The rolling glen nestled between the Appalachian and Mahoning Mountains where the Troxell family farmed an 80-acre tract for 200 years is now the vineyards, winery, and wine tasting shop for the Galen Glen Vineyard and Winery. 

On Sunday, Oct. 15, from noon to 5 p.m., Galen Glen is open to the public for a tractor-pulled wagon tour through their 12-acre vineyard,  their winemaking process, and a wine tasting. 

Galen Glen planted its first  grape vines in 1995, shortly after owners Galen Troxell and his wife, Sarah completed a lengthy process of soul searching in which they were seeking to find more fulfilling careers, be available to raise their children, and find a way of continuing to operate the family farm. 

Before becoming vintners, Galen and Sarah lived in Exton where Galen commuted to a manufacturing company where he worked as a mechanical engineer, and Sarah commuted to a pharmaceutical company where she worked as a chemist-responsible for the packaging of "highly dangerous" injectable drugs. Neither had much experience with wines. 

As Galen's father was getting older, he began asking, "Do you want the farm some day?" They felt that the farm couldn't make it by continuing his father's business of a standard crop rotation of hay, wheat, oats. Galen and Sarah thought about it-for five years, particularly when they commuted back and forth to work. 

One day, a genie in a bottle gave them the solution. Honeymooning friends sent them a bottle of wine from Hawaii. At dinner, they opened the bottle and the genie of an idea sprang forth. "Why don't we grow grapes?" said Sarah. They once had vacationed in Germany, in a small rural community surrounded by vineyards-a valley very much like the Troxell Farm. 

What a perfect match, they thought. With Sarah's chemistry training and artistic styling, and Galen's knowledge of machinery and farming, and the Troxell farm being in a glen perfect for grape growing, they agreed to start a vineyard, naming the business after Galen-Galen Glen. 

In 1995, they planted two acres of Chambourcin grapes on a southwestern slope to achieve a maximum and balanced amount of sunshine during the fall ripening period. Now they have nearly a dozen varieties of grapes which include: Steuben, Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, Grüner Veltliner, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Vidal Blanc. 

I visited Galen Glen at 8 a.m. one frosty morning and joined Sarah as she was picking Vidal Blanc grapes with some helpers. Vidal Blanc, a light green-skinned grape, known as a white, is considered a multipurpose grape and blends well with other varieties. In the U.S. a varietal wine must have juice from 75 percent of the grape variety on the label. Vidal Blanc might be one of the grapes that is blended into the wine to improve or balance its characteristics. 

Before harvesting, Sarah checks that the grapes were ripe by collecting 100 berries from each acre, crushing them by hand and measuring the pH with a meter. "It's a moving triangle," said Sarah as each day she monitors the grapes until are the numbers fall into place. 

She and Galen also check the grapes the old fashioned way-by using the senses-tasting, smelling, feeling the texture of the skin and seeds. 

"This is a stressful time of year," said Galen. "If it rains, the sugar will drop and may not come back and the crop may be lost. Still, I'm not going back to a regular job-even now." 

Galen and Sarah now grow 8,000 vines on twelve acres. "It's fun," said Sarah as she clipped a bunch of grapes from the vine. Sarah's dressed in layers of clothing to work in the vineyard on this cold damp morning. "I wear as much clothing as I can walk in." By picking when it is cool, it saves the cost of refrigerating the grapes before crushing. 

In winter, Sarah bundles-up and puts on her headlamp to pick grapes in the snow at 3 a.m. for "ice wine." Grapes have to be picked and processed while frozen to create this honey-like ultra-sweet nectar-based dessert wine. 

No matter what type of grapes are picked, they are loaded onto 30-pound plastic tubs, called lugs-hence the expression "to lug around." 

The lugs are transported by a tractor-pulled wagon to the winery where a machine removes the stems and crushes the grapes-reds and whites are processed separately. The juice is removed in a bladder press and pumped to tanks where they are inoculated with wine yeast and allowed to ferment for two to three weeks. 

Reds are aged in toasted oak barrels while fruity whites are typically bottled while still young. Galen Glen is producing about 35,000 bottles annually. It distributesto restaurants and from its shop at its vineyard.