Better weather couldn't have been ordered for Mt. Nittany Winery's Fall Harvest Wine Festival. Low 80s in late October, plus dry and sunny weather created comfortable conditions for a tour, a walk on the grounds, sitting at a picnic table or on the grass listening to the live band.
The winery is on the west-facing slope of Mount Nittany, and on that Sunday afternoon the descending sunlight seemed to add a gold tint to almost everything, even the air. Changing leaf color of the wooded mountainside surrounded the chalet, picnic areas, pond and vineyard that make up 65 acres.
Rows of well-maintained vines stretched over five acres downhill from the chalet where some of the harvested grapes were fermenting into wines that have earned medals in Pennsylvania and international wine competitions.
Mount Nittany is in the background of this view:
On the tour, I learned that volunteers harvest the fruit, usually in August.
My friends Heather and Oranuj posed for photos on the porch with a rich green forest and light blue sky behind them. No hurry. It was so beautiful.
We each tried various wines in the tasting room on the top floor of the chalet. The Montmorency Cherry and raspberry wines I had hoped to sample were depleted.
Sweet wines may leave too much of their flavor in my mouth for subsequent samples, so I requested dry wine samples first. Of course I tried the Merlot, one of my favorites. It's good and would go well with a lot of meals. Other Merlots I've had are sweet or semi-sweet. This is a pleasant variety.
When I requested Spiced Apple, the server asked if I wanted it warm or cool. My interest was peaked. It tastes much like apple cider but since I chose to drink it warm it evaporated in my mouth like a cognac I tasted years ago. Very tasty. I've never been good at coming up with foods -- other than cheese -- to complement a wine. Still, this might go well with a gourmet cheese popcorn. Well, I still got cheese in there.
The Autumn Nectar tasted of honey and was good, although I'm not a honey fan. It's very, very, very sweet and leaves a little residue to lick off your lips. Hmm.
The wine that won my money for the day was Nittany Mountain Blush. It's semi-dry and like the winery's website description states, is very smooth. Who will share with me the bottle I purchased?
As my friends and I took a brief tour of the winemaking process, I learned that it ferments faster than I expected, over several days at most, as I recall.
After the tour, we walked the long sunlit rows of grape vines, which still had some fruit. Wine grapes are not enjoyable for eating. So, there was no temptation to snatch a few.
Should you decide to pay a visit, Mt. Nittany Winery's regular hours are listed on the website.
Salut!
