Pinnacle Ridge winemaker says three's 'a lot of interest' in The Trio

Mentioned several weeks ago about a wine called The Trio, which combined the talents and grapes from winemakers and friends Brad Knapp at Pinnacle Ridge, Joanne Levengood at Manatawny Creek and Carl Helrich at Allegro Vineyards, all Pennsylvania wineries.

They define it as an artisan blend of Syrah, Cabernet Franc and Merlot, one that is well balanced, with soft tannins and a medium dry finish. The individual grape varietals were aged in French, Hungarian and Pennsylvania oak before blending. What makes it interesting is the collaboration, something that's rare in this mid-Atlantic wine-making area.

Knapp was asked Thursday how the wine, available at all three wineries, was selling. He replied in an e-mail that "The Trio is doing very well. It is considerably more expensive than our other wines [$20 for Pinot and Veritas vs. $29 for Trio] but it doesn't seem to be a big issue. Not selling cases of it but there is a lot of interest and folks are buying 1-3 bottles at a clip pretty regularly. The wine is quite good and the story certainly doesn't hurt either."

Considering what other blends across the region can cost, which is upwards of $50, this one offers a mouthful of yummy flavors at a comparatively inexpensive price. Rather than letting my bottle of The Trio age, I opened it late Thursday night and had a chance to sip it. Definitely worth a try, especially knowing these are grapes from the 2007 vintage, one of the best-ever across the entire region.

Helrich provided some background on the idea on his blog, which he has managed to build into a wonderful collection of stories about what he does and why. Really good stuff in there. On The Trio, he wrote:

This wine came about because I had what I called a “dumb marketing idea.” We always taste each other’s wines each spring, and in 2008, we all realized that we were each sitting on too much great wine. I suggested this collaboration, and it worked out really well. After getting together a couple times to work on the blend, we settled on a distinctive trio of grapes: Syrah, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc. Each winery kicked in four barrels. I donated 2 Merlot and 2 Cab Franc barrels to the cause; Joanne added 2 Syrah and 2 Cab Franc; and Brad threw in 2 Syrah and 2 Merlot. We blended the wine up at Joanne’s winery and bottled it there as well. This wine had a good core of dark fruit with light yet firm tannins. It was aged 18 months in French, Pennsylvania, and Hungarian oak barrels—another “three.” It should age nicely through 2012-2014.

Three Pennsylvania wineries blend talents into new wine called Trio

Thanks to those who have written to say they miss these entries and the evolution of this post. Time to get it started again, albeit with shorter posts, a little more on the wine and winemakers and less on the events, and with plans by the end of the month to be Twittering on a regular basis.

So what have I missed?

1, A co-op by Allegro, Manatawny Creek and Pinnacle Ridge that has produced a wine call Trio. Blended with grapes from 2007, it combines Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Syrah and was aged for approximately 18 months, then blended at Manatawny Creek. You couldn't ask for a marriage of three better Pennsylvania wineries, two members of ther Berks County Wine Trail and the other (allegro) a member of Uncork York! and part of the reinvigorated Mason-Dixon Wine Trail. “What started as just an off-the-wall idea has matured into an imminently drinkable and ageable wine,” Allegro owner/winemaker Carl Helrich said in a press release. I hope to talk to all three winemakers sometime this week, “2007 was a wonderful vintage, producing some of the best wines of this decade.” The three wineries thought it would be an interesting concept to take the best of what they did and blend it together. Said Helrich, “It turned out the blend is about as different as we are.”

2, One of my favorite new wineries, Serpent Ridge in Westminster, Md., recently trumpeted a gold medal for its 2007 Vintner's Cabernet in the Indy International Wine Competition.That competition included more than 3,000 commercial entries from 12 countries and 39 states. We are proud to have achieved such a wonderful achievement with one of our first releases. Their tasting room is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Find a table outside and plan to relax and enjoy the view for an hour or two.

