Black Walnut plowing toward opening

Posted a story last month on Black Walnut Winery in Sadburyville, Chester County, a hop, skip and a jump off Route 30 as it heads east onto the bypass toward Coatesville and Downingtown.

Co-owner Lance Castle talked then about opening in a month or so. Well, that month flew by in a blur, as it usually does for anyone trying to tie all the final loose ends and open the doors. Castle said earlier today that the opening “probably is going to be closer to mid- to late December than late November, which is what I was hoping for.”

Castle said he just received approval on all of his labels and brought them to the printer last Friday. Meanwhile, the last bit of work continues on his 198-year-old bank barn that will serve as the tasting room. “We put in an underfloor,” Castle said, “to support it up. It was an antique shop and a residence, so they wanted us to bring the grade of the building up . . . so we had to rip out the old floor and put in a new sub-floor. And I have to put in the new tongue and groove floor and get it sanded and finished. But the ceilings are done, the walls are done … the fireplace is almost all stripped and ready to go. So I’ve made a lot of progress.”

Once it open, the winery will become the seventh member of the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail, which recently completed its Harvest Fest Celebration and now turns its attention toward the annual Vintners’ Dinner Celebration on Saturday night, Nov. 8, at Longwood Gardens.