Days perhaps numbered for tasting fee holdouts

I've mentioned tasting fees a lot since starting this blog. They vary significantly across the region, from $2 to $3 in the area around York, Pa., to as high as $7 in suburban Philly. Conversely, member wineries of the Berks County and Lehigh Valley trails, I'm told, don't charge. Clover Hill Vineyards & Winery is a member of both of those trails and one of just a couple of wineries that are members of more than one trail. Lehigh Valley event are held at the main winery in Breinigsville; Berks County events take place out of the Robesonia location.

At this point, they don't charge for tastings except for groups of 12 or more, where they assess a fee of $5 per person. But the days of free tasting for the others might soon be coming to a close, according to Kari Skrip, PR/marketing manager and someone who has her finger on the pulse of many things wine across the region.

"We are back and forth with changing our policy where we may start charging individually," she said by phone the other day. "We had plans to start charging but to be perfectly honest we backed off because of the economy and we just didn't feel it was right to start charging now. . . . I don't think it will be much longer because I hear a lot of feedback from all the wineries I know that they're waiting for us to make the first move," she said, starting to laugh. "You know. It's been a really difficult decision for us. What we've noticed, and this is really something just starting to happen, and it's probably moreso with the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail because they're more established than the Berks County Wine Trail. But I'm sure this happens in every wine trail. People come, they have a great time. They come and enjoy the wine tasting, they buy some wines and then they have friends coming the next week. And they bring their friends back. And that's fantastic, but everytime they're coming it's not necessarily to purchase wine, they're coming to have a good time.

"So it becomes, you know, a form of entertainment in some respects, and when you look at the numbers of how much wine we pour in a month. We track our wine monthly, and it's just crazy. . . . between all of our retail stores, and that's six retail stores, we pour about 50 cases a month. That's a LOT of wine for tastings. So at some point you have to at least cover your expenses.

"It's been difficult for us. We toss and turn over this all the time," she said. "Most of the wineries [along the Lehigh Valley trail] are now charging for groups because we're getting a lot of the limos and the mini party buses and stuff. They're not coming necessarily to buy wine, they're coming to have fun. And, so we said, by appointment only and we charge them $5, and I think most of the wineries are 2, 3, 4, 5 dollars, somewhere around there."

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."

Basic premise of 101 at Clover Hill: Seats go fast

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Wine 101 is a class you'll find offered all over the region, from the Philadelphia Wine School to Bin 604 wine shop in Baltimore to many of the wineries scattered inbetween. Not that they're all the same. You'll find a difference in how the classes are taught to what they cost to the length of the lesson. What's often similar, however, is the popularity, including the one that Clover Hill Vineyards & Winery offers at its main location in Breinigsville, about 10 minutes off I-78.

Kari Skrip said by phone earlier today the winery sprinkles these classes throughout the winter and summer months. All require reservations, and for good reason. They limit the classes to 45 people and always sell out.

“Usually we do a series although I don't think we have any other classes available right now besides beginners ones,” said Skrip, who teaches some of these classes among her many duties that also involve marketing and public relations. “The classes are about an hour and a half and it's a formal, seated class where we guide you through . . . usually we'll do maybe eight, nine wines in a class. And for the most part the beginners class is mostly Clover Hill wines. We might sneak another one or two in there. The other classes we will address different wines depending on whatever the topic is. They're formal, but they're also fun. We certainly encourage people to ask whatever questions [they have], anything they want to know about wines that aren't being addressed.”

Skrip said that the winery has been putting on these classes for around four years, long enough to get a sense of trends beyond the overall popularity. What has struck her, she said, is the age of a number of the students. “It's a very young crowd that comes,” she said. “Not everybody in the class, but I'm surprised always by the number of young people that come out that have an interest in wine or a group of friends that are trying to learn more about wine. By young, I mean, like two years out of college or so and they're trying to get the details on wine. So that's been really good. And we get people too from all over. I would actually say the majority of the class comes from out of the area. Some people, it's their first time that they've been to Clover Hill. Others have been here once, enjoyed it, and check our Web site and stay on our e-mail list so they can come to some events of ours. We do get people that will come up maybe spend a full day in the area. A lot of people will spend an overnight in the area at one of the B&Bs, and make the class part of their day trips.”

One person who attended a class last fall wrote on Lehigh Valley InSite about a class they attended that Skrip taught. The blog is produced by staff members of the Lehigh Valley Convention & Tourism Bureau. Wrote Michael Stershic, who attended with his wife and another couple, wrote: “Some we liked, some we did not, but Kari made it seem like there were no wrong answers. I give her a lot of credit for bringing her enthusiasm and passion to the event, but not making any of us feel inadequate as wine-tasters."

Clover Hill charges $25 per person for the class. The next one is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 21. By then, Skrip and the rest of her colleagues will have had enough time to recover from what figures to be a chaotic wine and chocolate weekend that they will hold as part of a Berks County Wine Trail event. They hold the Berks trail events at their site in Robesonia, close to Reading. On the menu, a triple chocolate layer mousse paired with their Concord, a 2009 gold medal recently at the Pennsylvania Farm Show. “All of the wineries on the trail are doing something wine and chocolate, and we'll be part of that,” she said. “This is the second year [the trail has] done that. I remember last year it was a very busy weekend.”