La Vigneta Winery wins award at Pennsylvania Farm Show
One of Butler County’s own liquor establishments has once again left the Pennsylvania Farm Show with high honors for its wine.
La Vigneta Winery, based in Buffalo Township, captured the Best of Show award in the Dessert Wine category for its “Mango Amore” wine.
“We are very proud of our success this year,” said Francesca Howden, the winery’s owner. “To win Best of Show is a big honor. We respect our fellow wineries and we know there’s many wineries making excellent wines here in Pennsylvania, so to win this award is really a true honor.”
This marks the second year in a row that the winery has won a Best of Show award at the annual farm show. La Vigneta also took home an award for Best American Wine in 2024 for its 2023-vintage Rosso Delizioso.
Mango Amore is one of the four “Amore” wines on the La Vigneta menu, along with Cranberry, Apple Pie, and Blueberry. The menu on the winery’s website describes Mango Amore as a “Moscato wine blended with sweet tropical mango,” and a “4 of 5 on our sweetness scale.”
In addition to the trophy, eight other La Vigneta wines received medals, with five receiving a bronze medal and three receiving a silver.
Mango Amore and Rosso Delizioso, the latter of which won a bronze medal this year, are two of the 20 wines currently on La Vigneta’s menu.
The wines are made from a mixture of Pennsylvania and imported California grapes. Many of the grapes are grown on the Howdens’ 17-acre farm in Buffalo Township.
“My father is from Sicily and has brought his family tradition here to Pennsylvania,” Howden said. “We are happy to keep that legacy of winemaking alive in honor of his heritage.”
Ironically enough, although Mango Amore is the wine that won the Best of Show trophy this year, Howden says that Peachberry is the most popular wine on the menu at La Vigneta.
The winery has a small tasting room on South Pike Road in Buffalo Township, along with a second tasting room in Ligonier Borough in Westmoreland County. Wines from La Vigneta can also be found in more than two dozen grocery stores in Western Pennsylvania.
However, the Buffalo Township location will soon move to a newly-purchased property on North Pike Road, which was once home to the now-closed Coopers Station Restaurant. Production of the wine will move from the family’s farm to the former restaurant, which offers far more space than the current tasting room.
