It has been around two years since Jean and Tod Manspeaker put their Bedford County winery on the market. So the idea that Briar Valley Winery, producer of some of the state’s top dry wines, has been sold and is now closed took a little bit of time to resonate.
“I have to admit, we’ve been in this process, we sold our house, we bought a house, sold the winery. So I didn’t really have time, and maybe it’s God’s blessing, to think about what it really meant,” Jean said by phone on Saturday. “The other day, I had to go over to the tasting room to get a few personal items out and when I walked out and locked the door, I thought, ‘Oh my god, this is it. This is it.' ”
The winery is closed now, the sale to Jay and Joanna Bell completed Thursday. The Bells are the proprietors of Bella Terra Vineyards in Hunker, Westmoreland County, about 75 miles west of Bedford, where Briar Valley is located. The new owners will lease the winery space and vineyard, reopen the tasting room and keep the Briar Valley label, Jean said. They are planning to visit this week to become familiar with the property and will work with the Manspeakers during the next year to ease the transition.
In terms of a marriage, these are two wineries with different missions. Bella Terra Vineyards is located on 17 acres, 2 miles from the Pennsylvania Turnpike, a property that includes a 3-acre lake and vineyard. Its beverage list is far more diversified: a mix of dry and sweet wines, cider and beer, which better serves an entertainment schedule that features something every weekend in addition to weddings and other events.
Briar Valley was an award-winning producer that was recognized in a number of competitions, from the Pa. Wine Society to the International Wine review to jamessuckling.com. Jean said she only made dry wines, except for a Gewurztraminer-Riesling blend that was sold as a dessert wine. “It was very good, people still ask for it,” she said, then laughed. But "it was such a pain in the butt to make” that she didn’t make it again.
“For us, and I’ve said this before, if I was going to invest my life, my time, and everything else that goes into it, I wanted it to be all about the wine,” she said. “I wanted to be proud of everything I made, and so it just always meant a lot to me to do that, and I did it. I think we could have been much more profitable if I would have caved in and would have some sweet wines or something. That wasn’t my mission. Our mission was to stay small. we didn’t want to be a big party place. We just wanted people to come and appreciate the wines, hang out a little bit, that kind of thing.”
She said that keeping the label and having access to the vineyard will give the new owners, in essence, an already established line of quality wines they can continue to build on. “They’re going to try and be as true to our place as possible,” Jean said. “They do want to have a high-end line.”
By the way, that vineyard covers 10 acres and is home to eight vinifera grapes: Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Riesling, Malbec, Lemberger, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.
Like so many wineries nationally, this has been a tough spring to maintain operations. The Manspeakers laid off their staff after the virus forced the closure of their tasting room and pretty much have been going it alone since then. Even if the Bells were ready to reopen the tasting room tomorrow, Bedford County remains in Gov. Tom Wolf’s yellow phase, so tastings remain off the table for at least a few more weeks.
The inside of the Briar Valley tasting room, 107 E Pitt St, in Bedford.
As for the Manspeakers, they will have more of an opportunity to enjoy the smaller house they just moved into and continue to stay part of the regional wine community. As Jean said, after more than 10 years of growing grapes and making wine “the seven days a week for the better part of the year is more than I want to do right now. I said to Tod, it will have such a different feel now, just to go [to a winery] for please and do wine as a hobby.”
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