Over the last couple of weeks, I have written about the trip that a friend and I took through the Brandywine Valley here in Southeast Pennsylvania. It was intended to be a bike trip and we would stop off at several wineries along the way. I have written a bit about how our bike trip turned into a soggy car ride thanks to the near constant rain, but I have barely mentioned the wineries that we visited. In all, we hit four different producers and two were rather impressive: Black Walnut and Galer Estate.

Black Walnut was our last visit of the day and we were greeted by Val Castle, one of the owners and the wife of the wine maker, Lance. Val walked us through all of their wines, filling us in on the story behind the winery as she kept filling our glasses. Val and Lance both have ‘real’ jobs and put in time after work and on the weekends at the winery which I found very difficult to grasp (being the father of two my weekends are often busier than the work week), but it was clear that they were very passionate about the wine and were determined to make their endeavor a success. Val recounted all the work that went into the renovation of their 200 year old former bank building into the impressive winery and tasting room in Chester County. The amount of sweat (and money?) that went into the transformation is mind boggling, and the results were truly impressive.

The Tasting Room Bar (from their Facebook Page)

After tasting the nine different bottlings (which together come to just about 3,000 cases–tiny by almost any measure), Lance took us through the wine making area of the winery. Again, it was clear that an unbelievable amount of work and care went into transforming the building. For such a small winery I was amazed to find that they had all of the equipment they needed on the premises, including their own bottling line (those suckers are not  cheap). In fact, all the wineries we visited that day had their own bottling equipment, a luxury that even larger California and Oregon wineries do not have (to be fair, since there are many more wineries in CA and OR, custom crush facilities and mobile bottling services are much more prevalent and reliable).

The owners of Black Walnut (Val and Lance are on the right–from their Facebook page)

All the wines we tried were clearly well made and solid, but two really stood out for me:

2008 Black Walnut Pinot Noir: $18. If you have spent any time on this site, you know I am a bit of a Pinot freak (otherwise known as a Pinot snob). Therefore, given my predilection, I was not expecting to like this wine at all. Pinot is a finicky grape and simply can’t be grown everywhere. When it is at its best, it is grown in a cool climate with relatively warm (but not ‘hot’) days and cool nights. That does not describe Pennsylvania in the summer. The wine in the glass was quite light, almost a rosé, again causing a bit of concern, but the nose exhibited some nice cherry fruit and a bit of spice. On the palate, the fruit was front and center and lingered for quite a bit, there was also an earthiness that would make roast chicken an ideal pairing for this wine. As I said, I am a Pinot snob, and this was quite good. Very Good to Excellent. 86-88 points.

2007 Black Tie Optional: $18. Bordeaux Blend, mostly Cabernet Franc. Alright I am a snob. When I see wines with ‘cute’ names such as this, I am more than wary–I feel that the name is an attempt to get people to buy the wine since, well, the wine will not sell itself. Again, I was pleasantly proven wrong. In my mind, this was the best wine we had at Black Walnut and further underscored my feeling that PA wine (at least in the Brandywine Valley) should hitch their wagons to Cabernet Franc. Strawberries and smoke with a bit of white pepper make this a versatile wine: from barbecue to filet mignon and back, you will not go wrong. Very Good to Excellent. 87-89 points.

One more:

2009 Black Walnut Chambourcin: $16. I thought I would throw this one in here as well because, well, it is time to rip every single vine of Chambourcin out of the ground. It is a hybrid grape developed to resist mold pressure in very humid regions like PA. OK, I get that. I get that it has become somewhat of the de facto ‘signature’ grape for Pennsylvania. Take that back, I do not ‘get’ why Chambourcin is still around. Perhaps it served a purpose at one point, but tasting through Lance and Val’s wines, it was clear that they knew what they were doing and they only had this Chambourcin because people come in looking for it. Having said all that, this is by far the best Chambourcin I have ever tasted (but that is a very low bar). Lance is a serious winemaker making serious wines. I do not consider Chambourcin a serious variety, but maybe that’s just me….

Lastly, I would really like to thank Val and Lance for their generous hospitality–we were there late on a Sunday and they took the time right near closing to walk us through all the wines and the entire building. Lance hails from Ohio (as do I) and Val went to the University of Michigan (don’t hold that against her) and they both possess that mid-Western hospitality that I cherish. Give their wines a try and let me know what you think.

Here is an excellent video from their website: