Pennsylvania - Lancaster County - Nissley Vineyards

Nissley Winery - (Jun 2014) We visited the winery as a birthday celebration. We drove through the vineyards to get to the family owned and operated winery which is housed in a old stone barn. As part of the visit, we participated in the self-guided tour, learned about Nissley's history and got to see some wine being bottled. The tasting allows you to choose from whites, reds and fruit wines. Most of the wines are blends with traditional grape varieties as well as hybrids. I started off with the seyval blanc, similar to a sauvignon blanc, and my wife the Whisper White, a semi-sweet with pear (maybe too much). I then tried the Classical White, a cayuga, vidal blanc and vignoles blend; it was smooth for a semi-dry and better on the palette than the Whisper White, while my wife went for the Grapeful White. My wife loves the sweet ones, but this one was too sweet for her. My wife went into the rose wines with the Bainbridge Rose and Fantasy. The Bainbridge had hints of oak and the Fantasy was on the sweeter side (probably due to the concord grapes used). I opted to right into reds with the cabernet franc. For some reason, this grape has drawn me to it and I'm liking what is being produced. Although their wine also has some merlot and chambourcin blended in, the balance of the wine was just right. I proceeded to their middle of the road to try to the off-dry Valley Red. Not having heard the term off-dry before, it was balanced. I then tried the Naughty Marietta, a semi-dry, and the Bainbridge Red, a semi-sweet. Although both are different blends, I would have expected the Bainbridge Red to be sweeter than what it was and almost thought the terms should have been switched. The Naughty Marietta was more pleasing to the palette. My wife did choose one red, the Grapeful Red, which reminded me of Church wine. She closed her tasting with the Montmorency Cherry wine. We love these cherries by themselves and this wines proved that cherry pie in a bottle is a possibility.

(January 2018) - Another PA Farm Show winery, we tried the Seyval Blanc, was nicely balanced with acidity and a faint oak finish. The Merlot had plum flavors with a buttery, oaky, vanilla finish.