This past weekend we made a visit to State College to see one of our sons and his wife. As there are a bunch of wineries nearby it seemed a perfect opportunity to go visit one. We decided to visit Seven Mountains Wine Cellars.
We ended up walking into the tasting room
It was a little cold, it snowed as we left, but the room was very inviting with some live music, a fire going and lots of people
I have never heard of Seven Mountains Wine, but they have won many awards as attested to by this table showing their medals and cups just inside the door.
They make a variety of wines, 25 to be exact, grape and fruit wines and won the Governors Cup for a fruit and a grape wine this year, the first time that has been done by one winery. We got to taste seven different wines, and I stuck to the grape wines. Flavor was excellent, depth for me was a little thin, but maybe if you drank more than a taste and a little time to breathe depth might develop a little more. My favorite wine among their reds was their Rattlehead Red named after a friend called Merril. This was a little sweeter and had a slightly deeper flavor than the next favorite of mine the ten point which was pretty dry and would probably be good with food. All their reds had an excellent balance to them and you could taste the flavor without being overwhelmed by sugars.
Among the whites I liked the We are Cayuga White best which is also used in their sparkling wine as well, the Chardonnay was good but I love really oaky Chards and this did not do it for me, however the Whipporwill White had a nice blend of fruit and sweetness to it that would make it a nice wine to drink at a party. However, as we were tasting I got talking with the owner Scott Bubb shown here with his wife Mary Ann
You can read all about Scott and his wine philosophy on the Seven Mountains Wine website, Scott has been making wine as an amateur since 1976, and then moved into making wine professionally, his wines have won a host of awards and if you are driving up to Penn State to visit kids or friends it is well worth a visit, they are extremely friendly and make sure if they are serving Mary Ann's Chicken Chilli to get a large portion it was delicious. Anyway I digress, as I got talking with Scott, worth doing as he is passionate about what he does, and he offered me some of hie award winning Vidal Ice Wine. I love ice wines, because of thier intensity of flavour, but often this can also be overbearing if there is too much fruit, but this was gorgeous, I understood immediately why it won the 2011 Governor's Cup and Double Gold. Not too much sugar but plenty of flavour with apricot and honey in the background. Next time I am up there I think I just may get a bottle to take home. A nice touch about the winery is that they encourage you to bring a picnic and enjoy your time with friends as well as the wine, they have a wonderful outdoor area as well as by the fire, and in the summer it will make a nice stop away from the bustle of downtown State College.
Seven Mountain Wine Cellars is located on Decker Valley Road just one mile off Route 322 near Potters Mills. So stop by next time you visit State College and enjoy yourselves and bring home some great wine.
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