Local Farm Owners Prepare to Pop Cork on New Winery in October

Elwin Stewart was all smiles.

As the morning sun softly grazed his Centre County cropland, one could tell by his face that he knew great things were on the horizon.

As it turns out, a lifelong love of grapes, nature and agriculture just happen to be the perfect recipe for cultivating a winery.

Happy Valley Vineyard and Winery may still be ripening, but its progress and plans are as sweet as its grapes.

Owned with Stewart’s wife, Barb Christ, Happy Valley Vineyard and Winery is located at 576 S. Foxpointe Drive in State College, on a farm Stewart and Christ bought in 1994.

Though the winery isn’t scheduled to open until October, it’s already making its mark in the community. Now a regular vendor at the North Atherton Farmers’ Market in downtown State College, the winery’s “big sellers” Stewart said, are the Happy Valley and Appalachia Reds, Traminette, Geisenheim Riesling, Three Sisters, Cayuga white semi-dry, Royal White and Fox Pointe blush.

A member of the Susquehanna Heartland Wine Trail, Happy Valley produces about 20 different wines, with one of its most significant being a Vidal Blanc Ice Wine, Stewart said.

There are nine acres of grapes grown on the property, Stewart said, and most grapes are intra-specific hybrids or French-American hybrids. They are bred and selected for wine quality and winter hardiness, Stewart explained, which means they are able to survive central Pennsylvania winters.

Stewart and Christ also grow some French cultivars, and are expanding plantings to include additional red cultivars, Stewart said.  

A love that grew over a lifetime

The idea for Stewart’s winery, he said, started a “really long time ago.”

“The germ of the idea’s been with me most of my life,” he said.

Stewart spent his summers as a youngster in Riverside, Calif., picking table grapes to earn money for school clothes, he said. It was during this time that he discovered he really enjoyed being outside and interacting with the older adults, he said.

Later, as a graduate student in Oregon, Stewart began making homemade wine for personal use, he said.
 “At that time mostly it was fruit wine,” he said. “Blackberries were common.”

Plums, apples and other fruit were abundant and free for picking, he said.

“(I started) honing my skills as a wine maker,” Stewart said.

Stewart continued to make homemade wine throughout his life, he said. In 1994, he and Christ bought what was originally known as the Old Grubb Farm, and made it their own.

At 28 acres, the farm was “too much land to mow all the grass,” Stewart said, so they started renting out some of the farmland.

Then, in 1999, he had an idea.

“(I had) been thinking about a retirement activity,” Stewart said, “and we started planting grapes.”
Stewart and Christ grew grapes commercially and sold them to Mount Nittany Winery, Seven Mountains Wine Cellars and, on a limited scale, to Hunter’s Valley Winery in Liverpool.

Farming grapes proved difficult for Stewart and Christ to cover all the farm’s costs and make a profit, Stewart said, so he and Christ decided to take the “next big step” and develop a winery.

The process started about six years ago, Stewart said, and involved obtaining a variety of permits and licenses.

A “real, farm-based wine experience”

What makes Happy Valley Vineyard and Winery unique is that it’s a farm-based winery, and currently has the largest vineyard in Centre County, with nine acres of vines, Stewart said.

When people visit, he said, they will get a “real, farm-based wine experience.”

Stewart and Christ also attempt to be as “green” as possible when it comes to the production systems, Stewart said, and to the extent possible use an IPM approach to growing grapes. This means there is a minimal and effective use of pesticides and soft chemicals in the production process, Stewart explained, and a focus on mechanical wheat control.

In adhering to the farm feel, the winery’s retail sales building, which hasn’t been built yet, will have a timber frame, Stewart said.

The farm has been around since the 1800s, he said, so the timber frame construction really honors its history.
“Thematically we’re trying to stay true to the farm theme,” he said.

In addition to wine, Happy Valley will sell wine openers, T-shirts and anything else “related to the wine experience,” Stewart said, based on customer interest and demand.

However, the winery’s main focus remains on the wine experience itself, Stewart said.

“(We’ll be) making high quality wine and providing excellent customer service,” he said. “It will be something I think the neighborhood will be proud of.”

The production process

On any given day, there are three employees, including Stewart, who work in the vineyard on a regular basis, Stewart said.

However, production begins in February.

For three to four days a week in February, winery workers prepare the vines, or do what’s called “pruning” the vineyards.

This typically takes 20 to 25 hours a week per person, he said.

This goes on until around this time of year, Stewart said. Once this is done, employees begin cleaning trunks and positioning chutes through the catch wires.

Then, most of the work is vineyard maintenance until late July up to veraison, which is when the grapes change in color from green to red, Stewart said.

Grapes that produce white wines are lighter in color, he said.

During this whole process, wine is also being made, Stewart said.

“The fall is an extremely intense period of time for wine making,” he said.

Picking is usually complete by Oct. 15, he said, and “most of the wine (is) in the tanks by the end of October.”
By springtime, some of the wine is ready for bottling and release, Stewart said.

Typically, white wines are ready earlier, since red wine can take anywhere from one year to 16 months to age, depending on its style.

Stewart said Happy Valley Winery’s employees are very flexible when it comes to the work they do.
“(We’re a) small crew with lots of jobs,” he said.

Happy Valley Winery’s place in Happy Valley

Stewart  said he is “so impressed” with all the vendors he’s been working with at the North Atherton Farmers’ Market. The people are friendly, he said, and bring to the table quality products.

Being a part of the farmers’ market is a good way to meet people, Stewart said, and helps create anticipation for the winery’s retail sales store.

He said Happy Valley will continue to sell its products every Saturday at the North Atherton market through October.

“We all really just had a great time,” he said.

For more information, visit www.thehappyvalleywinery.com.