PWA 'very happy' with line in new state budget

A couple of points from a phone chat late Tuesday afternoon with an elated Sam Landis, the assistant winemaker and marketing director at Vynecrest Vineyards & Winery in eastern Pennsylvania. The president of the Pennsylvania Winery Association had several reasons to be so cheery: the harvest is finished, the Phillies are one out away from the World Series, and the association over the last few days figured out that the budget for the fiscal year 2009-2010 WILL include $160,000 in funding. There was a time a couple of months ago where the PWA wondered if there wold be any money at all coming its way.

"We're very happy with that," he said. "In this economic climate, there were a number of projects that were completely cut out, so for us to . . . last year we got $240,000, but for us to still get a sizeable amount really kind of speaks to the fact that they look to our industry as pretty solid and pretty stable. This will definitely keep us going with all of our projects and all of our different balls in the air. We have a couple other grants we've been given as well, so we're feeling pretty good about the way it turned out."

One of the initiatives that will continue is Libation Vacation, funded by a $75,000 grant, that encourages bloggers to spread the word about Pennsylvania wineries by enticing them out to any of the state's 11 wine trails. Among the other programs that Landis and PWA are working on:

* In discussion with Penn State about filling the post of state oenologist, a post that was vacated several years ago. Right now that leaves wine grape educator Mark Chien as the primary resource for anything to do with grapes and grape-growing in Pennsylvania. Not a bad position to be in at all, but a second body with comparable knowledge would help all concerned.

* Talking with Harrisburg Area Community College "to put together classes for vineyards and wineries. We should have more something definitive," he said, "at least by the end of the year if not early 2010, getting some programs to go with HACC."

Dry spell offers ray of hope for vintage

You've seen some of the correspondence from Pennsylvania wine grape educator Mark Chien to his many clients regarding issues in the vineyard. His assessment a month ago was that the persistent rain, particularly in the southeast part of the state, could really make this harvest and vintage tough to salvage. His update sounded more optimistic, as the spigot has been tightened, at least over the past couple of weeks.

He writes: "I'm always delighted to have to eat my words even though it happens more requently that I would care to admit. The rain has not abated entirely but certainly lessened around the region recently and that means that grapes are hanging on and, well, sort of ripening. A lot of growers are calling me asking me when they should harvest their grapes. The simple answer is that I can't decide from my office. But there are some pretty standard guidelines for determining grape maturity, even in a crazy vintage like this one. I'm really encouraged by positive reports about fruit quality from Long Island, the Finger Lakes and Virginia.

"Once again, if you minded your viticultural Ps and Qs during the growing season, now is when you reap the rewards. It wasn't easy. Frost could be in our future and that may force some harvest decisions, but as long as the fruit is clean and not being picked clean by birds, deer, raccoons, etc. it will probably benefit from some 'hang time' even if the temperatures are in the 50s. I have heard of beautiful Chambourcin on the vines but they have a way to go. It's still a low sugar year but that doesn't mean it has to be low flavor. The numbers are a bit wacky and wine makers will have their palates and imaginations tested but hopefully the wines will find a good balance by springtime. Just about any maturity index but sugar should be used as a guide this year. pH will hold more sway as an indicator of physiological ripeness. Acids will almost always be on the high side.

"Flavors are the most important wine quality indicators. For reds, skin and seed tannins are critical and in this cool and extended season may be quite well resolved. Other indices such as seed and stem color (brown is better) and the onset of shelling of berries are all signs of ripeness. The best thing to do is to spend time in the vineyard with someone who really understands the nature of ripe fruit and knows how to balance these traits with other conditions that influence a picking decision. Tasting berries is such a refined skill. I always tasted juice samples after an overnight settle for color, texture, acid, sweetness, balance and flavors.

"It really makes a big difference where your vineyard is located this year. Some area got a lot less rain than others this summer. Yields are completely unpredictable. A grower told me about a block of Seyval that normally yields 8 tons and this year they only got one. My sense is that most of the grapes will come off in the next week or two, except on Long Island, of course, where they like to harvest in the morning and then enjoy their Thanksgiving feast.

