First stop on fall tour: Md.'s Mt. Felix

With harvest now finished and the season starting to wind down, I’d really like over the next month or two to touch base with every winery in my coverage area. And The Vineyards at Mt. Felix Manor is as good as any place to start. Mary and Peter Ianniello opened their winery in Havre de Grace, about a mile off I-95, at the beginning of September.

Peter said earlier today that overall they’ve been happy with how it has gone. “I want to focus on whether or not we’ve been able to service our customers," he said. "And our customers are pleased with our product. So in that sense we feel like we’ve delivered a fine product to the market."

That product includes seven wines: dry red; medium-bodied red; semisweet red; blush; dry white with oak; dry white without oak; and semisweet white. Peter says the full-bodied red, called Adlum's First, has received great feedback. So has the semisweet redm called O'Neal's Bravado.

The winery is open Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 8 p.m., and on Tuesdays by appointment.

He said he feels like this was an outstanding year, in that there were two storms in early September and then “after that had 2 ½ to 3 weeks of dry weather. So what we did was put off our harvest and actually harvested late. Those three weeks were just fantastic. Other than those two storm events, I’d say the local growers had plenty of time to allow their fruit to hang.”

Disappeared? Well, not intentionally

Wow. Who turned the lights out? I deeply apologize for falling off the pace a bit, but the work involved for the Daily News regarding the Phillies and their World Series games, plus the time spent updating my other blog, has robbed me of all my time to track down copy for this one. Oh, and it was midterm week at Temple, and we wouldn't want to see student go without their midterms, would we?

Plan to being making calls again this afternoon and returning to a normal pace. Harvest should be over everywhere, so it's my hope that winemakers and proprietors can find a little more time to talk.

Cheers,
Paul