Good morning! I want to introduce you to Mark and Val Wines - the first black-owned urban winery here in the city of York, PA. An urban winery means we make small batches of high-quality, boutique wines right here in the heart of downtown.
Mark and Val Wines was founded by myself, Mark Rhodes. As one of the only black winemakers in the state of Pennsylvania, Mark and Val Wines highlights inclusion and diversity in the wine industry. Our motto is 'wine for everyone,' and we want to make wine more accessible, especially to underrepresented communities.
We source grapes from sustainable vineyards nearby. Our flagship wine is the Diablo Rojo - an aromatic yet easy-drinking blend of Cabernet and Noble grapes.
The urban winery model means low overhead costs so that we can offer monthly wine club memberships. We also have a popular tasting room serving our wines by the glass or bottles. We want Mark and Val Wines to be a community gathering space and host events like paint nights and trivia.
We picked up our first wine-making kit eight years ago, and the hobby of making wine in our home led to one big problem: we ran out of room in our basement. While we handed some out to friends and family over the years, we finally decided to look into getting a limited winery license. A limited winery license test location is our basement in our home, with our second at 1205 E. Philadelphia St., a more prominent location, and contains our tasting room for groups of up to 45. We are an Urban Winery located in the City of York, PA—one of Pennsylvania's first Black-Owned wineries.