Report: With higher rain and fewer degree days, harvest promises to be a bumpy ride for vintners

I've been sharing excerpts from the monthly e-letters that Mark Chien, who is Pennsylvania's wine grape educator, sends to his clients and friends. Some of the terminology and subject matter can get more technical than many novices want to or can absorb, but for those like myself who share an interest in all that goes on to produce the wine, it's meaty stuff. Plus it often makes you realize just how many hurdles these folks jump over to turn out each year's vintage.

Mentioned in other recent posts how bad the season has been for most grapes; just too much rain throughout much of the state. And that's what Chien references in one of the items that came via e-mail on Monday.

I've been stuck in the mud as far as posts these past couple weeks. Have three or four interviews to get up, but between work and school and a nasty cold, I'm behind on things. Worst part is trying to stay away from alcohol and, thus, not drinking any wine. Well, maybe the worst part was having tickets to the Maryland Wine Festival in Westminster this past weekend and being too sick to go. Kevin, we'll try again next September.

Anyway, Chien writes:

The weather has improved but by no means is this vintage out of the woods. Dry periods like we are experiencing are great for putting the brakes on disease conditions, if only temporarily and moving the physiology of berry ripeness forward. The conditions of this vintage are pretty much etched in stone and even with good weather we won't make much brix progress. I think the idea now is to push fruit as far as possible to gain flavors, phenolic balance and drop acid, especially in red varieties.

All of your work with disease control, canopy management, crop adjustment, etc are either paying dividends now are maybe indicating what should have been done but if the work isn't done by veraison [Editor's note: the terms for when wine grapes change color], it is mostly too late to catch up. Gazing at fruit chemistry data from our colleagues to the north (statewide NY data in their Veraison to Harvest newsletter) it is pretty certain, as you have surmised by now, that we are staring at a low sugar year. The data from the Lake Erie Regional Grape Program is even more scary - current degree days are 24 days behind 2008 and a whopping 33 behind '07. It's hard to quite know what to do about making still wine in these conditions.

But low sugar doesn't have to mean low flavor and-or balance. I remember vintages like this in cool-rainy Oregon and one of the nicest Pinots we made came in at 19.5 brix. I think in a cool vintage like this one good wines are more about flavor and phenolics and not as much about sugar. In cool conditions getting the necessary heat to the berries to synthesize flavor and phenolic compounds is a struggle and every effort should be made to warm the fruit (see attachment).

Alcohol can be "fixed" with careful chapitalization to bring balance and texture to the wine. Chapitalization is a science and art and you should ask experienced wine makers how and when to ameliorate a wine. The biggest cellar problem I have heard about so far is high pH and high acid grapes. This is a real cellar conundrum. Wines that suffer from this imbalance can have awkward texture and suffer from "Eastern twang", that sensation you get when in your mouth when you play a Jews harp. You'll have to find a really experienced enologist to tame a wine with this problem. . . . The duty of the grower right now is to get the grapes in as clean as possible. At least if the grapes aren't fully mature the wine maker won't have to worry about diseased fruit and off flavors. That might not be easy, even if the sun continues to shine.

Downy and powdery mildew on leaves and even phomopsis on fruit are all a continuing concern, even more if the rain starts again. The rots are all out there, if not already fully expressed in tight clusters then in latent form just waiting for the right moment. There isn't much you can do at this point but to keep the fruit zone very open and hope for sun, dry conditions and a nice breeze. When the rot starts to spread, consult with the wine maker about the threshold for damaged grapes. Ideally he or she should be out in the vineyard tasting grapes with you. Whites are more forgiving of rot than reds so the wine maker might let white varieties hang a little longer. But if the grapes are mired in bitter, ripe or sour rots, you can't push them too much further before they turn to mush that has no hope wine.

