The Event Grapevine, Nov. 21-23

I wanted to get the word out on this promotion at Chaddsford Winery that appeared in their November e-letter.

During November, up through the Thanksgiving holiday, Chaddsford Winery will be organizing a food drive to benefit Philabundance and those in need in the Philadelphia region. To encourage generous giving during this season of abundance, we are offering our customers a free tasting anytime you bring in 3 canned or boxed goods . So get involved in the fight against hunger -- invite your friends and family, gather some canned goods to share with those less fortunate, and enjoy a complimentary tour & tasting at the winery! For more information on Philabundance, the region’s largest hunger relief organization, see www.philabundance.org.
Otherwise, here’s what’s happening this weekend and beyond.

PENNSYLVANIA WINERIES

Blue Mountain Vineyards, New Tripoli: Fall Foliage Tasting ($$), Sunday, 2 to 5 p.m.; Nouveau Weekend, Saturday (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and Sunday (noon to 5 p.m.); German Night ($$), Saturday, 5 to 9 p.m., http://www.bluemountainwine.com

Chaddsford Winery, Chaddsford: Reserve tastings ($$), Saturday, sittings at 1, 2:30 and 4 p.m.; Frequent Buyers “Virgin Red” Tasting, Friday and Saturday, 7 to 9 p.m., by invitation only, call the winery for more on their Frequent Buyer program; holiday open house, Dec. 6-7 and 13-14, noon to 6 p.m., includes free wine tastings; Dessert Wines for the Holidays ($$), Thursday, Dec. 11, 7 to 9 p.m., http://www.chaddsford.com

Clover Hill, Breinigsville: Wine Country Style Holiday Open House, Saturday, Dec. 6, and Sunday, Dec. 7, Breinigsville and Robesonia, noon to 5 p.m., with music from 1 to 5 p.m., www.cloverhillwinery.com

Clover Mill Farm Vineyards & Winery, Chester Springs: Open again, Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m., through December, http://www.clovermillfarm.com/

Crossing Vineyards & Winery, Washington Crossing: Bucks County Nouveau Wine Festival, Saturday and Sunday; Wine Tasting in Riedel Crystal ($$), Saturday, Nov. 23, 2 p.m.; candlelight holiday concert ($$), Thursday, Dec. 11, 7:30 p.m., includes dessert and champagne, http://www.crossingvineyards.com

Hauser Estate Winery, Biglerville: New winery open, Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.; Candle Light Friday/Happy Hour, the last Friday of every month, 5 to 7 p.m. in November, 5 to 8 p.m. thereafter; satellite shop opened at 17 Lincoln Square, Gettysburg, http://www.hauserestate.com/

Galen Glen Vineyard & Winery, Andreas: Black Friday sale, Nov. 28, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Dickens Holiday open house, Saturday, Dec. 6, and Sunday, Dec. 7, http://www.galenglen.com

Kreutz Creek Vineyards, West Grove: Music at West Chester tasting room, 44 E. Gay St., Fridays and Saturdays, 6 to 9 p.m.; holiday open house, Saturday, Dec. 6, and Sunday, Dec. 7, noon to 6 p.m., includes wassail, chocolate fondue and Christmas cookies, http://www.kreutzcreekvineyards.com/

Moon Dancer Vineyards & Winery, Wrightsville: Music every Friday (6 to 9 p.m.), Saturday (2 to 5 p.m.) and Sunday (2 to 5 p.m.), http://www.moondancerwinery.com
Naylor Winery, Stewartstown: December Weekends, Friday through Sunday, cookies, cheeses, fruits and hot spiced wine, www.naylorwine.com

North Wales Winery and Tasting Room, Montgomeryville: Piano music, Friday, 6 to 9 p.m.; at St. Rose of Lima holiday bazaar, Sunday; holiday hours, Monday through Wednesday of next week, Nov. 24-26, noon to 8 p.m., http://www.cardinalhollowwinery.com/

Paradocx Vineyard, Landenberg: Paradocx at Chadds Ford Christmas Candleight Tour ($$), Saturday, Dec. 6, 1 to 6 p.m., Pennsbury Township; Candlelight Christmas at the winery, Saturday, Dec. 6, noon to 8 p.m., http://www.paradocx.com/index.php

Penns Woods Winery, Chadds Ford: Tasting room hours, Wednesdays-Fridays, noon until dark, Saturdays, 11 a.m. until dark, Sundays, noon until dark, http://www.pennswoodswinery.com/

Pinnacle Ridge Winery, Kutztown: Customer Appreciation Weekend, Saturday, Dec. 6, and Sunday, Dec. 7, www.pinridge.com

Va La Vineyards, Avondale: New holiday hours starting Dec. 1, weekdays, 12:01 to 5:27 p.m., Saturday and Sundays, 12:02 to 5:48 p.m., http://www.valavineyards.com/


