This ain’t no seed catalog.
Welcome to Pennsylvania Vine Company (a.k.a. PA Vine Co, PAVC). This site started in 2012 as an online magazine about both the wines of Pennsylvania and the international wines available to consumers in the commonwealth (i.e. through the PLCB). When our fearless co-founder Jeff Alexander moved to New England in 2016, however, we struggled to overcome our sadness, and the site went dormant.
After much consideration, co-founder Mike Madaio revived PAVC in 2020 with a newfound purpose: to promote high-quality PA-made wines. Even since the beginnings of this site in 2012, we’ve watched the industry expand and grow, and we now feel it is at a point that consistently good dry wines can be found in every region of the state. This is not to say they are all quality, but that fine local wine is now much easier to get. (And we’re here to help.)
This is NOT intended to be a directory of every winery in PA — PennsylvaniaWine.com already exists for that. The difference between them and us is that they are paid to promote the entire industry. It’s PR (which is good for the industry — we’re not suggesting otherwise). We, on the other hand, are only interested in highlighting those wineries that are focused on making high-quality, dry wines. As such, our hope is to add value and spark discussion among those looking for the same.
The Name
Did you know that Pennsylvania, land of firsts, was the birthplace of America’s wine industry? In fact, William Penn had a plot of vines located near Philly in the 1600s, and the beginnings of U.S. commercial viticulture can be traced to the late 18th century and a Frenchman named Peter Legaux who planted a vineyard near Conshohocken in Montgomery County. Legaux named his operation the Pennsylvania Vine Company, created “for the purpose of promoting the cultivation of vines.”
Pennsylvania Vine Company and Legaux shared a fascinating story fraught with historic twists, including the planting of vines from the legendary Bordeaux chateaus of Margeaux, Lafite and Haut-Brion. The deep roots of Pennsylvania wine and the extraordinary history of Monsieur Legaux made for an interesting, well, trellis for our site. We hope he doesn’t object to our use of creative license to cultivate a deeper appreciation of wine in the Commonwealth.