Fero Vineyards & Winery recently released its Pinot Noir and Lemberger, part of what’s one of the more eclectic wine lists of any Pennsylvania producer.
Owners Chuck and Daneen Zaleski opened Fero Vineyards outside Lewisburg, Union County, in 2012, building a following through quality dry wines made from Pennsylvania fruit.
Those close to 30 wines include dry and sparkling wines, and a mix of dry, semi-sweet and sweet wines. On the white side, they grow Gruner Veltliner, Pinot Gris and Riesling. On the red, they source Lemberger, Pinot Noir and Saperavi from their vineyards, the latter an Eastern European grape that one will find in just a couple of eastern U.S. vineyards.
Here’s a story on a Finger Lakes winery that also make Saperavi.
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These have turned to be the best-quality grapes for Fero’s vineyard, which began with Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Franc in 2004. Six years later, Chuck Zaleski said he had enough evidence to realize that those wouldn’t thrive in his vineyard’s soil and climate. He didn’t even try Chardonnay because he felt it was too plentiful.
In 2010, the Zaleskis planted 14,000 vines in a 13.5-acre site, and two years later would open for business.
Away from the vineyard, they built a wedding pavilion in 2017 with the hope of adding to the number of visitors already coming to the winery. The pandemic temporarily halted that side of the business for a time this spring and summer but a look at its Facebook page shows that some of it have returned.
Chuck said in an email earlier this week that the 2020 growing season was the best he has seen during the more than 10 years that the experiment turned into a full-time venture.
Fero Vineyards & Winery owner and winemaker Chuck Zaleski: 'We are not sure how this winter is going to work out with the virus and economy, but when things break open we will be ready with some really nice wines grown in central Pennsylvania.'
“We were able to harvest 44 tons of the cleanest, ripest fruit we have seen,” he said. “I split the Pinots into red Pinot Noir and dry rose production and white Pinot Grigio, all reaching new levels on our site. The Gruner was equally high quality and very productive, allowing me to do some yeast trials with differing fermentation kinetics. Riesling was harvested at multiple stages of ripeness from an early sparkling base to late harvest dessert wines. The Lemberger is our most reliable red year to year but this year we produced riper more colorful fruit. The Saperavi had an outstanding year but that will have to wait two years for release.”
The Middle Susquehanna Valley had what the National Weather Service called a drought, he said, noting that for Fero Estate it translated into an ideal growing season. “We received an inch or two of rain a month usually just one or two days and brilliant sunshine most of the time. I was able to fill our tanks with the best quality wine that we have grown. We are not sure how this winter is going to work out with the virus and economy, but when things break open we will be ready with some really nice wines grown in central Pennsylvania.”