Red Fox Winery meeting owner’s grape expectations
Observer-Reporter
Mike Lauderbaugh, the owner, and Tera Brownlee, event coordinator, oversee operations at Red Fox Winery and Lounge in Hickory.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
A tub of freshly crushed grapes awaits the start of the fermentation process that will turn them into wine. The grapes sit in the tub for a few hours before being covered in a layer of yeast to start the process.
Mike Lauderbaugh is proving that wine and Rice complement one another.
He was an executive with Rice Energy in 2016, during the oil and natural gas downturn and about a year before the company would be acquired by EQT. Although he was a mere 41 at the time, Lauderbaugh accepted “a nice buyout package” from his employer and retired … from that career.
“I had always thought that when I retired, I’d love to start a winery,” Lauderbaugh said.
Now he has. Lauderbaugh has launched Red Fox Winery and Lounge in the Hickory section of Mt. Pleasant Township. It is at 80 Red Fox Road, where a bar/restaurant had previously operated, in a rustic locale where red foxes undoubtedly cavort.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Chilean merlot grapes await crushing at Red Fox Winery and Lounge in Mt. Pleasant Township.
An experienced winemaker, Lauderbaugh bought the 16-acre property at auction in October 2016, and spent a year renovating, remodeling, landscaping, decorating and buying vintage vehicles. He opened a banquet facility in October, then the winery and lounge in January, all in the same building – and is now realizing his grape expectations.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Dave Watson, brother of Red Fox Winery and Lounge owner Mike Lauderbaugh, helps crush grapes that arrived at the winery.
Red Fox has already become a social events destination, despite being a little off the radar – it isn’t visible from nearby Route 18 and is still in its infancy. “We’ve relied mostly on Facebook and word of mouth,” said Lauderbaugh, a Cecil Township resident.
This is a picturesque location, rough and rural with lots of hills, trees and green.
Lauderbaugh, now 43, said 28 wedding receptions are on the books for 2018, several others in 2019 and even four in 2020. Showers and other events also have been scheduled in a banquet hall that can accommodate as many as 200 guests. Among the highlights thus far have been a Murder Mystery Dinner and an Italian Dinner featuring Vinny Pastore, an actor on the fabled TV series “The Sopranos,” who sang.
Car shows and hot-air balloon rides are on his radar, as well.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Dave Watson, left, helps his brother, Red Fox Winery and Lounge owner Mike Lauderbaugh, crush merlot grapes.
Events are Tera Brownlee’s bailiwick. She is the events coordinator and more: a Canon-McMillan High School teacher, Lauderbaugh’s girlfriend and a mighty contributor to the renovations.
A sign greeting visitors upon entering introduces them to the rustic motif that dominates the grounds. Ascending up the driveway, one sees a vintage wooden wagon and four cabins to the right – all named for wine varieties. To the left are twin ponds, which Lauderbaugh built. Farther up are three vintage vehicles in immaculate condition: a 1953 tractor and two Ford Model A cars, from 1928 and 1930. The “newer” car adorns the label of all Red Fox Wine bottles.
The social venues are farther up and include a spacious outdoor pavilion outside the hall, near a wooded area. A storage building sits near the top of the vertical property.
Wine is the featured attraction in the lounge, all of it made by Lauderbaugh on site. Beer and distilled spirits produced in Pennsylvania also are available, and are provided in partnership with Rusty Gold Brewing of Canonsburg and Liberty Pole Spirits of Washington. Red Fox also has snacks from Emerald Valley Artisans of Scenery Hill.
Although this is his first gig as a business owner, Lauderbaugh is well versed in the art of winemaking. He has been practicing it for 14 years.
“I try to do as many varieties as I can,” said Lauderbaugh, who also sells his wine at several local locales. “At any given time, we will have between 10 and 14 wines, from whites and reds to sweets, semi-sweets and dries. A lot depends on what is in season.”
Transforming this tract has been a formidable task, Lauderbaugh said. “The place was in pretty bad shape,” he explained, pointing out that – among other things – the gravel roadway had to be paved, a collapsed ceiling had to be replaced and a water line had to be dug a quarter-mile down to Route 18.
But the construction end of the project is virtually complete, and the owner can concentrate on his business, which is open four days a week: 5 to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. (Saturday hours may vary.)
Lauderbaugh, a Canon-McMillan graduate, looks back favorably on his years with Rice Energy, where he was vice president of environmental health and safety. He has a video on his cellphone of the day the company went public, when he and a large group of managers and employers gathered around chief operating officer Toby Rice as he rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
He is a bit conflicted about leaving, but smiles when he talks about his new career.
“Honestly, I was hoping to work in oil and gas for 15 more years. But the timing for this was good.”