Make PA Wine Land a Weekend Adventure

The shores of Lake Erie. Amish Country. The Brandywine River and the Susquehanna River valleys. Laurel Highlands and the Poconos. The Delaware Water Gap.

PA Wine Land offers more attractions than just great tasting room visits and winery tours. For those looking for weekend vacations, Pennsylvania’s wineries are also great starting points around which to build a few days of varied fun and activities. And the people behind the counters at the wineries can often serve as your best concierges, even suggesting local lodging.

For example, Anthony Vietri, winemaker/owner of Va La Vineyards in Avondale, knows that his visitors may have already heard of Winterthur, Brandywine River Museum and Longwood Gardens or even have visited them. So he suggests some alternatives: “For those looking beyond the usual suspects in local activities,” Vietri says, “I would suggest picking up some fresh exotic mushrooms, taking in a polo match, visiting our authentic Mexican restaurants, taqueries, bakeries and markets or hiking and fishing in the White Clay Creek preserve.”

Visitors to the dozen wineries that make up the Mason-Dixon Wine Trail in south central Pennsylvania can head to Amish country around Lancaster in the morning and go to the Harley Davidson factory and museum in York in the afternoon.

The Bucks County Wine Trail offers visitors the history of Washington’s Crossing plus the laid-back lifestyle of New Hope with its fine art galleries and its great restaurants.

At Presque Isle Winery, part of Lake Erie Wine Country, Sheila DiGilio recommends Freeport Beach on the lake at North East for fun in the sun. “Presque State Park is a good destination for those who want to have a picnic or go biking or roller blading,” DiGilio advises. “There are also horseback trails nearby, and, of course, there are a lot of great restaurants in Erie.”

And for those from the more-rural parts of Pennsylvania or for those coming from outside the state, there are wines trails on the outskirts of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, giving visitors the opportunity to combine the rural and urban attractions in a single weekend.

To find out more about the wineries and wine trails for your intended destination, log into www.PAWineLand.com for maps and contact information. You also will find background on upcoming wine events for Pennsylvania’s 12 wine trails and its more than 150 wineries as well as wine tips and wine information. And if you’re on the road, find nearby wineries by using the mobile website at m.pennsylvaniawine.com.

Once you’ve settled on an area to visit, give a call to one or more of the area’s wineries. Your tasting room concierge will be waiting to help you chart out your weekend with local sights and activities.