Wood smoke, wild blueberries, soft mossy stream beds, and 1970's folk harmonies all trigger memories of a childhood on the corner of a family farm tucked back a windy dirt road along the Lehigh River in the hills of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Banjos, photography, herbalism, and dandelion wine mark the coming of age. New England rock faces, beaches, and long trails, Oregon Pinot Noir, snow capped mountains, the french fry exhaust of a veggie oil powered school bus crossing the country once then twice, Tuscan small farm Chianti, Rome Italy, a time of adventure, travel, marriage, fatherhood, and entrepreneurship.
Then, a homecoming and putting down of roots a short walk from the site of our marriage ceremony and farm celebration. Jim Thorpe, PA. More kids, a dog, cats, chickens, a garden. A roots dirt rock band, Free Range Folk. Tens of hundreds of gallons of cider and wine fermented and fermenting on the homestead that dates back to my Great Grand Mammy. Countless hours of study and practice brought to your table. A passion as old as the hills, but uniquely my own and unique to the terroir of the beautiful Lehigh River Valley of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Focusing on dry wines made of native fruits, wild, homegrown, and locally sourced. Good fruit! Carefully produced small batches of the best wine and cider I can possibly make to date.
My dad. Homesteader. Mountain man. A.K.A. Griz. A.K.A. Trapper. My guide to the trailhead of winemaking. Forager of wild fruit. Cultivator of the brambles and berry patches. Hero. Mascot. Taste tester. Winemaker.