Va La Vineyards - Avondale

Went for a recital. My two nephews performed amazing piano solos. I loved this place. Huge wood beams, nice wooden bar, high end wines. I'll be back for sure.

I write this after having been on 'social distancing ' lock down for several days, and having finished a full bottle of Silk without a lot of food. Even so, take this review seriously. I 'd never thought of Pennsylvania as 'wine country ', but I 'd seen reviews of Va La from trusted friends of mine so I figured this was something special. Late last year I finally made the journey. I 'm glad I did. I 'd been to over 300 wineries (mostly Virginia, some in MD, NY, NJ and Penn) on the east coast, and this hits my top 10. It 's just that good. I had the pleasure of chatting with the owner for a while, and walked away with the impression he thinks of himself as a farmer first and a winemaker second. His strategy is entirely entirely vineyard based. This is a GOOD THING. Their wines use Italian grapes that I 'd never heard of before. Va La typically only has 4 wines at any time, most if not all of them field blends. I emphasize the word 'blend ' here, because the vineyard has well over 30 varietals planted and Anthony uses them all. That 's right; over 30 varietals of grapes going into only a handful of wines. 'Blend ' is an understatement. I had 4 wines, but my favorite was the Silk Rosato (rose). I dont typically drink roses but this was special; spicy with an exceptionally long finish. Amazing doesn 't do it justice. If you claim to love wine and live in the Philly/south PA area, GO HERE.

I've never felt so unwelcomed in my life. Wine was delicious but staff was rude. We came in with a group and staff immediately looked at us and told us they would not serve us bc our party was too large. Despite there being no one else there and having enough seating for us. Told us they ONLY HAVE DRY WINES and proceeded to tell us how we would not like their wines (dry wines happen to be my favorite! Now this is a group of 30-40 year olds married couples celebrating birthdays and anniversaries together and this was the first stop of the day for a self guided wine tour, and we're treated like we were unruly teenagers. Would not recommend.

I would wait until things are back to normal.... the quality of the experience was subpar and it was hard to enjoy. No bathroom you have to use a smelly port a potty outside. The wine flights came in Jell-O shot cups and you had to bring you own cup.

Amazing find! The wine tasting was outstanding, complex, rememering of being in Italy. We can not remember our wine guides name but she was awesome. She was by herself with all seats at bar filled and total special care for each and every person. The pairing of wine and small plate perfect. Beautiful place and happy we stumbled upon this field wines of happiness .