Main Street Wine Cellar

In Philly visiting family and all goosed up to check out the local wine scene, so when we spotted this little place on a day trip to New Hope, we made our move and bellied up to the bar. There’s a lot I liked about this place, so I actually feel a little bad about the three stars, but there were precisely two sins I couldn’t overlook. Here’s the spiel:
First off, the service was great. The one guy running the tasting bar was terrific. He was friendly, funny and went out of his way to open up as many bottles as he could for us so we’d get a good idea of both their grape and fruit wines. He clearly believed in what he was selling and was really committed to showing us a good time. Absolutely no complaints on that front.
Now that we’re focusing on the positive, I also have to say they make some top notch fruit wines. I know, I get it, fruit wines aren’t «real» wine, and I’m sure there’s a Dothraki horde of wine purists trying to home in on my ISP number so they can swoop down and mete out rough justice for my even mentioning «blueberry» and «winery» in the same sentence. Look, Oregon (the land of snooty, over-​priced Pinots and Chardonnay foot-​stomped by woodland fairies) makes great fruit wines and no one thinks that reflects poorly on the local grape, so let’s move on. Anyway, back to fruit wines. They were great. We tried an apple wine that was crisp, close to dry and made from at least three different varieties. The fella at the bar claimed that if you gave it a day’s worth of air it would take on a deeper, more cider-​like character, and I’m inclined to believe him. The berry wine was also a good effort, tasting (unsurprisingly since it’s the main ingredient) a lot like blueberries and had a nice, long finish. They were out of peach wine (I cried a little), but they also make a «sangria» based on fruit macerated in grape wine which was really enjoyable and, unlike the «sangria» at another winery we tasted, NOT based on Concord grapes (gak, just spray Manischewitz in my mouth why don’t you). Don’t panic, but they also made a chocolate-​cherry «wine» (OK, even I recognize the relationship to vino is getting thin at this stage) that delivers on the chocolate-​cherry flavor while still managing not to be cloying.
Now the downers: There’s a lot of room for improvement in the grape wines. Of the pretty broad selection we tasted only the Chardonnay and Cab Franc held up as solidly drinkable. Most of the other wines were thin and tart. They were pouring a Pinot Noir, which I was excited to try, but then I learned that it had only been in bottle a couple of weeks. Needless to say, my excitement dissipated. And, frankly, the Viognier just tasted downright strange.
What bummed me out the most was their policy on tasting fees, though. We purchased 3 tastings at $ 10 bucks a pop. No complaints there since we got a hefty number of pours for the price. Here’s the rub: I wasn’t the only one who loved the fruit wines; my relatives grooved on them pretty heavily as well, and since my partner and I didn’t have any room in our luggage to schlep some home, we decided to make a gift of a half-​case of them to the fam. Despite buying six bottles of 15 – 20 dollar wine, we were only comped one ten dollar tasting fee. Ouch. Compare that to the (near universal) West Coast policy of comping a tasting fee for each bottle purchased. As near as I can figure, this may be a Pennsylvania (or East Coast) thing; we didn’t get comped for purchases we made at a winery closer to Philly, either. Fair enough, I suppose, but it still left an unpleasant taste in my mouth even the apple wine couldn’t wash out.
Bottom Line: Definitely hit this place up when you’re in New Hope. The fruit wines won’t disappoint, and I’m hopeful the rest of the grape wines will go the way of the Chard and Cab Franc. Here’s to hoping, though, that the owners rethink their policy on tasting fees.