Episode 11: A Whimsical Wine Adventure at Staggering Unicorn

A visit to Staggering Unicorn Winery in Athens, Pennsylvania turns into a whimsical sweet-wine adventure filled with fruit wines, unusual flavors, cozy atmosphere, and a few new favorites. I’m sharing what we tasted, what surprised me, and why this winery felt like such a natural fit for Sweet Wine Sweet Life. 

Transcript

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What if I told you there was a whimsical little winery in Athens, Pennsylvania, where almost all of the wines are made from fruit instead of grapes? And the flavors include everything from peach mango and blueberry to white chocolate mint. I recently visited Staggering Unicorn Winery, and sweet wine lovers, this place may be a gold mine. Hey, I'm Jacqueline S and this is Sweet Wine, Sweet Life, the podcast where we talk about all things that make life feel a bit more beautiful. Whether it's a wine I'm loving, a mindset shift, or just a dreamy place I'm dying to visit, but this is your time to slow down, zip something sweet, and soak in a good life. Let's get into it. Hey hey sweet friends. Welcome back to Sweet Wine Sweet Life. My name is Jackie Mestis and I'm happy you're here. Before we jump in, I just want to say thank you for listening and spending some time with me. If you're enjoying this show, go ahead and follow or subscribe wherever you're listening so you don't miss an episode. And if Instagram is your thing, come find me there at SweetWineSweetLife. I'd love to have you join me over there, but only if you want to. No pressure. We keep it sweet over here. Alright, let's get into today's episode. I've been wanting to visit Stouring Unicorn since I found out about them about three months after we moved here, but then the weather turned cold and it is about an hour 15, hour and 20 minutes north. So it took a little bit more planning than just hopping in the car and going 30 minutes away. We have a dog and want to make sure that he was taken care of. Got Finn all set up, took him outside, gave him a couple of treats so he could chill out. And then my mom, my husband, and myself hopped in the car and had it northwest. It is just off of Route 6 in Pennsylvania, especially Nipah, Northeast Pennsylvania, is doing a lot to advertise Route 6 because there's a lot of cool little places along the way. It is absolutely beautiful, and I know that in the fall it's going to be really pretty. Once you get off of Route 6, you have another 10-15 minutes before you turn right onto Main Street in Athens, Pennsylvania. And once you turn onto Main Street, the winery is just to the left in town, and there is parking in the front as well as a very nice parking lot in the back. We walked in through the back area. What was really cool was the unicorn chair and area set up to take photos. My first impressions of the winery was that it was whimsical. It had an enchanted forest atmosphere, comfortable couches and chairs, and a very playful decor. Eventually we sat down. My husband recognized a couple of paintings that were in a London museum that he had been to in the past. From the small iridescent tasting glasses to the freshly popped popcorn. Everything felt really relaxed, fun. It did not feel stiff or intimidating or overly serious. It felt very playful and comfortable, the kind of place where you could settle in and enjoy discovering something new. And of course, we did that. We did meet with Ben, one of the owners of the winery and a winemaker of this family business. He has been making wine for about 10 years, and they've been in their current location for about two years, and they're doing so well that they were able to move into the building next door. So there's a ton of space if you want to do a special event in that area. Ben started to talk to us about the wines. He told us that only two wines are grape-based. Most of them are fermented from the fruits that are on the bottle. So when the bottle says blueberry, it's not simply a grape wine with blueberry flavors added. The wine itself is made from blueberries. If you see the pear raisin, it is going to be a wine that is made from pear and raisin. And the other thing that I really loved about staggering unicorn is that almost all of the fruit, with the exception of a few, are locally sourced. So you're dealing with a local winery who deals with local fruit, which is really great. Of course, there are going to be some fruits that are a bit more exotic, and those are brought in from states that are close by, such as New York. And also that staggering part in staggering unicorn refers to the wine being about 12% alcohol, which my husband loved. Okay, so you don't want to sit here listening to me talk about fruit. Ben provided us with our tasting list, and then I asked him the question I normally ask when I'm in a winery. What is the wine that you would suggest people try that most people don't? And he suggested two wines, and I chose one, and my husband chose the other. It is six tastings for five dollars. A couple of us overlap, but generally what we like to do is try different things, and then maybe, oh, this tastes good. You want to taste it? Oh, this tastes great. You want to taste it? Someone will be able to get a sip of that. But generally, we are thinking about our own palettes when we're wine tasting. Ben suggested we settle onto some very, very comfy couches. He provided us with popcorn, which my husband was extremely delighted about because he loves popcorn and wine tasting. Then each of our tastings arrived. They were in these small, iridescent, really pretty wine, I don't want to say shot glasses, but they were really cute. Love those also. Again, the whimsy and fun continues. Your choices are going to range between semi-sweet to sweet with the two dry options. So if you are a dry wine lover and you're going with your your sweet wine buddies, you will find some things you like. We found a lot of wines that we did enjoy, and it made the visit feel like a family outing rather than a content-only trip. This was one of my first trips as sweet wine, sweet life. So I was really enjoying it. And for once the sweet wine was not treated like a small section at the bottom of the menu. It was and is the main event at Staggering Unicorn. Now, the wines worth talking about. There are way too many. And that's a really good problem to have, I think. My and my mom's overall favorite is called Soulmate, and it is a peach and mango wine. And what does it taste like? It tastes like peaches and mangoes. It really does smell like the tropics in a glass. That's the best way that I can describe it. If you have ever been to the island of Barbados and you get that slight wind that happens, that's what