3, The Virginia Wine Association recently added a new look to its Web site and introduced a monthly newsletter that includes a list of events, pairing tips and wine education opportunities.

4, Finally, nice to finally have a chance to meet and dine with spokesperson Jennifer Eckinger of the Pennsylvania Wine Association, which continues to add a handful of new wineries to its list every year.

Blue Mountain additions pleasing to the eye

Vickie Greff paused in the middle of the conversation. “Now where am I?” she asked out loud. “I was so busy talking to you I went right past my turn.”

Greff, co-owner with husband Joe of Blue Mountain Vineyards & Cellars in New Tripoli, Pa., finally found an alternate route and doubled back to her destination – their shop at Reading Terminal Market in Philly – the other day and took care of business.

But en route we volleyed a few topics back and forth, starting with the two shops that the winery has opened in Giant Food stores in South Hanover Township, in Hummelstown, and in the Philly suburb of Willow Grove. Both have been opened a couple of months and Greff said that she has been gratified by the feedback, the repeat business and the compliments.

“Our stores came out absolutely gorgeous,” she said. “People are just absolutely amazed at the kind of caliber of store we’ve put in. I used all Tuscan themea; I’m don’t know if you were ever in our Reading Terminal store, but it’s kind of our look. It’s kind of a terra cotta color with a lot of earth tones in it and very dark mahogany type cabinetry, and it’s all new, so the bar is absolutely beautiful. You walk in and you feel like you’re in a bar, not a wine shop. Yet the wine is all wrapped on the racks. It came out gorgeous, it really did.”

Enter any of Blue Mountain’s satellite’s shop and you’ll find many of the same color schemes; in fact, Greff said she’s planning at some point this year to do a face-lifting at the winery to capture the look of the other shops. “All of my stores have that look, that continuity,” she said.

At this point there are two regional wineries that have worked with Giant to open these shops. Carl Helrich, with Allegro Vineyards in the Brogue, Pa., was the first one to open a shop in a Giant, putting one in the Enola store late last fall. He said business has been brisk, and that it has been distinguished by how much dry red wine he was selling, at least compared to how much leaves his winery in southern York County. Greff said the Willow Grove shop has sold a lot of dry reds but, overall, no more so than at the winery. “As far as the winery, we sell a lot of dry reds,” she said. “We stress that. We’ve developed our business on that, on dry reds. Do we sell sweet wines? Absolutely. Do we sell tons of Victoria’s Passion? Absolutely. I do think we sell a ton of dry reds in Willow Grove, but we also sell a lot of dry reds at our Reading Terminal stores and also at our winery. Definitely, we sell a lot of dry reds at our winery. But is that our most popular? No. We still sell a lot of blush, a lot of Victoria’s Passion, a lot of Sangria. We just came out with our Sangria again. Things like that, we sell tons of. Those are our biggest sellers.”

Any of their wines is fair game for something that Giant sells. Greff said she recently made a braised beef dish at one of their shops and paired it with their Chambourcin, then provided customers with the ingredients that they could purchase in the grocery store. “The store loves it,” she said. “I’m planning on doing something with the bakery for Valentine’s Day. You want to show Giant that you are promoting their business as well as your own. It’s not all one way or one-sided. That’s what they’re seeing . . . I’m trying to do things and help us both have a partnership, and that’s how I approach it, to have a partnership.”

On some other fronts:

* A timetable for those renovations at her winery? “I don’t know,” she said. “I had hoped to get it done in time for March Madness, but I don’t think it’s going to happen now.”
* Valentine’s weekend celebration at the winery? “We always get a very good turnout for our music on Valentine’s Day weekend. And we doing brownies with raspberry topping and we have a dollar off on our Victoria’s Passion for the whole month of February, and that goes with the chocolate.” Music at the winery is every Sunday afternoon, from 2 to 5 p.m.
* Greff is president of the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail, which is made up of nine wineries. Planning to add any new ones? “We haven’t yet. There are some people who have their feelers out asking us, but we haven’t decided to do it.”