Heard it Through the Grapevine… at the Farm Show
The Farm Show celebrates agriculture. It’s Pennsylvania’s biggest industry, and wine production is widely considered one of its fastest growing segments. “The number of wineries has more than doubled within the past decade,” explains Pennsylvania Wineries Association Director Jennifer Eckinger. “At this point we have more than 150-wineries throughout the state of Pennsylvania. They’re located in every portion of the state.”
Eckinger helped to award three of those wineries with the 17th annual Governor’s Cups this week. The large trophies that represent ‘Best of Show’ wines went to Karamoor Estate Vineyards (Montgomery Co.), Greendance Winery (Westmoreland Co.) and Crossing Vineyard & Winery (Bucks Co.).
Crossing Vineyard & Winery vintner Tom Carroll Jr. knew he wanted to make wine from the time he was 10-years old. After mastering the craft in California, he moved back to southeastern Pennsylvania to start his own winery on his parents’ farm.
Carroll’s Best of Show Fruit Wine is called Wild Berry. The concoction started out as a blueberry wine, but Carroll added some blackberries and raspberries to find just the right flavor. “I remember the first time my dad tasted it he said, wow this is wild,” Carroll says of how the wine got its name.
Carroll and all of PA’s winemakers are working every day to convince people that good wine doesn’t have to come from Europe or California. Based on the crowds at the new wine tasting display in the Farm Show’s Main Hall… it would seem they’re converting hundreds of people this week alone.
