Cold-Climate Gems Hiding in a Stone Cave
North East · Erie · Winery / Tasting Room · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · July 10, 2026
RagingWine reviewed South Shore Wine Company – Underground Cellar’s wine list and gave it The Wild Card — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
You walk down into a genuine stone cellar and the temperature drops a few degrees — this is not your average strip-mall tasting room. The underground cavern setting does real work before a single glass is poured. It's atmospheric in a way that most wine bars spend a lot of money trying to fake.
The list is tightly focused on what the Lake Erie AVA actually does well, and that's a choice we respect. Hybrid cold-climate varieties like Vidal Blanc, Cayuga White, and Traminette sit alongside estate Riesling and a surprisingly polished Coupe Collection of sparkling wines — Sparkling Riesling, Sparkling Chardonnay, Sparkling Pinot Noir, and a Sparkling Zweigelt that nobody else in Erie is making. Don't come here expecting a broad Old World selection; this is a focused, terroir-driven lineup built around what grows 200 yards from the cellar. The gaps are real — no reds beyond the sparkling Pinot Noir and Zweigelt in the Coupe lineup — but the depth within the estate program is legitimate.
By-the-glass specifics aren't fully published, but the Coupe Collection sparkling lineup is clearly designed for glass pours, and the Thursday–Friday happy hour ($1 off any sparkling by the glass, 2:30–5:30pm) suggests they're moving bubbles regularly. For a small regional winery, that kind of rotating sparkler access by the glass is worth showing up for.
Traminette — null
Traminette is the grape Pennsylvania cold-climate winemaking was made for — aromatic, food-friendly, and virtually impossible to find outside the Finger Lakes and Lake Erie corridor. Tasting it here at the source, in a stone cellar, is an experience that would cost twice as much anywhere it was romanticized on a menu.
Sparkling Zweigelt Red (Coupe Collection)
A sparkling red Zweigelt from a Pennsylvania estate winery is not something you see anywhere. Zweigelt is an Austrian variety that almost nobody grows in the US, let alone makes sparkling — this is genuinely weird in the best possible way, and most visitors walk right past it for the Riesling.
Sparkling Chardonnay (Coupe Collection)
Sparkling Chardonnay is the safe choice on this list, and in a lineup this adventurous it feels like ordering chicken at a Szechuan restaurant. Nothing wrong with it, but you're leaving the best stuff on the table.
Vidal Blanc + Charcuterie and cheese board
Vidal Blanc's bright acidity and stone fruit cut right through rich cured meats and aged cheeses — it's a classic acid-fat balance that works every time, and doing it underground in a stone cellar while watching Lake Erie fog roll in outside is about as good as wine gets in northwestern Pennsylvania.
Thursday & Friday — $1 off any sparkling wine by the glass, every Thursday and Friday from 2:30–5:30pm
🎲 The Bottom Line
South Shore is a legitimate hidden gem in the Lake Erie wine corridor — not fancy, not encyclopedic, but honest about what it is and genuinely exciting if you're willing to engage with cold-climate varieties on their own terms. If you're passing through North East on Route 89 and you skip this cellar, that's on you.
Peach Street Corridor · Erie · Steakhouse
The markup here is genuinely fair, which is the nicest thing we can say — you're not getting ripped off, you're just not getting anything interesting either. If wine matters to you, drink whatever's cheapest and put your attention where it belongs: the steak.
Grocery Store
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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Grocery Store
Fair
Basic Stemmed
MIA
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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Crowd Pleasers
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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Small but Thoughtful
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Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
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Proper
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Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
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Proper
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Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
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Proper
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Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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