Buckingham Valley Vineyards

Hours:  Year Round

History

Buckingham Valley was one of the first wineries started under Pennsylvania's Farm Winery Act of 1968, which allowed wineries to sell wine directly to the public, if it was made from Pennsylvania grown fruit. Today Buckingham Valley is among the largest of Pennsylvania's two hundred plus wineries.

The winery started as a pipe-dream in a dorm room at the University of Pennsylvania back in the 50's.  Jerry Forest and his good friend Vladimir Guerrero would play guitars, drink wine, and dream of doing one or the other for a living; they decided they'd have a better chance making wine. The two, with the help of family and many friends,  planted five acres in 1966, and resumed their guitar playing and wine drinking as they planned to start a winery.

Since 1970, the vineyards and winery have been owned and operated by the Forest family; Kathy and Jerry Forest, and their sons, Jon, Kevin and Chris.

Wine production has grown from less than a thousand gallons in the early seventies to over 40,000 a year, with fermenting and aging capacity of over 80,000 gallons. The original five acre site has, through several acquisitions, expanded to over 40 acres.

Although the winery has grown dramatically, it has kept the laid back attitude set by its founders; no budgets, no quotas, no staff (just family and friends), no distributors, no guided tours (self-guided only), and no charge for visiting or tasting.