On reviews and Parker and valuable insight

Always hate an interview sitting for more than a couple of days, but this one with Pennsylvania wine grape educator Mark Chien is already beginning to age. We probably talked a week and a half ago. I read his most recent e-letter, which was part rant and part advice:

"Robert M Parker Jr and Us - I often use the phrase "wine growing" which is growing grapes specifically for wine. It can apply to any wine from sweet Concord to the driest red vinifera. The goal is to grow a high quality grape that will make the best wine of its type. It is easy to get isolated and locked into a particular set of ideas or practices in the vineyard. Ultimately, the wine is meant for someone to drink. Whether it is a quaffing wine or a cult wine, it is probably a good idea to be aware and informed of those who will pass judgment on your end product, certainly a wine consumer but possibly a wine critic. Like it or not, wine criticism, like wine competitions, is part of the landscape of the commercial wine business. It's useful, sometimes even instructive, to know what the pooh-bahs are thinking and saying about wine. I encourage all wine growers to taste benchmarks of the wines they make with no exceptions. The range is from 2 Buck Chuck to $50 reds. Someone out there is judging what you do relative to the competition and it only makes good business sense to know where you stand relative to others in the same type and class. Robert M Parker Jr is the most influential wine critic in the world. I rarely agree with what he says and cannot bear his bombastic, overbearing and confrontational style of prose, but like it or not, his opinion matters to all of us in the wine biz, even the smallest winery in the woods. Not that every customer reads Parker but the range of his experience and knowledge can help us to become better wine growers. His recently released 7th edition of the Wine Buyers Guide is good for a door stop but doubles as a very informative guide into the qualitative variables that produce the best wines in the best wine regions. I skip the individual winery notes and go right into the regional guides that describe some production practices that might offer a few tidbits of useful information to a dedicated wine grower in Pennsylvania. It is well worth reading for that information."

The few e-letters from Chien that I’ve had the chance to read have been a blend of information and opinion. He said the latter can often be a problem because people will read it and think it’s the official stance of his department or the state or Penn State, when it’s simply the perspective coming from someone who’s passionate about wine and wine-making and likes to share those opinions. It would be a shame if that part of Chien's contribution to these e-letters ever disappeared.

Talking more specifically about Parker and his guide, Chien told me that the information one can glean if they read around the personal commentary can be quite valuable.

“For anyone who’s really trying to make good wine,” he said, “the thing about Parker is that over the years . . . he has absorbed a tremendous amount about how the best winemakers are making wine, and if you read his words carefully you can learn an awful lot about it.

“I’m not saying that he’s a viticulturist or an enologist by any stretch, but . . . in a way his view is very useful because he’s not formally trained as many people in this industry are not, and he takes that information and he tries to connect dots based on his experience. . . . as much as maybe like myself doesn’t like Parker or even agree with him . . . you have to understand him because so much of the wine-consuming world considers him so important. From that standpoint, whether you like him or not, he’s an important part of your business if you’re trying to service that end of the wine spectrum.”

We talked about how so few people are reviewing wines in this region at the present; Chien was talking specifically about Pennsylvania but you could say the same about Maryland wines as well. He noted that in general the country’s primary wine reviewers wouldn’t even know where to go to taste wines in Pennsylvania. “If they just took a dart board of the wine map of Pennsylvania and threw darts at it and went around and tasted those wines, chances are they’d come away with a very bad experience,” Chien said. “But, you know, the same thing would happen if they did that for Burgundy. So they know who to cherry-pick in Burgundy and Australia and California, but they don’t know who to cherry-pick in our area, and unless they’re willing to make the effort to try and find out, chances are they are going to get a lot of 70 and 80 wines instead of high 80s and low 90s wines, which is what all of us want them to find.

"It’s a learning experience for al of us. We have to take the time to educate them and at the same time while we’re sort of educating ourselves and making better wines.”

