By Audrey Caspar Clark

If you are a familiar with the Main Line (a Philadelphia suburb), perhaps you have noticed the sign along Lancaster Avenue in Wayne for Nature’s Vin. Maybe you have wondered what that business is – a new eatery or a wine shop? Well, it’s a bit of both – and on Sunday April 12th some of us got together there to share a delightful experience learning about wine, sampling local cheeses, and making our own vegetable pickles to take home.

Nature’s Vin is the beautiful creation of Ragini Parmar, whose love of natural wine led her to design a space with soothing colors and graceful areas for conversation, where you can sample a diverse array of wines that sustainably and female made. Locally produced cheeses and a nice variety of small plates are available to accompany these wines that follow the Nature’s Vin Rules of Natural Wine: grown without toxic pesticides, produced in small batches without the use of additives: Slow Wine. You can come in for a glass or two, or buy a bottle or two from the bottle shop. There are also lots of fun activities and events, so it’s a real destination and close enough to the SEPTA regional rail station that you can get there without a car.

We sat down together in the classroom, and Elyse Lovenworth, certified sommelier and general manager, engaged all our senses while we tasted three wines [an orange wine from Italy, white wine from New York state (this was a wild card wine: naturally fermented using muscat grapes and unlike anything I’ve ever tasted), and a red Beaujolais]. All three were delicious and unique. The cheese from Sue Miller’s Birchrun Hills Farm was perfectly matched with each wine. Elyse told the stories of these wines and celebrated the folks who spend their lives tending the land and producing these wines. A deep commitment to the methods used and the respect for all the people who are involved in producing wine is an important part of the Nature’s Vin ethos, and Elyse has a way of bringing that together in an entertaining style. 

We also celebrated my mother Sarah’s 91^st birthday and met some new friends – and we hope to do some future collaborations with Nature’s Vin. I encourage you to stop by – let them know you appreciate the slow wines and careful curation of wine and food that makes a visit to Nature’s Vin special. And keep your eyes on our events calendar for our next wine event at Nature’s Vin.