Nova Destinations
Couple run their own wine trail across Northwest Pennsylvania
Lots of couples run their own winery. Walter and Katie Novosel run their own wine trail.
It stretches like a fruitful vine over 18 west-to-east miles along state Route 208 in the Amish country of Lawrence and Mercer counties northwest of Pittsburgh. It also features stops for hard cider and craft beer and, soon, spirits, and it’s still growing.
The couple started in 2013 by opening Nova Cellars Winery — in the detached garage of their home in Pulaski, Lawrence County. Mr. Novosel, whose job was helping to run Novocell Semiconductor Inc., had for several years been making wine as a hobby. They’d been opening the garage just for friends, but he was making so much wine that he got a license, and by that summer, they were opening it every weekend for the public.
Later that year, they opened a second outlet for selling his wines, Fractured Grape Wine Cellars, in a storefront in nearby New Wilmington. In 2014, they opened Knockin Noggin Cidery and Winery in an old house in picturesque Volant, where in 2015, in the old gristmill that is Volant Mills, they opened an olive oil and balsamic vinegar shop called Liquid Fusions. Earlier this year, they opened a Nova Wineries store at the Grove City Premium Outlets. Their wine-making operation, now in a local warehouse, also supplies a winery and a cidery in the state of Indiana — Running Vines Winery in Chesterton and Aftermath Cidery & Winery in nearby Valparaiso — that his cousin opened in 2015.
And now they’ve moved their Nova Cellars into a renovated building on a sprawling new property in Pulaski, the former Spring Water Acres swimming lake. The place, which held its grand opening on Thursday, is open seven days a week. The second floor of the former concession stand is home to their new beer-and-cider-serving eatery
called Brew 32 Craft Brewery, to open in October.
To start, they’re serving three of their beers, brewed at another local brewery. But the plan is to shift to brewing in the Novosels’ garage and offer 10 drafts by this fall. This winter, they’ll start making spirits in the garage, too. Eventually, they’ll shift all production, including wine, to a new warehouse at the new complex.
In the meantime, visitors can enjoy drinks and eats in the downstairs winery or its patio, on terraces along the path to the lake, or all around the lake in seating areas with fire pits. By next year, up to 500 guests will be able to party in an indoor/ outdoor wedding pavilion. And on some of these 151 acres, the Novosels are planting their own vineyards, as well as hops, grains and apple trees, and not just for raw ingredients for the libations.
“It’s for the experience,” says Mr. Novosel. Earlier this year they rebranded their business as “Nova Destinations: A Crafted Experience.”
They weren’t even wine people when they made a trip to California’s Napa Valley back in 2007, during her medical residency. But they so much enjoyed the experience of visiting wineries there, and along Lake Erie, that he caught the winemaking bug and started attracting his own fruit flies. He never dreamed it would become a business.
The 1999 graduate of West Middlesex High School had gone to Ohio University and was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks, for whom the left-handed pitcher played for about five years until he injured his throwing arm. So he came home to Mercer County, reconnected with his high school sweetheart, Katie Porter, and used his business degree to work with his uncle at Novocell. He was running that when it was acquired by another company in 2012. So by 2014, while his wife ran her family practice, he was making wine full time.
Now Nova makes so many — some 60 wines and ciders — that he has others helping. Each of their properties not only has its own distinct theme, but also its own distinct wines that you can’t get at the other ones.
For instance, Fractured Grape’s motif is medical, right down to the names of the all-Pennsylvania wines and the fact that a percentage of sales is donated to medical causes. Immunity, a blended white, supports charities relating to autoimmune diseases such as lupus. Resuscitation, a red, supports charities relating to heart disease. Visitors can directly donate to various medical and local causes. The Novasels describe it as “Operation grape: Drink for the cure.”
The wines are different — mostly small-batch ones — at Knockin Noggin Cidery, which takes its theme from the apple that fell on Sir Isaac Newton’s head. Nova’s wines include smoother ones made with Chilean and California juice.
Is the wine any good? “They get better every year,” says Mr. Novosel, who is pursuing degrees in enology and viticulture at Ohio’s Kent State University. “We don’t expect everyone to like them all, but you should be able to find one you do like.”
For the beer, they’ve hired a brewmaster, Jeremiah Jamron. They’ll start out serving it by the glass and in growlers to go, but soon they may be canning or otherwise packaging it for wider distribution, he says. Likewise, they’re planning to distribute their ciders, and they’re looking into getting some of their wines into state stores.
Mr. Novosel and his father will start up the distillery, making a range of ethnic spirits such as limoncello, grappa and slivovitz as well as whiskies that will need time to age.
New changes in the state liquor laws will allow them to sell their spirits and beers from all their properties.
While the menu, like the decor and the furniture, will stay much the same as it was at the original Nova Cellars — a few flatbreads and dips — Brew 32 will sell a range of ballpark-inspired foods, from hot dogs to Cracker Jack, that amplify its oldschool sports theme.
“I really like theming,” he says. “You walk into any of our places and you get it.”
Now that their “208 Trail” is firmly established, the Novosels are exploring starting a shuttle that will take visitors from stop to stop, and will work with local hotels and B&Bs so visitors can spend the night. And after years of staying under the radar, as he puts it, he plans to do more marketing of all they have to offer in a pretty rural setting so close to Pittsburgh — just over 60 miles away — and other population centers.
As he notes, their trail is easily accessible via interstates 79 and 376 and 80.
Will Nova Destinations continue to grow? “The simple answer is yes,” he says with a laugh. “I like to think five or 10 years out. My wife is trying to hold me back from some of the stuff. But we have some pretty big plans.”
The new Nova Cellars is located at 1474 State Route 208 Pulaski, PA 16143. You can find links to most of the other Nova properties at the website novadestinations.com. Or call 724-230-6686.