Chien: One view of SE PA wines

I don't remember previously sharing this entire December 2008 report by statewide viticulture extension educator Mark Chien, but this seems like an approprite time as I post some information on Saturday's tour of the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail. Chien has been a good friend to this blog, both in answering questions and helping me contact a few others who have served as sources. I know some of the winery proprietors in Maryland have mentioned to me how they wish they had someone in a similar role down there.

Here is Chien's assessment of the vineyards, wineries and wines of Southertern Pennsylvania:

It is amazing what can happen right under your nose and until you stop to smell you have no idea. The last time this happened, Daniel Roberts from Integrated Winegrowing came to look at soil pits in Lancaster County and told me what a dummy I was for not realizing that the Bedington soils here are ideal for growing wine grapes because of their high and deep rock content. In this case, you had to dig deep to get the whole picture and find someone smart enough to recognize it. It’s easier to survey the wine landscape by just going around with my own palate taste and eyes to see the vines. I spent some time in vineyards and wineries around Chester County last week and it turned out to be a bit of a revelation for me.

The Brandywine Wine Trail has become very successful. Its proximity to the big cities certainly offers advantages. Chaddsford Winery, our biggest and consistently one of the best producers has always anchored the wine industry in the area but now lots of new players are popping up like mushrooms around Kennett Square.

Now is actually a good time to look at vines. A naked vine without leaves reveals its architecture starkly and completely. Cane length and diameter, internode length, shoot positioning, canopy width, and many other canopy qualities are all exposed. It is pretty easy, even for an unskilled eye, to judge the balance of a vine right now. As I explored vineyards from Oxford west into Montgomery County it became quite apparent that the level of sophistication of viticulture is improving dramatically in Pennsylvania, even to the point of rivaling our west coast colleagues. I am constantly astonished at the accomplishment of viticulture by self-taught growers who figured out what works best on their site and then implement best practices. We are just neophytes at exploring and exploiting our terroir but we are definitely moving in the right direction. The wines are still in need of certain refinement but that will come with time. I’m past being surprised when I encounter a really nice Pennsylvania, now it is more matter of nuance or degree of quality. And the wines can only get better as we continue to refine viticulture (see Terroir article) and improve our vineyard site selection process.

Not that there is absolute agreement on how to grow fine wine between these producers. There are different philosophies and practices from wide to close spacing, divided and single canopies, training and trellis systems and practices vary widely and just about every other aspect of viticulture. What is common is the total commitment to quality. This is becoming more commonplace in our vineyards and the results are showing up in the bottle.

Maybe what caught my attention most on this circuit were the prices being commanded by some of the best wines in tasting rooms. That Pennsylvania wines have risen past the $50 mark for our best red wines represents significant milestone. The customer is the ultimate arbiter of quality and value and while there is a lot that goes into the price of the wine, the bottom line is always if someone will walk out of the door with it. If that is happening with $50 wines, we have come a very, very long way.

The $50 level is an important benchmark for wine prices, especially because it is, in the case of our small wineries, full retail price and every one of those dollars goes back to the producer. The trickle-down economics of the wine business means that the bottle price determines what can happen upstream from the cash register in terms of viticulture and enology, i.e. the quality of viticulture that can be applied to grow a great wine and the equipment and skills necessary to make it into one in the cellar. At $50 retail, the wine grower has a lot of options. And isn’t that what wine growing or running any business is really all about, having options? This is a capital intensive business and having investment capital translates into choices that can make even better wines.

If the wine consumer is the final arbiter of quality and value, the wine pundits, retailers and restaurateurs are the purveyors of the good news of Pennsylvania wines to the larger public. Unfortunately, the retail system in Pennsylvania, for the most part, is not a partner to the industry and can be discounted from any positive, functional form for promotions and sales with a few exceptions. It is my belief that getting our wines into the better restaurants, mainly in the city and suburbs but also country dining establishments, and poured by the glass, is the path to popularity and acceptance. I’m pretty sure this is how Oregon Pinot Noir entered into the wine consumer consciousness. Wine critics and the press always drag along behind consumer preference while restaurateurs are the most adventurous experimenters and adopters of new food trends. The realities of the “new economy” only help to position any locally grown food or drink products for wide-scale local acceptance. Why shouldn’t a customer in a fancy Philly restaurant chose a local red wine over one from France or California because of the carbon footprint and the relative value and quality of the wine choices they have?

