FAQ

What do we offer?
We specialize in honey wine (mead), apple, and maple wines.  Like grape wine?  We got that too.  Our offerings run from very traditional, to experimental – serious wines for that formal dinner, fun ones to be shared with friends.  Traditional meads highlight the sophisticated honey notes to modern styles with coffee, lavender, vanilla, peppers, hops, whiskey barrel aging, etc. Available for purchase at our winery.  Available to purchase for shipping.

Where did the name come from?
People buy wines for a place and time to enjoy – engagement proposals, family celebrations, or just kicking back on the patio.  We want to have a wine for that moment and place.  Also, mead is the oldest alcoholic beverage on the planet so often feels like we are time travelers reintroducing it to the modern drinker.  Our business is located in the hometown of Astronaut and STS-102 Mission Specialist Paul Richards.  And of course, the owner is a lover of both science fact, and fiction.

Can you accommodate buses or large groups?  Sorry, no. Our space is small – no more than 8 at one time.  We prefer a more focused interaction with our customers to explore our wines and finding something the customer likes as opposed to large groups.  Other local wineries are able to accommodate larger groups and buses. (https://www.visitnepa.org/things-to-do/self-guided-tours/wine-trail/)

What can you do at the winery?
 We offer bottle sales and sampling.  There is no seating, nor food, but plenty of those opportunities nearby. We do not offer tours, but we do offer a private mead making experience.

What is mead?
Mead, or honey wine, is an alcoholic beverage created by fermenting honey. Our mead can be dry with or without oakiness for that perfect dinner pairing; refreshing, and light for drinking on its own; or full-bodied and sweet for winding down at the end of an evening.  If you like grape wine, we have a mead that fits your taste.

Is mead and cider like a beer? Is it brewed?
Neither mead nor cider are a type of beer, nor are they brewed like a beer.  Other than replacing grape juice with honey, apple or pear juice, mead and cider are made just like a grape wine.  The exception would be a braggot which is a type of mead made with malt and heated/boiled (brewed) like a beer.  We find that saying a mead or a cider is brewed is confusing to non homebrewing consumers (the vast majority of people) , and is not accurate to describe what is being made, so why use jargon and inaccurate, confusing terms.  I’d look silly if I asked my waiter for a “steak brewed medium”, right?

Is all mead sweet?
No – a common misconception is that since mead is made with honey it has to be sweet.  Just as you can have sweet grape juice and make dry wines, mead is no different.  By changing the water to honey ratio, we make meads that are dry and perfect for food pairing.  We also make off semi-dry, semi sweet, sweet, and dessert sweet offerings.  So no matter what you like, we’ll have something for you.

What is cider?
Cider is made from the fermented juice of apples (apple wine) or pears (perry, pear wine). Hard cider refers to the nonalcoholic apple juice (called cider in the US) fermented into alcohol.  We have a good selection of dryer and non-carbonated ciders making for refreshing compliments to foods or on their own.  These ciders can be a lower-alcohol alternative to a nice off-dry grape wine. We have also started using some French and English techniques to produce semi-sweet/sweet ciders without the need to add sweeteners or sulfites.

How do you make your wine?
Our wine-making philosophy is to blend time-tested techniques with modern practices, and new innovations. We limit unnecessary processes or additives while not limiting experimentation – pushing the frontier of meads and ciders.  We rarely use any added sugars, concentrates, “natural” or artificial flavorings or colors.  We prefer to use actual fruits and spices.

Any gluten-free options?
Honey, grape and fruit wines are naturally gluten-free.  Any exceptions to this will be stated on our label and menu. To date, the only example of something that we can not say is 100% gluten-free is when we use a yeast that was grown in a malt solution prior to using to ferment our wine.

Are your wines vegan or vegetarian?
Our grape, fruit, and maple wines are vegan. Honey however is vegetarian, but not vegan. No meads are vegan. All the ingredients we use to make our wines are vegan – yeast, nutrients, stabilizers, and clarifiers.

Are your wines kosher?
The ingredients – honey and other non-grape fruit juices, are kosher.  However, we do not have a kosher-certified wine given we also have used our tanks with grape wine.  We have purchased new tanks and are working on our first kosher certified mead. (Stay tuned)

Where do you source your ingredients?
We source the fruit, honey, and maple syrup as locally as possible. As a PA Preferred Winery, we have committed to sourcing our ingredients from Pennsylvania whenever possible.  We get the majority of our ingredients from within 50 miles of our winery.  We know the beekeepers and the growers.

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