The co-proprietor of Stargazers Vineyard and Winery – and one of the pioneers of the area’s wine industry – died earlier this week at the age of 73.

Alice Weygandt, whose winemaking passion took root in 1979 when the first grapes were planted on the property, succumbed to bone cancer, said John Weygandt, her husband of 48 years. The winery, which overlooks the Brandywine, was named for its proximity to the stone in Newlin Township used by Mason and Dixon as they surveyed the border between Pennsylvania and Maryland.

John Weygandt said he met his wife in New York, where she worked as a medical records administrator. She was born in Niagara Falls, he said. After they married, he was offered a job at Scott Paper Company and so they relocated to Pennsylvania, where Alice took on the jobs of mother and homemaker.

He said their shared appreciation for wine piqued their interest in producing it. They tasted some wine made with Chardonnay grapes that had been growing in Malvern for 10 years and became convinced that Chester County could support a vineyard. “Everyone pooh-poohed the idea,” John Weygandt said.

“When Scott Paper imploded in 1994, we realized that if there’s ever a time to pursue this, it’s now,” he said. Two years later, the winery opened, and the couple went from producing grapes for other vintners to making their own wine.

That’s when the real work began, John Weygandt said. He explained that he and his wife divvied up the chores, including nurturing, pruning, crushing, siphoning –and then chronicling all of the results.

Referencing her former career in medical records, John Weygandt said his wife joked: “I went from bedside charts to tank-side charts.”

John Weygandt said one of their first customers for grapes in the early years was the Chaddsford Winery, which was started by Lee and Eric Miller.

Eric Miller said he remembered going to dinner at the Weygandts’ “wondrous eco-home” in Unionville in 1981. “That night she and John offered to sell me their Chardonnay grapes, perhaps a rarer commodity in Pennsylvania than shark’s teeth,” he said.

Soon after that, the Weygandts were organizing the South East Grape Growers Association, almost like a buying cooperative, making deals and making planting wine grapes an agricultural alternative to dairy and mushrooms, Eric Miller said.

“Alice was always there to help, to teach, a true character with her quirky comments and humorous commentary about how to pick grapes from vines that were planted in strange trellises – while perched on low stools that looked like bumblebee stingers,” Eric Miller recalled.

Miller said when the Weygandts decided to make their own wine, he immediately lamented losing their supply of grapes. “I was crushed and probably didn’t thank them adequately for having given us such a wonderful start at Chaddsford Winery with their grapes in those early years,” he said.

He said he was able to make amends about a year ago when he and his wife were invited back to dinner. “It was a wonderful night of reminiscing, and I hope I was finally able to thank her and John properly for what they did, not just for Chaddsford Winery but to recognize the place she has had in the culinary history of southeast Pennsylvania.”

In addition to expertise with grapes, Eric Miller said Alice Weygandt raised chickens and grew a garden “that would today make any ‘Buy Fresh, Buy Local’ farmers jealous.”

The couple also served as trailblazers for renewable energy, installing a solar system more than a decade ago to power their 29-acre farm and residence, according to published reports.

Brad and Lele Galer, who own Galer Estate Vineyard and Winery, agreed that the Weygandts not only paved the way for those who came later but they also encouraged them.

"John and Alice were one of the first winery owners to reach out to us as we were starting Galer Estate Winery, and we will be forever grateful,” the Galers said. “With incredibly hard work and great effort, Alice and John built Stargazer's Vineyard into one of the preeminent wineries in our area.”

The Galers said they planned to raise a glass in Alice’s honor. John Weygandt said he appreciated the fact that Alice’s legacy will live on through the wine. “That was our goal,” he said.

Eric Miller said he chatted with Alice Weygandt last fall at the West Chester Farmer’s Market, and she excitedly showed him a wine from a grape variety grown in this region that he never tasted before. Miller said he didn’t realize that would be the last time he saw her.

“If I had, I would have opened a bottle of 1982 Stargazers Chardonnay and had a proper toast to her and all that she epitomized for us in the local wine community,” Eric Miller said.

John Weygandt said his wife entered hospice in November and had time to make her wishes known, which included not having a funeral service. He said she also wanted to ensure that the winery kept going, and so she instructed him in the intricacies of her duties, including meticulous record-keeping.

Tim Jobe, the manager of the Twin Brook Winery in Gap, which is being sold, has already been tapped by Stargazers, John Weygandt said, facilitating a smooth transition.

In addition to her husband, Alice Weygandt is survived by a son, Karl. Contributions in her memory can be sent to Compassion and Choices, a nonprofit committed to giving those who are terminally ill some control in their final days.

The website is https://www.compassionandchoices.org. Donations can also be made by mail to Compassion & Choices Gift Processing Center, P.O. Box 485, Etna, NH, 03750-0485, or by calling 800-247-7421.