that reminds me of. It really does remind me of just sitting on a balcony in Barbados looking out at the water. That is what this wine reminds me of. Sweetness level, I would say it's about maybe about a three or a four of my sweetameter out of five. Why it stood out was just it was extremely refreshing. And I ended up getting a glass of this after we finished our tasting because it was really good, served extremely cold, and I would drink this wine after a hard day on a hot day while I'm standing there waiting for Mike to bring in the burgers from grilling, or just sitting there toasting at the end of a lovely weekend. It is a really nice porch wine. My husband liked the King's Tribute, which is a lingonberry wine. Now I actually like this one as well, and it surprised me because I don't know much about lingonberries. Smell and flavor was just very berry, and the sweetness level was just right. And I would drink this one along with maybe a milk chocolatey dessert. This is also another one of those porch wines at the end of the day. You have a friend who really loves berries and doesn't really get the thing about sweet wines. This would be a really good one to introduce them to. That is something that I would have probably during the holidays, definitely during Christmas time, with one of our pies that I would make. So anything with chocolate or that's creamy. Another wine that I did not expect to enjoy is Fairy Tale, which is a pear raisin wine. And again, another one of those that's very yummy, pretty sweet, and really good. And I think that would be really great with the rum cake. And after we were done, like I said, we each had a glass of our favorite wines, and then it was time to go. But before we left, my husband and I ended up buying a case of wine, and my mom bought eight bottles of wine, and I also bought a staggering unicorn zipper hoodie. And the reason why we bought so many, of course, is because again, Athens is not around the corner. It takes a little bit of planning for us to go there, and so we wanted to grab all of the things that we really loved. So we went in for a tasting and left with enough wine to start a very small, very sweet cellar. But also, you get a percentage off. And anytime you get a percentage off with a case, we're leaving with a case. The winery was welcoming, it was playful and was free of the wine snobbery that sometimes you run into when it comes to wineries. I had an opportunity to introduce myself as the creator and host of something that I really love. Ben and I exchanged business cards, and he seemed interested in what I was doing and suggested a possible future interview, which I am looking forward to. Who would enjoy Saggering Unicorn? Saggering Unicorn is definitely for my sweet and fruit wine lovers. People who find traditional tastings intimidating that are looking for a fun, relaxed atmosphere. This is your place. If you enjoy unusual flavors, there are so many other flavors that I didn't even talk about on here. Queen's Revenge, Apple, Court Jester, Banana, Palace Potion, Pomegranate, Sweet Sorrow, Mulberry. So many other flavors that are available. Now, the sweet sip of the episode. This one is tough because I have two wines that I absolutely fell in love with. Now I've already talked about one, which is Soulmate. However, what I'm gonna do is highlight another one, which is called Cauldron Fumes. That is a plum wine, and we did come home with two bottles of that. Of course, the fruit is plum. Nice and sweet, but still light. The reason why I tasted this wine is the very first place that I grew up in had a plum tree in the backyard. And I really love plums, but sometimes I forget that they're in season and I don't bother picking up any. And then at the end of the season, I'm like, I should have picked up a plum. Now I have two bottles of plum. I would drink this one, of course, in the summer to the fall, but actually I would drink this wine whenever because it's gonna bring back those really great childhood memories of running across this really huge lawn from my house to my neighbor's house. And then when I returned to visit the house that I lived in, I was so shocked at how small that yard actually was, which really put into perspective how small I was at the time. What I might pair this with, this is gonna probably be my wine and light cheese night. It's also gonna be one of those wines that I would have at the end of a very hard day. And it's also gonna be one of those when I want to sit back and chat with my husband and share childhood memories and any other good memories that we have. This will probably end up being one of the sweet picks, also so will be one of the sweet picks as well. Staggering Unicorn was well worth the drive. It was welcoming and full of the kinds of wines that remind me of why I started Sweet Wine Sweet Life in the first place. There is no shame about sweetness, no pressure to pretend that I wanted the driest bottle in the room. This is not sponsored. I just really love the product that they have, have a lot of respect for them for doing what they love on a daily basis, and I hope to do the same as well. Staggering Unicorn does ship to a lot of states. You can find information on them on their website, staggeringunicorn.com. They are also very active on Facebook and Instagram. In the future, I'm looking forward to doing more sweet wine, sweet life road trips, because for me, this is what it's about. Yes, I love the wine names that you know, but also what's just as important to me is some of these smaller wineries that you don't know or that you haven't heard of. And I always have a challenge for you, but I actually have a question and I'd love for you to put it in any of my Instagram comments or even on podcasts. What is the most unusual fruit wine that you ever tried? Or what fruit would you love to see turned into a wine? Anyway, that is it for me today, sweeties. I want to thank you so much. So until next time, have a good day, week, weekend, month, and I'll talk to you soon. Take care, sweeties.

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Bye-bye.

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Thanks for spending this time with me in Sweet Wine Sweet Life, where we sip sweetly, live fully, and love boldly. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to follow the podcast and share it with a friend who can use a little more sweetness. You can find wine picks and cozy inspiration at sweetwinesweetlife.com or connect with me on Instagram at SweetwineSweetLife. Until next time, for something you love and savor the sweetness. Sweetwine Sweet Life is a part of the Sweet Life Created Collective, music by Fashion Chill Pop, Recharge Your Soul, by Linalden Music.