The motto for Rushland Ridge Vineyard & Winery near Jamison in Bucks County could easily be “small but mighty.” Although its annual output is a modest 2,000 gallons, owner Ed Ullman’s winery has a devoted following thanks to its award-winning cabernet franc and other wines.
Located on the Bucks County Wine Trail amid wind-rustled cornfields that seem a world away from the bustling suburban developments of nearby Doylestown, the first vineyard at Rushland Ridge was planted by Ed and his wife Lisa in the mid-1980s.
Today vineyards occupy six acres of the rural 22-acre property, Ullman said, noting that 100 percent of the wine bottled at Rushland Ridge is made from grapes grown there.
“We’re like a farmstand here,” he said.
The grapes on the vines at Rushland Ridge Vineyard and Winery in Jamison, Bucks County, are nearly ready to be harvested.
An important achievement for Rushland Ridge came in June 2017, when their Cabernet Franc won the prestigious title of “Best Red” at PA Sommelier Judgment Day, a competition organized by the Pennsylvania Wine Association that featured 110 wines from around the state. (Click here to read more about how they did it.)
Although the flavor profile of a particular wine varies from season to season, since weather and soil conditions aren’t constant from year to year, Ullman said the quality of this year’s cabernet franc and all of their wines is consistently high.
“What won isn’t much different than what we’re selling right now,” he pointed out.
At $18 a bottle, the cabernet is their priciest vintage other than their port, which retails for $25 for a 500 ml. bottle. Their other wines retail in the $10 to $14-a-bottle range.
Rushland Ridge’s award-winning cabernet franc is a relative bargain at $18 a bottle. It is pictured above alongside a bottle of the vineyard’s chardonnay, which is aged in oak barrels to give it the butteriness wine connoisseurs value.
The cost of a bottle of wine is just one of the things that have changed since Ullman began making wine as a teenage hobbyist in Abington, on the outskirts of Philadelphia in the 1960s. But the fundamentals of the wine-making process haven’t changed, he said.
“Making wine’s a lot like cooking,” he said. “The more you do it, the better you get at it.”
Ullman has made a lot of wine over the past 50 years, and he’s developed a following to the point where customers regularly travel to Rushland Ridge just to pick up cases of it.
He stressed that while his family wants to maintain the small-winery atmosphere they’ve carefully cultivated over the years, they are taking some steps to grow their business.
For example, the Ullmans are branching out to related areas of beverage production, with his son fermenting hard cider made from local apples which Rushland Ridge will sell.
Ed Ullman said he may develop something akin to a “wine park” on the property in the future, that would allow for more people to stay and enjoy a glass or two on the premises.
There is also a plan to put their wine on tap at a microbrewery that will be opening nearby.
Currently, however, all of the wine Rushland Ridge produces is sold on site out of their tasting room, which is open Friday from 3 to 6 p.m., Saturday from noon to 6 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.
A tasting costs $5 and allows the visitor to taste all of Rushland Ridge’s varietals, and when you visit you’ll likely be greeted on your way in by the vineyard’s four-legged mascot, the Ullmans’ friendly black lab, Rita.
Rushland Ridge’s mascot, Rita, stands outside the tasting room door on a recent Friday afternoon.
The winery is closed in January and February, which is one of the reasons Ullman calls Rushland Ridge “a seasonal winery.”
Harvest season is in September and into October, which means all hands will be on deck to harvest this year’s fruit and begin the process of producing another vintage.
“I enjoy it,” Ullman said. “We’re about wine.”
Rushland Ridge Vineyard and Winery is located at 2665 Rushland Road in Jamison, Pa.
For more information, call 215-598-0251 or visit their website or their page on the Bucks County Wine Trail site. You can also follow the Rushland Ridge Facebook page for news and updates from the winery.
- Want to learn more about some of the wineries we’ve already profiled along the Bucks County Wine Trail? Click on the name of the winery to read more about it: Rose Bank Winery, Crossing Vineyards & Winery and Bishop Estate Vineyard & Winery.
A wooden sign that hangs inside the Rushland Ridge tasting room lists all of the wines that are currently available. A tasting is just $5 at the winery, which is open only on weekends.
For winning the Pennsylvania Wine Association’s “Best Red” award in 2017, Rushland Ridge received this ceremonial saber, which is proudly displayed in the tasting room.
Grapes hang heavily on the vine at Rushland Ridge, an estate winery located on the Bucks County Wine Trail near Doylestown.
Ed Ullman built his own wine cellar at Rushland Ridge. Here sit cases of wine ready to be sold to wine lovers from Bucks County and beyond.
The entrance to the winery is marked by a modest metal sign, which is surrounded by cornfields that give one the impression of being far away from urbanity.
Rita trots happily ahead of Ed Ullman in the heart of a vineyard at Rushland Ridge.
