Vynecrest Vineyards & Winery

were tilling untested ground—figuratively and literally. “Back then, no one had any real experience about what grapes would grow well in the Lehigh Valley, so you had to experiment,” Jan says. “Over the last 50 years, we’ve grown more than 30 different varieties in the vineyard, trying to see which ones do well and which ones don’t. It takes three or four years before you actually get a crop, so you can’t get too impatient.”

Vynecrest officially became a licensed winery in 1989. Today, after having the opportunity to acquire more land over the years, the Vynecrest estate consists of 75 acres—25 of which are dedicated to grapes. The winery currently makes about 22,000 gallons— roughly 9,000 cases—of wine a year.

Among some of Vynecrest’s top sellers are its flagship wine, Lemberger, a full-bodied dry red; a blend called Vynecrest Red; a blend of white varietals called Autumn Gold; and Naked Chardonnay.

Red Wine and Wilbur Buds

John Landis grew up in Lititz, home of Wilbur Chocolate, so the preferred candy in the Landis house was Wilbur Buds, a semisweet chocolate. Another Landis family favorite was sour cherry pie, so when Vynecrest first decided to make a fruit wine in 2000, John’s first thought was to make a sour cherry wine, which became Vynecrest’s Cherry DiVyne wine. To this day, Vynecrest serves Wilbur Buds with its Cherry DiVyne.

In the spring of 1974, Moravian sweethearts John and Jan Landis, both of whom graduated in 1964, purchased a small tract of land with a house and barn in Breinigsville, Pennsylvania, after Jan—an English major who was working for Rodale Press at the time—had edited a book titled Homesteading: How to Find New Independence on the Land. “I got hooked on that book,” Jan says, “and we both got enthused about the idea.”

The couple created a very large garden area, so in addition to the usual fruits and vegetables, they decided to grow grapes. “We took courses and seminars in Penn State’s agricultural department and started selling our grapes to home winemakers,” Jan says.

After a few years, however, the Landises saturated the local market for home winemakers and began having to give away the grapes they grew. “We got the hint that perhaps we should take it a step further and become a winery,” Jan says. “John was a chemical engineer at Air Products, so he knew all about distillation and the lab side of making wine.”

At the time, the wine-making industry in Pennsylvania was in its infancy. The state legislature had only authorized home wineries in the late 1960s, so the Landises

Since their youngest son, Sam, joined the family business in 2002, the Landises have been gradually moving away from the everyday operations of the vineyard. Jan still keeps the books and manages PR and social media, and John has been active with the Pennsylvania Wine Marketing Research Board, an organization that aims to have the state be recognized as the premium East Coast wine appellation. “It’s under the jurisdiction of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture,” John says. “We assess member wineries 20 cents per gallon of wine, and that money goes into a fund for us to invest in either marketing or research— most of which is done at Penn State.

“I’ve seen the whole industry grow from 60 wineries to more than 300 right now in the state,” John adds. “That’s pretty amazing growth.”

Vynecrest Vineyards & Winery

172 Arrowhead La. Breinigsville, PA 18031

610-398-7525 vynecrest.com

Wine bar hours

Sunday–Thursday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

Friday & Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

Online orders are available for shipping.

A Rendezvous with Spice

Kenny Rampolla, VP of sales and marketing for Lost Tavern Brewing and son of Ken Rampolla ’79, loves spicy food, and he loves IPAs, and he loves that the two go really well together. Rampolla particularly enjoys pairing the Korean Fried Chicken from Zach Umstead’s Randevoo restaurant in the Moravian Book Shop with any of Lost Tavern’s IPAs, because the notes of spice and bitterness in the IPA cut through some of the spice and heat from the chicken. Naturally, Rampolla recommends his brewery’s double IPA Randevoo with the Korean Fried Chicken.