The Wyalusing Valley Museum will be publishing a ‘Winery of the Week’ feature article each and every Friday from now until the Wyalusing Valley Wine Festival on Saturday, Sept. 15, in an effort to highlight the many loyal Pennsylvania wineries and vineyards that have sampled and sold their beloved varietals at the festival throughout its 15-year history.
This week, our ‘Winery of the Week’ is Antler Ridge Winery.
Antler Ridge Winery has a simple philosophy: Create the best wines and offer customers the best experience possible when they visit any one of its stores.
Using only select grapes and fruits that are hand-picked before they go in the tank, the love and passion is vividly clear in every bottle of wine Antler Ridge produces.
“If you are ever around when we are harvesting, you will see us carefully choose what goes into our wines. We hand tend to our vines and fruits all year long to help them produce the best each year,” says the website.
Antler Ridge Winery’s main location is on an old family farm property just north of Rome, providing the perfect country setting.
Inside the winery is the state-of-the-art tank room, where each tank is electronically controlled to maintain the various varietals at precise temperatures during the different stages of production. The white wines are fermented slowly and at cool temperatures, a process that produces a tantalizing taste on the palate. Red wines are fermented “on the skins” just long enough to bring out flavorful tannins and rich colors. The reds are then aged in French and American oak barrels until they are ready to be bottled.
The founders of Antler Ridge started out as home winemakers over 20 years ago, giving them a profound understanding of what it is like to make wine from scratch. The staff offers all the help they can for new comers to the art of winemaking.
Having earned gold, silver and bronze medals for a long list of its wines from the Pennsylvania Farm Show, Pennsylvania Keystone Competition, Florida State International Competition, Finger Lakes International Competition, and the International Eastern Wine Competition, it’s quite obvious that the folks at Antler Ridge know what they’re doing.
Past winners have included it’s “Red Vixen”, “Diamond”, “Blueberry”, “Raspberry Bramble”, “Niagra”, and more.
With locations in Ulster, Waymart, Hawley (Lake Wallenpaupack), Mertztown, and Jim Thorpe, wines from Antler Ridge are always just a short drive away. And even if it’s a long drive, it’s still well worth it. The friendly staff at each location strives to provide excellent service and will help with anything they can.
Antler Ridge Winery will return to the annual Wyalusing Valley Wine Festival on Saturday, Sept. 15 to showcase some of these great varietals during five full hours of tastings from noon to 5 p.m.
For more information, visit www.antlerridgewinery.com