Winemaker Jan Waltz will tell you that quality wines start with quality grapes grown on mature vines in rich, sandy soil. Then the grapes can be harvested, crushed, fermented and aged in toasted French oak barrels.

“And there always is a bit of luck involved too,” he smiles, “as with nature’s hand, some years the wines can be even better than others.”

The words quality and care are part of any conversation with the 50-year old Waltz who, with wife Kim, has built the Line Road, Manheim winery from a very modest start into one of the premier wine producers in the East ­ all in the past two decades.

Who knew that you could grow viniferous grapes favored in Europe on land that had supported tobacco and diversified farming for generations? Jan Waltz didn’t until a set of fortuitous circumstances confirmed what he had hoped. The Waltz farm, with its well-drained, sandy soil, and overall mild weather, was the perfect place to produce the highest quality red and white wines.

A 1989 Penn State ag grad, Waltz looked to follow his dad and generations of Waltz men who worked the Manheim farm. He planned a more diversified operation with both field crops and livestock. Even with the changes, Waltz just wasn’t sure that his plans would keep the farm profitable for the family and future generations.

With Kim, Waltz had toured the California wineries. He saw how well the industry was doing there and wondered if it could be as successful in the southeast corner of Pennsylvania, where he knew, from his experience, existed a relatively mild climate which provided a long growing season. He wondered if grape vineyards might be the added-value crop that he was looking for that would move the farm into the 21st century.

To achieve and maintain consistent quality, Waltz knew was important in separating his winery from the competition, he worked closely, as the operation grew, with Italian enologist Geoffredo Agostini. Agostini continues to visit several times each year to test, with Waltz, the young and aging wines and to discuss blending as well as future plans for the winery and vineyards.

Jan and Kim have four children: three active girls, and a son. who is majoring in viticulture and enology at Cornell, and who Waltz hopes, will one day run the vineyards and winery for the next generation of wine lovers.

The local winemaker has put to rest skeptics’ talk that high-quality wines could not be produced in Pennsylvania. Waltz Vineyards Crow Wood Cabernet was recently named the top wine in the state by the Pennsylvania Wine Society, and its 2013 Reserve Chardonnay received the award for Best Vinifera at the 2017 Pennsylvania Farm Show. Waltz wines have been honored for years, and that is no surprise to the local restaurants who serve it to customers or to a growing number of local and national, wine connoisseurs.

Read more at Source: Lititz Record Express