Another Weekend, Another Winery!

Paul and I had the idea to take a quick trip up to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania as a way to celebrate our anniversary – due to COVID, we weren’t going anywhere far, but we knew we could have just as much fun anywhere we decided to go. Gettysburg isn’t far from us, and it has a little bit of everything for any type of traveler: state parks for the nature seekers, lots of history for the historical buffs, a bunch of museums, relaxation, delicious food to eat, and obviously – wineries for the winos! As anywhere we travel, I looked up ahead of time to see if there were any wineries near our Airbnb that we could spend some time at, just to try it out. Lo and behold – there was one five minutes away.

Adams County winery is about 15 minutes from Gettysburg – closer to the mountains and fields of the countryside. It also seems to be the go-to wine to serve in Gettysburg, as we saw it advertised and sold pretty much every restaurant we went to. Tucked away near an apple orchard, this winery is quiet and relaxing, but beautiful with a little mystical feeling to it. They have plenty of outdoor seating, either on the lawn, or near the breathtaking garden (yes, a garden!). There’s also a covered porch that had large fans for summer, and heat lamps for the cooler months, and kept you out of the sun or rain while you enjoyed your wine. The tasting room is a short walk away, where you also pass another outdoor patio (and also a large outdoor pizza oven, where I think the winery has live music on the weekends, so check the calendar!). The tasting room is pretty large with several stations, so you aren’t kept waiting long. The staff is so friendly and helpful, and you can tell that they know some of the locals who frequent the winery.

At the moment, Adams County isn’t doing tasting flights for COVID – they only serve by the bottle or by the glass. Also, Pennsylvania currently has a mandate that every order containing alcohol must be accompanied by a purchase of food, so be prepared to buy a snack with your glass of wine as well. Although I was a little bummed that I wasn’t able to sample more of their wines at one time, I can understand the reasoning behind it and purchased two different glasses of wine to take back to the table to try. At the winery, Paul and I tried the Hibiscus Riesling and the Tears of Gettysburg white blend. The Hibiscus Riesling was incredibly light and refreshing, with a floral taste but not overpowering enough to taste like perfume. It also wasn’t overly sweet, which was great for me. Tears of Gettysburg was on the sweeter side, but still delicious – it was more fruit forward and paired well with chocolate!

We purchased a bottle of the Hibiscus Riesling to take home, as well as their Red Blend, Rusty Red – named after their Very Important Pet, Rusty the Golden Retriever (so cute!). We also decided to buy two of their canned wines, because I am a huge fan of canned wines! We bought their Wandering White and Adventurous Apple, and the Wandering White was amazing! It was crisp, semi-sweet, and had a more mango and citrus taste to it. I wish I had bought more (the Apple canned wine was also DELICIOUS)! I’ll have to report back on how the red blend is, but after trying several of Adams County wines, I expect them to be just as wonderful. We also had the pleasure of having wine slushies made from Adams County wines, and they were so fantastic that we had to drink a few before a ghost tour to bump up our nerves a bit.

The other winery we visited during our stay was the Vineyards at Hershey, located about an hour from Gettysburg. We were in the area to pick something up and had to kill an hour, so we selected the Vineyards at Hershey! The Vineyards at Hershey have a large space that they share with a doggie day care facility. They have two places you can order drinks from – the tasting room, which is a white house at the top of the hill, or the barn bar that overlooks the vineyards. The Vineyards at Hershey offers a 6-shot glass style wine tasting, completely customizable to what you’d like to try. They have a ton of wines on the list that covers the spectrum, but my favorite out of the ones that I tried was the Sunset Niagara – it was sweeter, but very refreshing. One of the cool things about the Vineyards at Hershey though is that they also offer cider and beer options if you’d like to try those as well – and I never limit myself to just wine! It was nice to have other options and it was easy to spend more than an hour at the vineyard, as they had plenty of patio seating and live music.

All in all, it was a great weekend spent exploring both the history of the Gettysburg area and the wine that surround its – so if you find yourself in Gettysburg, make sure to expand your vineyard horizons!

Have you been to either of these wineries, or others in PA? Tell us all about them!

Cheers,

Tara