Philly’s first urban walking wine tour is launching in May
The tour will highlight wines and ciders produced in the city
Urban winemakers in Philly have, in recent years, been producing excellent wines. A new walking tour aims to highlight some of them, along with a local cidery. Tiny Table Tours, the tour company founded by freelance food writer (and occasional Inquirer contributor) Maddy Sweitzer-Lammé launched in 2023, has long focused on bringing both locals and visitors alike on tours through the Italian Market. In May, they will set their sights further north, with a new tour called Fishtown Wine & Drinks. It’s Philly’s first and only urban winery tour.
Guests will be led through guided tastings at Mural City Cellars, Pray Tell Winery, and Pip’s, a bar by Ploughman Cider, which makes its cider from apples grown on its fruit farm, Three Springs, in Adams County. These are all within walking distance from one another in Fishtown and Kensington. Wine selections will change seasonally, but Sweitzer-Lammé promises tastes of wines that aren’t yet available for sale or in bars. “We’re going to take guests into barrel rooms to taste stuff out of the fermentation tank and we’ll talk about the processes and flavors that evolve through fermentation,” said Sweitzer-Lammé. “And everything we’re drinking on the tour will be dry.”
Both Mural City Cellars, owned and operated by Nicholas Ducos and Francesca Galarus, and Pray Tell, owned byTom Caruso and Sydney Adams, produce wines that have become extremely popular in Philly bars, even those with full liquor licenses (and thus the ability to serve wines produced outside of Pennsylvania). Mural City uses grapes grown within a 300 mile radius of Fishtown (as far north as New York and south as Virginia). Pray Tell only uses Pennsylvanian fruit, despite having started in Oregon in 2017. It relocated to Philadelphia in 2024.
“This tour is an exploration of high quality wineries making wine around Pennsylvania’s incredibly difficult liquor laws, producing drinks that are particular to Philly,” said Sweitzer-Lammé.
“Our tours are designed to feel like walking around Philly with a friend who knows the restaurant scene really well,” said Sweitzer-Lammé, explaining her tours’ appeal to Philadelphians. “People say, ‘I thought I knew this neighborhood really well, but now I have a different perspective on the city.’” So far, Tiny Table Tours have been popular for corporate bonding retreats, bachelorette parties (and some bachelor parties), and birthday parties.
“The tours make people feel more connected to their city,” said Sweitzer-Lammé. “The tours are a love letter to Philadelphia, whether you’re visiting for the first time or have lived here for decades.”
Groups of ten to fourteen will be welcome on this weekly tour, which, like other Tiny Table Tours, will be offered as a private option. It will be two hours long and include four drinks – “but no pressure to finish anything,” said Sweitzer-Lammé. Charcuterie spreads and slices of tomato pie will also be provided at stops. Tiny Table Tours’ expedition are led by Sweitzer-Lammé and five other guides, most of whom are current or former Philly restaurant workers. To start, Sweitzer-Lammé will personally lead the Wine & Drinks tours.
The first round of Fishtown Wine & Drinks tour tickets for May dates will be released via Tiny Table Tours newsletter at 12pm on Wednesday, April 8 to newsletter subscribers. Tickets will be released to the public on Monday, April 13. Follow on Instagram for more information. Tickets for the rest of the year’s tours will go live later in May.