When Nancy and I built our retirement home in Perry County, Pen-nsylvania 10 years ago, we had very specific requirements for what we wanted. Most importantly, I wanted a full, below-ground basement — for winemaking and storage of course. Our house is small but has a good-sized basement where temperatures — between 50 ºF (10 ºC) and 60 ºF (16 ºC) — are always perfect for winemaking . We also cold-stabilize by moving the wines outside of the cellar when the temperatures drop below 25 ºF (-4 ºC).

Although our winemaking needs influenced the design of our new home, Nancy and I did not originally envision turning the open fields around the house into vineyards. But when the question arose of what to do with the land that had been lying fallow for some time, grape growing was a natural answer for me. At that time I didn’t know growing grapes from growing roses — but I did know where to go to get the information that I needed.