It's hard to believe it's been two whole years since we went on an in-depth, six-week tour of the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail to experience the individual flavors each Pennsylvania winery had to offer along the way.

Since that time, however, the BVWT has undergone a bit of a makeover. One winery has closed, while another has decided to take a hiatus from Trail membership, due to its boutique status.

But new windows of opportunity have opened in the form of four additional wineries, bringing the Trail's total to eight. And with them, new varietals, flavors and tours have popped up. This harvest season we will be taking a return trip to the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail to see what's new and keep you in the wine loop.

Gino Razzi, owner and operator of Penns Woods Winery (located in Eddystone, Pa.) and Vineyard (located in Chadds Ford, Pa.) possesses all the personality and passion you'd expect from an Italian immigrant who makes wine.

An importer by trade for the last 30 years, Gino came to Pennsylvania from Abruzzo, Italy in 1962. He then served four years in the U.S. Marines, attended college in California, and then returned to Pennsylvania to begin his career.

While working as an importer, he began producing wine in Italy (which he visits frequently), in 1991. He released his first vintage in Italy in 1997, receiving a 95-point rating from Wine Spectator, so when the property at Smithbridge Winery went up for sale in 2004, he decided to pounce on it and make wine in America.

"That's where I grow my grapes, out in Chadds Ford, but the winery is located in Eddystone [southwest of Ridley Park], across from where I run my importer business," Razzi told us. "Making great wine requires presence, so this location allows me to be on-site overseeing every step at all times."

Razzi said he was not convinced at first that Pennsylvania could produce good wine, a feeling his Italian countrymen agreed upon. But after sending some Pennsylavnia grapes to the Asti Research Institute in Italy, he was surprised what he found.

"We found the grapes here are as good as they are in Italy," Razzi said. "It was just a matter of taking the proper care in making the wine that was required. So I brought in the latest in German and Italian technology."

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