery produces wine on a 60-acre central Pennsylvania estate. The second-generation family business now works from a six-acre vineyard and an on-site production facility, with winemaker Scott Hilliker—who joined full time in 2015—overseeing its broad wine program. Its mountain setting also provides a distinctive backdrop for tastings and private events beside a spring-fed pond.CENTRE HALL, PA