Lehi Valley passports on verge of sellout

Wanted to clear the notebook before we get too far into a new week. It appears that passports for the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail's March Madness are either all sold out or almost sold out as of this morning. Clover Hill Vineyards & Winery noted in an e-letter yesterday that tickets were all sold out, although the home page of the wine trail this morning suggested giving Cherry Valley Vineyards a call at 570.992.2255 and see if they have any left to sell.

March Madness runs every weekend in March, starting on the 7th. Not only do you get to sample the wines at each of the trail's nine wineries and receive a trail gift (which this year is a Prodyne Vino Gondola 2 bottle wine bucket), but all of them offer wine and food pairings that are distinctive and, in all cases, look like they would suffice for lunch or dinner as you make your way around the trail in March.

Here is a sampling of what you're get to drink and eat, this courtesy of Clover Hill:

Week 1
March 7-8: Pinot Grigio paired with RotisserieChicken served on French bread crostini with a lemon-caper sauc DeChaunac paired with a spicy meatball slider with cheddar cheese served on a butter roll. Please note, this is the last weekend forour annual wine rack sale. All wine racks are discounted 10-60%! Visit www.cloverhillwinery.com for more information.
Week 2
March 14-15: Pinot Grigio paired with Rotisserie Chicken served on French bread crostini with a lemon-caper sauce DeChaunac paired with a spicy meatball slider with cheddar cheese served on a butter roll.
Week 3
March 21-22: Riesling paired with shrimp and tasso (spicy Cajun pork) gravy served on a homemade buttermilk biscuit Sangoivese paired with warm, fresh mozzarella and tomato fresco served on a sliced baguette
Week 4
March 28-29: Riesling paired with shrimp and tasso (spicy Cajun pork) gravy served on a homemade buttermilk biscuit Sangoivese paired with warm, fresh mozzarella and tomato fresco served on a sliced baguette

Speaking of Clover Hill, I asked marketing manager Kari Skrip last week about a couple of her winery's favorite wines. The first she mentioned was the Merlot. "For years we made Clover Hill Red," she said. "which actually was a blended form of Merlot. And the past couple of eyars we've been making it at least 75 percent Merlot; actually, the past two vintages were about 95 percent merlot. So we decided to change the name and we released the 2006 as the 2006 Merlot. Basically it's the same style. We were confident we had a good source of Merlot. We don't grow it outselves. But we have a good source of Merlot that's coming from Oley, Pa., and we've contracted with them. So we were confident we had a good quality of fruit coming from them on a yearly basis coming form them. So it's a really beautiful wine; it's not too full-bodied, it's medium-bodied, just really nice strong, rich flavors."

Skrip also mentioned the Chambourcin and Cabernet Sauvignon as two more reds with delicious fruit that rank atop her list. "The Cab, I love to showcase it because we're really pleased with how far it has come. A few vintages ago it was green and we worked a lot in the vineyard to try and get things riper. I'm really impressed with how it's come. I'm not saying it's the end-all, be-all, but I'm proud of the changes we've made and the style we're achieving with it now.

"And we do an oaked Vidal. We do a dry version of it and we age it in French and Hungarian oak and I love that wine. It's . . . a really neat alternative to Chardonnay because it's got more acidity to it than most Chardonnays and just has really vibrant flavors. That's another one of my favorites."