Fiore Chambourcin is tonight's partner at dinner

Matched my favorite restaurant in York (Pomodoro's) with wine I brought along from one of my favorite wineries: Fiore, in Pylesville, Harford County, Maryland. We had stopped there several months ago and among the bottles we brought home was a Proprietor's Reserve Chambourcin. That was a 2005 vintage, selling for $16.99.

My wife's tastes don't agree with most reds, especially the tannic brews that pucker you up. But this one was all fruit and went down easy, and she didn't even look around for a white on the table.

You can see the tasting notes and the many awards this wine has won at this link. While I didn't quite eat the lamb or prime rib or veal that this wine is supposed to best complement, it went perfectly with my chicken cacciatore.

Overloaded with info to post over the next couple of days. Hope to catch up before my midwinter va-K ends.

Call ahead before you made any winery visits throughout the region this weekend

Based on my conversations with some wineries around the region, if you can get out and are tending to visit one later this afternoon or tomorrow, call ahead. Some never opened, others opened and then closed early. Saw where Fiore Winery in Pylesville, Md., closed on what was its Customer Appreciation Weekend and wasn't exactly sure if it would reopen on Sunday. Check the Web site. Once it does reopen, it will extend its 21 percent off sale through Christmas Eve. The winery is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Fiore's Customer Appreciation Weekend still a go

Customer Appreciation Weekend is still on at Fiore Winery in Pylesville, Md. Just got off the phone with them, one of a number of calls they're received today about the event, which is scheduled to run Saturday and Sunday.

Should the predicted storm for the winery to close, then expect to find that information on the winery Web site and on its Facebook page. Also expect Fiore, as well as many of the other regional wineries, to probably extend their sales past the present deadlines.

Admission to Fiore is free, where the winery will serve light refreshments and Rose Fiore's fresh-baked Italian cookies. All cases of Fiore wine, solid or mixed, will be 21 percent off . The winery will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and noon to 5 on Sunday.

Fiore serving dessert on Friday and multi-course Christmas meal on Dec. 5

Two notes from Fiore Winery in Pylesville, Md., less than a half-hour drive from I-83 and the Pennsylvania communities of Shrewsbury and Stewartstown.

The winery will be open Friday and is inviting visitors to pack a lunch and park themselves anytime between 1 and 4 p.m. Fiore Winery will provide trhe dessert and offer a 21 percent discount on all wine case purchases. While you are there, try and taste some of the Fiore wines that have received awards over the past several years, including the Proprietor's Reserve Chambourcin and the Chardonnay. And, in general, you'll find them priced moderately.

Like other regional wineries, Fiore is planning a Christmas meal from 6 to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 5. Live music will be provided by the local duo Chalk Dust. Menu by Panache Fine Catering. Each course is served and paired with Fiore wines. Reservations are requested for the event, which will cost $65 per person.

Here's what you can expect to eat and drink:

Hors d'oeuvres: Antipastotable of cheeses, vegetables, dips, and spreads, with artisan breads, crackers,pita, crostini

Apple-lucious, Sangiovese

Seated Dinner: Butternutsquash ravioli with sage, rye, and cream.

Pinot Grigio

Baked salmon with roasted pepper sauce and spinach orzo.

Chardonnay

Spice beef round with roasted green beans and grape tomato.

Proprietors Reserve Chambourcin

Seasonal salad with fruit, nuts, and cheese, vinaigrette.

Vidal Blanc

Christmas pudding with hard sauce.

Maryland Merlot

Fiore taking reservations for Christmas dinner

We're seeing more and more of these Christmas dinners at various mid-Atlantic wineries. Fiore Winery in Pylesville, Md., is one of those, charging $65 per person for a dinner from 6 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 5, that will include the wine, food and entertainment. Prepaid reservations are required at 410.879.4007.

So what's coming out of the kitchen?

Hors d'oeuvres: Antipasta of cheeses, vegetables, dips, and spreads, with artisan breads, crackers,pita, crostini
paired with Apple-lucious, Sangiovese

Seated Dinner:

Butternutsquash ravioli with sage, rye, and cream.
paired with Pinot Grigio

Baked salmon with roasted pepper sauce and spinach orzo.
paired with Chardonnay

Spice beef round with roasted green beans and grape tomato.
paired with Proprietors Reserve Chambourcin

Seasonal salad with fruit, nuts, and cheese, vinaigrette.
paired with Vidal Blanc

Christmas pudding with hard sauce.
paired with Maryland Merlot

Limoncello, grappa add some spirit to diverse wine list at Fiore Winery

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Some glimpses of the Fiori landscape: clockwise from top, the bottles of grappa for sale at $25/bottle, one of Fiore's stills, and the dining room in the process of being set up for a reception.

