You wanted to know

Like any small business, we get a lot of the same questions over and over. Since we have our fair share of inquiries, this post I decided to clear up a few for our customers and friends. Here we go

Q. What does PDX stand for? 
Perhaps you've seen this abbreviation on one of our bottles, or on a sign, or in an article. Let's demystify the most common confusion.  PDX is short for Paradocx Vineyard. I know there is an airport in Portland with the same PDX, but in our neck of the woods, it's Paradocx Vineyard.

Q. Why the C in Paradocx? 
Maybe we are trying to confuse you or upset the spellcheck on your phone. There is actually a better reason though. You see, the owners of Paradocx Vineyard are two couples who are also medical doctors. Now look closer. Pair- Of -Docs. Paradocx. Get it? Cool huh? 

Q. Who designed the labels? 
Boy, do I get a lot of compliments on our labels. Beautiful, bright colored flowers, but who designed it? I wish I could say me, but we would probably sell no wine at all if I were decorating the bottles.  Alice Cooper, the mother of Carol Hoffman, one of the docs, painted the beautiful flowers for our wine labels. So talented. 

Q. Is there wine in that? 
If you noticed the mini cans displayed at one of our four locations, you may have wondered if they contain single servings of wine. As cool as that would be, they are actually our wine scented candles, and the smaller ones are tree ornaments, though they could be used for anything your creative self can come up with. The lid even comes off, so fill them with mints or jelly beans. Maybe a shot of Barn Red.

Q. Can I refill the cans? 
Well yes and no. We have a secret: the wine isn't sloshing around freely in that can, it's actually stored in a bladder-like pouch inside. We do reuse the cans you return, but we have to put new pouches inside and re-label the cans before they are ready for resale, and this process takes a while. So you personally can't refill your can, but we here at Paradocx will gladly reuse it for next time. Plus, the bonus for you is that when you bring the empty can back, we will give you two dollars off your next purchase. The circle of life, Paradocx style.


One Final Thought

The French Paradox

The docs may not have had this in mind when they named their winery Paradocx, but take out the "c" and you have another wine related term. We refer to this as the French Paradox.

This term was coined to explain how the French can live on heavy fats and cigarettes and still have good health.  What is the common denominator? Wine of course. The French love their wine and treat it like a food group. It's probably on their food pyramid. It's probably in their vitamins. 

Now, this has not been scientifically proven and the studies are far more detailed than my commentary, but I buy into it. Red wine has attributes that are theorized to fight off chronic heart disease. 

So let's do our own test.  Eat well and drink more Paradocx wine. Though I still recommend to avoid the smokes. Walk to the winery.  I don't care if you live in Philadelphia - get here.  Bring a picnic basket full of cheese, butter, bread, cake, salami. When you get here, run 10 laps around the vineyard. Do 100 pushups on the bar.  Join our Yoga in the Vineyard session.

Then after you have burned 10,000 calories, eat your lunch and enjoy Paradocx award-winning wine.  I assure you, you will stay fit. When you are finished, take a case of wine home. After all, you have to keep up with the French.

I forgot to tell you. Forget Uber. Walk home again, carrying a case of wine and your empty picnic basket. It may take you 8 hours to get home, but it will be worth it. Tell the French folks we have our own paradox in Landenberg, PA. Paradocx Winery, that is.

White For Summer, Red For Winter - Why?

I hear this question often, and I admit I wonder, too. According to the secret statistical droids we employ, we sell more white wines in the summer and more red wines in the winter. 

But Why?

There are a couple reasons for this. An obvious reason would be that we serve white wines colder than reds, and it's pretty damn hot in the summer. Well at least it is here. Do you really want a warmer wine on a hot, humid day? Not usually. A chilled, crisp, acidic white will do the trick.

The opposite goes for red wine. It is served warmer, and on a chilly day, only a red will work.

Another reason? Food of course. We prefer hearty, heavier, fattier foods in the winter and a cool white wine probably won't stand up the way a medium to full-bodied red will. 

And for summer, think of crisp salads, grilled chicken, seafood, fresh vegetables and fruit. That luscious Pinot Grigio or Vidal Blanc matches perfectly. 

Even without consciously thinking it through, these choices become habit.

Calm Your Horses You Non-Conformist

Before you go a little loco on me, let me say that this is not always the case. We have customers that only drink white wine all year round, and the same goes for red wine drinkers. Also, not all of our reds and whites are created equally. Take our Barn Red for example.

A fruit forward, off-dry red with soft tannins. This is an all year round red that pairs well with burgers, pasta, BBQ and pizza. And our award winning white wine, Yield, has enough body and flavor to stand up to chilly nights and heartier chicken and seafood.

I hope that clears up the red equals winter and white equals summer mystery, but it's not really a mystery at all. Just drink whatever the hell you want. 



One Final Thought


Thinking about serving wines chilled, or not-so-chilled, made me think about proper storage, which made me think about wine cellars. My grandmother had a cellar, though she had no wine, at least that's what I thought. 

Most wine cellars are designed to keep wines at the correct humidity and temperature for proper storage and aging.

And low and behold, I couldn't help but wonder how big they could possibly be. 

So I went to the library and looked at the old dusty encyclopedias. Just kidding. I Googled it of course. What I found was less "cellar" and more "wine cellar city." 

I thought the world's largest wine cellar would be located in France, Italy, or Argentina, but to my surprise, it's in Moldova. It's called the Milestii Mici. 

Now, if you know where Moldova is then good for you, you nerd. But I had to look it up on a map. Moldova is located in Eastern Europe and borders Ukraine and Romania.

Now that I got the geography lesson out of the way, let's talk about the cellar. 

The cellar runs for about 200 km and holds about 2 million bottles. The cellar actually has tunnels and each tunnel is named after a wine grape. You can actually drive a car though the tunnels. This is open to visitors and folks from all over can stroll through the cellar. 

I would have never planned a vacation to Moldova, but it is high on my list now. I would definitely need a map. I wonder if the tunnels are on my GPS? Whatever! I would still get lost, but what better place to get lost than the biggest wine cellar in the world. I wouldn't run out of wine, would I?