Enjoying a nice wine with dinner is something to appreciate. Making a nice wine to go with dinner is a craft that takes time to perfect.
\nGeorge Wolf of Tyrone has perfected his wine making and was rewarded with Best of Show ribbon at the Sinking Valley Farm Show.
\nOriginally from Johnsonburg, Wolf moved to Tyrone in 1986.
\nWolf became interested in making wine back when he lived in the Erie area.
\n\u201cI made some Elderberry wine as a teenager,\u201d said Wolf. \u201cI had a lot of friends back home who made wine. I had access to free grapes when I lived in Erie. I was friends who were grape farmers and they let me pick. I was always interested in cooking, canning and baking and I thought I would give making wine a try.\u201d
\nWolf has been working on his wine making talents since 1964.
\n\u201cI made a bottle of Cherry wine in 1964,\u201d said Wolf. \u201cI made 30 gallons in 1964 and I still have one bottle of it left.\u201d
\nHis winning wine at the Sinking Valley Farm Show was a Merlot.
\n\u201cI bought the juice for that wine two years ago,\u201d said Wolf. \u201cI added some black raspberry jelly and some skins a year ago and this winter I added some blackberry juice.\u201d
\nWolf enters a wine making competition in Pittsburgh in April of every year and has come home with prizes from the big show there as well.
\n\u201cI took third place in 2002 for a Riesling wine and a second place in 2001 for an Alicante Bouschat,\u201d said Wolf. \u201cThe Pittsburgh competition is very competitive. They judge by the individual wine in over 15 different categories. In Sinking Valley they judge in red, white and pink.\u201d
\nOn top of the two ribbons won at the competition in Pittsburgh, Wolf has compiled 12 place winning ribbons at The Sinking Valley Farm Show.
\n\u201cI plan to take this year\u2019s Merlot to Pittsburgh next year,\u201d said Wolf. \u201cI just bottled some of it up for the competition. I\u2019d love to win the competition there. It\u2019s very tough. We\u2019ll see how this year\u2019s wine does.\u201d
\nTo make a quality wine, Wolf says it is all in the grapes.
\n\u201cSometimes you get a bunch of grapes and the weather that summer hasn\u2019t been good for growing them,\u201d said Wolf. \u201cYou have to know who you are getting your grapes and juice from. Sometimes you will order juice and by the time you get it, the juice is oxidized and the wine gets a bitter taste.\u201d
\nWolf said he gives away between 80 and 90 percent of the wine he makes.
\n\u201cI keep my sister and her friends in wine,\u201d said Wolf as he chuckled. \u201cI enjoy making it, but I don\u2019t drink it all myself. I have a friend in Ohio who I take wine for her Bridge club when they meet.\u201d
\nIf you are wanting to get started in making your own wine, Wolf has a suggestion.
\n\u201cI got the Beginners Book of Winemaking,\u201d said Wolf. \u201cIt\u2019s by Douglas Moorehead who runs the Presque Isle Wine cellars near Erie. It will help you along the way.\u201d
\nTo make a good red wine, Wolf says it takes a good one to three years and a good white wine takes a year.
\nWhat started out as a hobby has brought many awards to George Wolf. The best of show at the Sinking Valley Farm Show and the possibility of winning an award for his Merlot in Pittsburgh next April. Congratulations and good luck to a local man who is enjoying his hobby.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Enjoying a nice wine with dinner is something to appreciate. Making a nice wine to go with dinner is a craft that takes time to perfect. George Wolf of Tyrone has perfected his wine making and was rewarded with Best of Show ribbon at the Sinking Valley Farm Show. Originally from Johnsonburg, Wolf moved to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48075\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}