The small, unconventional winery outside Avondale that picks Italian malvasia grapes where you’d expect gourmet mushrooms remains the best place in Pennsylvania to savor a great glass of wine.

Though it slipped from No. 64 to No. 85 on The Daily Meal’s list of the 101 best wineries in America over the past year, Va La Vineyards is still attracting the elite praise of wine experts from across the country, according to a PennLive report this week.

“Va La owner Anthony Vietri squeezes world-class juice out of just over 7 acres of soil in the heart of Chester County’s mushroom country and sells it only out of his cozy tasting room located along Route 41,” the article stated.

The experts deduced their rankings based on wine tasting notes, wine publication and newsletter coverage, and awards.

“This ranking isn’t a beauty contest, giving points for attractive settings or handsome architecture, or a guide to fine winery dining,” editors of The Daily Meal wrote in their introduction of the list. “… We’re concerned with what gets put into the bottle and poured into our glass.”

And Va La Vineyards clearly stood out.

“We’ve included wineries from less prominent wine regions for two reasons: first, because we want to encourage the production of fine wine anywhere it can be managed (which, it turns out, is apparently in a whole lot of places); but also because producers who have to use their imaginations a little more than usual, to deal with the growing conditions unique to their regions, often come up with wines that are quite delicious but don’t taste quite like anybody else’s,” the article explained. “Va La Vineyards (No. 85) in Pennsylvania, for instance, produces small batches of critically acclaimed wines from unusual blends of grapes ‘chosen by the soil.’”

Read more about Va La Vineyard’s inclusion in the rankings on PennLive here, then see its profile on The Daily Meal here and its place among the full list here.