In its 10th season of being open, Purple Cow Winery began after Bruce Hemsarth’s kids, Andrew and Greg, moved away for a college education. Andrew Hemsarth says his father eventually “got this itch” which led to planting 800 vines and harvesting a whole lot of wine.
While his brother Greg chose to remain rooted in the family dairy farm, Andrew Hemsarth knew dairy farming wasn’t for him.
“I was born and raised on the dairy farm. So up until I moved out I worked on the farm, but I knew it wasn’t for me,” Andrew says.
Despite this, his appreciation for the rural landscape led him back to the area after college graduation. Now, he is a high school history teacher and co-owner of the winery where he makes wine with his father.
“I was talking with my father after he had been growing grapes for a few years and making his own wine in his basement. I remember going down to his basement one night and we were looking at all the barrels of wine he had,” Hemsarth says, noting there was more wine than his father was using. “I had the entrepreneurial spirit and at the time I was thinking about what other ventures I could get involved in.”
As a summer opportunity to have fun and a way to earn more money, Hemsarth turned an old pig barn and machinery shed into Purple Cow Winery, which opened in 2014. The winery has since grown into a lively tasting room and rental area called “The Parlor” that is open from April until late December.
The winery, previously an old pig barn and machinery shed, has a mural featuring a cow, wine and bourbon on the side of the building. Photo courtesy of Purple Cow Winery.
“The business has been growing ever since, and we've just continued to grow,” Hemsarth says, noting it was only supposed to be a summer gig.
The winery is a mile away from the family dairy farm and is where the majority of the grapes are grown. It is also five minutes down the road from where Hemsarth teaches at the local high school.
“It’s easy for me to leave work, come home and take off my teacher hat,” Hemsarth says. “I then put on my farm hat to do what I need to do with the tasting room and winery, and also the field work.”
What’s not typically grown on farmland by the dairy is the vineyard maintained by Hemsarth’s father Bruce. Photo courtesy of Purple Cow Winery.
Hemsarth attributes growing up on the dairy farm to much of the success of the winery.
“When you’re a dairy farmer and get sick, the cows still need to be milked and chores need to be taken care of,” Hemsarth says. “Having been born and raised into that work mentality, it’s helped us in developing and growing the business. There’s always work to be done and because that’s how we were raised, we have a hard time just sitting still and we feel guilty when we’re sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee.”
When initially naming the business, Hemsarth says cows were part of the family’s lifestyle and somehow they ended up associating the winery with the color purple. Later, after the business was named, they learned there was more to the meaning from a book titled Purple Cow by Seth Godin.
“It’s something we learned after the fact. The book asks, ‘Have you ever seen a purple cow? If you did, you’d never forget it.’ This is one of the things we pride ourselves on,” Hemsarth says. “We hope that our customers never forget being here, and they’re going to cherish and remember us positively. It’s something we worked very hard for.”
Online, the book description says, “Seth Godin urges you to put a Purple Cow into everything you build, and everything you do, to create something truly noticeable.” This is exactly what the family works together on with their respective businesses.
It takes many people behind the scenes to help run the winery, just like dairy farming. Even some of Hemsarth’s students will assist in picking grapes during the fall season. His wife, Tawnya, posts on social media, plans events and manages the tasting room. Likewise, his mother-in-law, Nancy, assists in managing the tasting room and listens to employees and customers to aid in growing the business.
To say the least, family is involved, and they want to portray the same to whoever steps on the property.
“It’s just like you’re coming to this community gathering where it’s laid back, relaxing and everyone feels safe. Everybody’s happy,” Hemsarth says, noting that creating the family environment for other families is what the tasting room achieves with many events overlooking the farmland.
A mile away from the dairy farm sits the Purple Cow Winery in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, where it overlooks farm and forest land for guests to enjoy. Photo courtesy of Purple Cow Winery.
Recently, the two brothers have started another venture opening up a distillery with products sold in the winery. Distillery 51 not only combines their love for bourbon, but also moonshine, which is made from wine not up to their standards to sell.
“The distillery is the side hustle we all do for fun and enjoy,” Hemsarth says. “But I’m a teacher by trade, he’s (Greg) a dairy farmer, and it’s a lot of work.”
With the people who are involved in the business, the Pennsylvania winery continues to grow from the family values Hemsarth grew up with.
