More and more Pittsburghers fully endorse the local and sustainable mantra for our food but I'm not aware of area wine consumers having taken up the banner for local and sustainable wines. With Western Pennsylvania wineries now winning medals in international wine competitions, it is time to consider "going native" with wine consumption, too.

William Penn planted the first vineyards on the continent in Pennsylvania in 1683. The industry has grown steadily in our state. Today there are 143 bonded wineries that produce almost a million gallons of wine and generate $700 million per year in jobs, tax revenue and rural development. They make 741 wines from 61 grape varieties, ranging from aurore to viognier. Wineries can be found in every part of the state. In fact, according to the Pennsylvania Winery Association, no home in our state is more than a 45-minute drive from a winery. (The same can be said of Ohio.) It surprised me to learn that Pennsylvania is the eighth largest wine producing state in America.

Until the middle of the 20th century, most Pennsylvania wines were made from either American native grapes such as concord and catawba or French hybrid varieties designed to resist our winter temperatures. Classic vitis vinfera varieties were thought to be too fragile for our climate until Dr. Konstantin Frank, a European viticulturist, settled in New York to teach at Cornell University's Geneva Institute. He knew that many of the finest vineyards in Europe had climates similar to that in upstate New York and much of the Eastern seaboard. Dr. Frank planted his Vinifera Wine Cellars estate in New York with noble varieties in 1961 and became the first commercial winery in the Northeast to produce classic European wines. Since then, vitis vinifera grapes have been planted throughout the U.S. An article in Wines and Vines magazine from 2007 reported that in 2006, North America added 1,000 new wineries, an increase of 28 percent. There are now wineries in all 50 states so drinking local is as easy as eating local!

Pennsylvania wineries regularly win medals in international competitions. I recently visited a new winery in Bedford that impressed the judges at the 2009 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, which claims to be the largest judging of American wines in the world with 4,736 wine entries this year. Bedford's Briar Valley Vineyards and Winery came home with two bronze medals -- one for its 2007 merlot and another for its 2007 Proprietor's Red, a blended wine. In total, the winery has won 25 medals in its first year of competition.

Briar Valley is owned by Jean and Tod Manspeaker, who both grew up on farms in the Bedford area. They are newcomers to the wine business. Mr. Manspeaker is the longtime owner of a service business in Bedford and his wife had a career in various entrepreneurial ventures. Now she is the winemaker and he manages the vineyards. Presently they have only three acres of vines but they are preparing to plant 15 more acres on nearby property he inherited from his family. They have the help and advice of a private consultant as well as the Penn State enologist. Until the new vineyards are producing fruit, they are supplementing the grapes they grow with fruit bought from growers in the Erie region and from Virginia.

2007 was the Manspeakers' first harvest. That year Briar Valley bottled four whites and four reds. The whites are chardonnay, gewurztraminer, pinot gris and riesling. Reds are lemburger, cabernet franc, merlot and a blend they label Proprietor's Red. For 2008 they added petit verdot, an interesting red variety that has long been established in the Medoc region of Bordeaux and is part of the famous Bordeaux blend. It is dark and thick-skinned with a peppery, spicy character akin to syrah. Normally used as a blending grape, it has suddenly become popular as a single variety. Wineries from California to Chile are marketing petit verdot as a variety.

On a recent Saturday, when I arrived at the Briar Valley winery tasting room, there was a jolly chorus of happy voices and laughter coming from the a group of five ladies enthralled by a tasting presided over by Mr. Manspeaker. The ladies were all friends from Dillsburg who were in Bedford for the weekend with their families and were having a "hen" outing. As they progressed through the lineup of his eight wines, Mr. Manspeaker walked them through the characteristics of each grape variety and the aromas they gave to the wines. It was in fact a good basic class in wine tasting and it was entirely free. (Most tasting rooms offering wines of this quality charge for a tasting.)

I noted that there was no pressure on the visitors to buy wines at the end of the presentation although doing so is a courtesy that tasting room visitors should respect. Wines here range from $13.95 to $20.95 per bottle with quantity discounts.

Briar Valley is producing 1,500 cases of wine annually and aims to expand their production to 5,000 cases, the typical output of a boutique winery. It is equipped with the same temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks and new French oak barrels that you would see in Napa or Bordeaux. The Manspeakers recently returned from a trip to Burgundy and Alsace in France where they visited small wineries to compare their experiences with those of their European colleagues who have been producing wine for generations. It is worth noting that Briar Valley Vineyards and Winery is producing wines solely from vitis vinifera grape varieties and not from hybrids.

Most Pennsylvania wineries are family-owned with production in the boutique range. Chadds Ford Winery in the Brandywine Valley is probably the largest winery in the state. It is family-owned but its total production is 25,000 cases. There are 11 designated wine trails in Pennsylvania which are adding to the agri-tourism business. For details on trails in our area, visit weekendwinery.com and click on Pennsylvania and then on Pittsburgh. The web site pennsylvaniawine.com has more information on the wineries as well as special events being held at them.

All wineries are allowed to ship to customers in Pennsylvania. For wines sold at the winery, the 18 percent tax charged at all PLCB shops is not applicable.

Whether or not you intend to add wine to your "locavore" status, visiting nearby wineries and tasting their products is a lovely excuse for a weekend excursion as well as a great way to learn about wine and enjoy new taste experiences.