MARYLAND WINERIES

Black Ankle Winery, Mt. Airy: Open for business, winner of Maryland Governor’s Cup in 2008; hours: Wednesday - Friday: noon to 5 p.m., Saturday: noon to 6 p.m., Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.; Festive Afternoon in the Vineyard, Saturday, Dec. 6, 3 to 5 p.m., information on winery at this link

Berrywine Plantations / Linganore Winecellars, My. Airy: Nouveau “Summer in a Glass,” weekdays, 10 to 5 p.m., Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sundays, noon to 5 p.m., information at this link

Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard, Dickerson: Friday, Nov. 28, special offers include
hot soup,1/2 glass of wine and 10% to 20% discounts on all wines including Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Stomp. Mulled wine and cider will also be served. Other merchandise will also be available for sale, information at this link

Other MARYLAND winery events can be found at this link, VIRGINIA events at this link and New York events at this link


FESTIVALS

Pennsylvania Food and Beverage Show, Toyota Arena, York Expo Center, sponsored by www.thepeak985.com, Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. ($$), 13 wineries to be represented, the most ever at this event, information at this link

$$ – Admission charge

Sugarloaf plans Black Friday sale

These scheduling announcements come from the folks at Sugarloaf Mountain Winery in Montgomery County, one of Maryland’s newest wineries.

They will be open the day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday), Nov. 28, with special offers. The winery plans to offer hot soup, a half-glass of wine, and 10 percent to 20 percent discounts on all wines, including Stomp. That's a light, off-dry red that is best served chilled. Mulled wine and cider will also be served. Other merchandise will also be available for sale.
The wines for sales will be the 2007 Cabernet Franc, 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, 2006 Chardonnay, 2006 Chardonnay Reserve, 2007 Circe, 2007 Comus, 2006 Comus Reserve, 2006 Merlot, 2007 Rose and 2007 Stomp.

It also plans to participate in a couple of events this weekend. One will be the Argyle Country Club's "Fall Festival," which will run from 7 to 11 this evening. The festival is open to the public. Sugarloaf will offer tastings of its wine. And the other will be the Sugarloaf Crafts Festival at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds, 16 Chestnut St., in Gaithersburg, Md. The hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. tomorrow, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. More than 500 craft designers and fine artists will be there. Sugarloaf will offer tastings of its wine, glasses of wine and bottles of wine for sale. Tickets for Sugarloaf Crafts Festival may be purchased online. For more information, visit the winery Web site.

The winery is planning to close at 3 p.m. Wednesday and, of course, will be closed Thanksgiving Day. That’s a similar schedule to what will happen on Christmas Eve (3 o’clock close) and Christmas (nothing will be stirring).

Finally, Sugarloaf Mountain will begin offering wine “flights” on Fridays from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. A “flight” will consist of 3 half glasses of wine, each paired with an appropriate cheese, fruit or chocolate. The cost is $10.

Big crowd anticipated for 'Virgin Red' Tasting

Some wineries spent parts of the past week celebrating Nouveau, the release of the first wine from grapes that only a couple months ago hung on the vine. Chaddsford Winery puts its own spin on the occasion with a by invitation only “Virgin Red” Tasting for Frequent Buyer members.

This will be held 7 to 9 p.m. today and tomorrow (Friday and Saturday) at the winery and is sponsored by Lane Exteriors. At these events, guests will sample wine from the barrel and other current releases, and will balance that out with cheeses and other snacks.

Here’s how their Frequent Buyer club works, according to the Web site.

1, When you purchase your first case of wine, you receive a 10% discount and a Chaddsford FREQUENT BUYERS card. As you purchase additional cases, your discount will increase.

2, When you buy cases 2-7, your case discount amount increases to 15%. At your 8th case purchase, you will receive a new VINTNERS CLUB card which entitles you to a 25% discount on all case purchases thereafter (at any Chaddsford location).

3, Your discounts will apply to shipped case orders as long as they are called in. We are not able to deduct discounts from on-line orders at this time.

4, Gift shop merchandise, wine & food baskets, café items and wine by the glass are not discounted.

5, Throughout the year, we will post various "specials" and "bottle discounts" for our FREQUENT BUYERS & VINTNERS CLUB members only; such sale items will not require a case purchase.

Co-owner Lee Miller wrote in an e-mail that they expect to welcome around 400 people to the winery this weekend for the special event.

The Frequent Buyer program is essentially their case purchase club, she wrote. “Since it's not feasible for us to have a regular wine club (that ships out selections several times a year) because of the state's shipping laws, we do the Frequent Buyers thing to give our best customers (up to) 25% discounts on their purchases. As just another benefit, all Frequent Buyers get invited to our "No Nouveau" Virgin Red party - at which we show some of the new "virgin" reds from the current (2008) vintage ... and lots of other wines. It's a big fun party all throughout the cellars ... finishing in an outdoor tent with hot mulled wines & sweets! We do another event for our "second tier" Vintner's Club members, which is a vineyard picnic/pig roast in June.

P.S. this year we are showing barrel/tank samples of a new vineyard designated Pinot Noir from the Philip Roth Vineyard, plus '08 Cabernet and Merlot.