La Vigneta Winery is a Pittsburgh homemade wine business owned in part by a friend of mine, Francesca. She makes moscato so she’s my friend. Just kidding shes a fabulous lady, I admire for going after her dreams! You can now find this La Vigneta wine all over farmer’s markets in the Pittsburgh area, but the business was grown from a first batch made in a Pittsburgh basement.
Francesca’s Dad taught her about homemade wine making. Owning a catering business he experimented with making wine in his Greensburg home in glass car boys. He’s originally from Alia, Sicily. This is where he learned to make wine in an authentic, old-fashioned way!
In 2013 Francesca was inspired by how good the homemade wine was and ordered a batch of pressed juice from California. With her Dad’s help Francesca started making wine in her Brookline home’s basement in. May 10th 2013 was their first day selling together at a Mt. Lebanon farmers market.
Creating their first batch of Petite Sirah, a dry red wine and now their most popular red wine a Sangiovese. The later was actually not what they intended to create they accidentally ordered it! They created 30 cases this first season. The first commercial batch sold featured the same wine base 3 different ways, sold as dry, semi dry and sweet, starting their wine experimentation.
An Italian family member helped name the wine business. La vigneta means the little vineyard in Italian. There’s a small town in Tuscany called Vigneta with hotel called Hotel Il Grotto. This is someplace Francesca hopes to visit one day to celebrate the success of their homegrown wines.
Now they create anywhere from 8-12 wines based on the season. Their moscato is their number one selling white wine! They use it in an apple pie cocktail, using other local proprietor Paul Family Farms maple syrup!
Francesca and her family have also added to the excitement, moving to a 17 acre farm in Sarver PA. They plan to continue expansion, with a tasting room open to the public. On the property they grow grapes and blueberries and are renovating a beautiful old farmhouse. They have plenty to celebrate being slated to sell over 7,000 bottles of wine this year!
Next time you’re at a local farmer’s market make sure to look out for the La Vigneta Winery booth to try their delicous wine. You can La Vignetta at local wine festivals all around the Pittsburgh area, like we the Ligonier Country Market every Saturday. La Vignetta is giving me another reason to look forward to the upcoming Fort Ligonier Days festival!
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