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Paid a visit to Fiore Winery and Distillery in Pylesville, Md., on Sunday. It's one of the oldest in the region, dating back to an opening in 1986. It's around 10 miles from the Pennsylvania-Maryland line, easy accessible via several back-woods scenic roads from York and Lancaster to the north and Baltimore to the south. Probably about 20 minutes, give or take a couple, off the Shrewsbury exit of I-83.

My only disappointment was not getting to meet Mike Fiore, the owner/winemaker and someone I've talked to several times on the phone.

Tastings are $2 per person for a flight of six wines, and a vast majority of them were opened. There were a few exceptions: the Prosecco wasn't; neither was the Caronte, a special blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot that's made only in years where the winemaker feels he's had an optimal season. 2007 was as good a season as it gets, and that's the vintage he's selling now for $25.99/bottle, one I brought home and will rest in the cellar for the next 5 to 10 years. Fiore began making and selling limoncello this year, that distinctive chilled Italian liquor that's magic on the tummy after a multi-course meal. He's charging $3 for a taste, partly to bring in some income to purchase a new still. I attached a photo of one of his old stills that sits in the corner of a building that also houses several of his holding tanks on another part of the property.

Fiore -- a member of the Piedmont Wine Trail -- sells more than 25 dry, semi-dry, semi-sweet and sparkling wines in addition to the limoncello and grappa, a far more potent Italian "digestive" elixir.

It grows all of the grapes for its red wines on the property, in addition to Chardonnay grapes that you can see from the driveway that leads to the tasting room. The 2007 vintage of those grapes made an award-winning batch of juice that was recognized as a gold-medal winner and best of class for white wine at the recently announced 2009 Governor's Cup competition.

That black-topped roadway that leads into the winery off Maryland Route 136 was a busy entrance during the middle part of Sunday afternoon, as the third wedding of the weekend at the winery was just wrapping up and heading into Fiore's dining area for the reception.

Fiore soon to release grappa, limoncello

News you can use from Fiore Winery in Pylesville, Md.?

Well, you can start with the Pinot Grigio that Fiore is bottling for the second year, a dry white that won three medals for its debut in 2008. Fiore said by phone Friday that it’s a wine he likes, and that he’s satisfied with the source of those grapes, Quail Vineyard in Westminster. The tasting notes on his Web site describe it as medium-bodied with clean aromas and flavors that are complex, with nuts, minerals, white flowers and citrus, with a crisp acidity. Served ideally around 45 degrees, according to the site, it pairs well with seafood, light pastas and prosciutto.

That’s not the only reason he likes the Pinot Grigio grape. Fiore said the skins from the grape make a fantastic grappa, essentially an Italian brandy. “It’s very, very smooth,” he said.

Fiore said that he plans to release about a thousand 200 ml bottles of both grappa and limoncello, a lemon liquor. Both are awaiting approval of the labels for the respective bottles. “I was hoping to get [that done] by Easter,” he said, “but it doesn’t look like it now.”

Those who have had a taste, including a colleague who flew east from California to attend a marketing seminar in Ohio last week, have given Fiore a big thumbs up. “She went nuts over it,” he said. “Said it was the best she’s ever had.”

He’ll see how both new products do in this initial release and, if the response is acceptable, produce more over the coming years.

Meanwhile, his reserve Chambourcin and reserve Cabernet Sauvingon continue to get good reviews, both a bargain at $16.95/bottle.

For the first time since 2003, he said, he has released a wine called Caronte. The blend features 60 percent Sangiovese, 30 percent Merlot and 10 percent Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s a wine that requires an exceptional year, and 2007 fit that characteristic. It’s described on his side as full to medium bodied with lingering flavors and aromas of cherry, polished red plum and berry, along with smoky notes of mushrooms. Ideal food partners include chicken, red meat, fish, lamb, pork, heavy pasta dishes, stews and well-aged cheeses.