The following is a list of some of the vineyards and wineries I visited recently. They are fine examples of the growth and potential of wine in Pennsylvania, and they represent a small slice of one region in the state. I have no doubt that there are exciting examples in every corner of the state.

Many of you are familiar with the vineyard of Jan and Kim Waltz in Manheim, either having attended a viticulture workshop there or purchasing their outstanding grapes. Jan has always dabbled in wine making and he is one of those persons whose amateur wines are often better than many commercial wines. There is no surprise here since the vineyard is one of the most meticulously maintained anywhere. It is easy to connect the quality dots in this case… great fruit can yield great wines. There is a reason I use it as my default teaching vineyards so growers, especially new ones, can soak in the vision of what a fine vineyard looks like and get exposed to Jan’s knowledge. It was inevitable but Jan and Kim have built a beautiful winery and tasting room on the property. It’s not quite done yet but wine was made there this vintage. I had a chance to taste the 2007 and 2008 wines and they are remarkable. Jan had a vision of Sauvignon Blanc growing were Merlot also excelled and has planted it along with Semillon. The sauvy is a shining example of the versatility of what this variety can do, from the absolute fruit forward New Zealand version to the more restrained, creamier, nutty, barrel fermented white Bordeaux or California style. While I’m not a big chard fan in general I think we can do very fine Chardonnay in SE PA and I might have to change my tune. Jan’s blend of three Dijon clones, stainless steel and barrel fermented versions were both incredibly fruit-driven wines with pure flavors of honey, apple, citrus, full and rich in the mouth, these are truly reminiscent of Pouilly-Fuisse, especially the barrel wine with its toast and smoke. Sauvy and Chard both appear to be well suited for our region but they are both rot prone so they need great viticulture to succeed consistently. I guess we are just a white wine region. That is, until I taste his reds. The 2007 estate Merlot is deep in color and full in body with layers of dark fruit flavors, great structure and balance. Merlot is a fruity red that, I believe, needs blending to add complexity. That is a practice that I think we can improve upon, maybe by getting some help from outside. Jan’s could easily stand alone as a varietal but I think it could be even better with some Cabernet Sauvignon for structure, Cab Franc for that herbal note and Petit Verdot for rusticity but I don’t know how to do it. His Cabernet Sauvignon is a surprise and delight. This block took it hard in the shins during the ‘04 freeze but they have brought it back and the 2008 is nice and ripe but with that savory quality that Jim Law describes in his reds and a character of Bordeaux. No one will mistake it for a cult Napa cab but who would want to anyway? This is a foodie’s wine and it had me thinking of what to pair it with. Okay, well, by now you know I wear my palate on my sleeve when it comes to the Waltzes. These wines couldn’t happen to a nicer and more deserving family.

Further south Tony and Karen Mangus are doing a magnificent job with their 12-acre all-vinifera Historic Hopewell Vineyard in Oxford. The vineyard is exceptionally well-developed and managed, trained to VSP and Scott Henry. They currently sell their grapes but are planning to build a winery. This is a vineyard to watch.

Tony and Karen Vietri are making exceptional, mostly Italian varietals and blended wines at Va La Vineyards in Avondale. They renovated a beautiful old stone barn into one of the coziest tasting rooms in the region. The viticulture here is meticulous on the unusually spaced 5 x 7 (5’ between rows) vineyard, VSP, with severe crop management. On a weekend there is hardly anything in the world more enjoyable than the smell of garlic and tomato sauce wafting down from the art/café into the tasting room where they also sell local artisan cheeses and chocolates. It is the full sensory overload experience.

Paradocx Vineyard is one of our biggest, mostly vinifera vineyards in Landenberg, owned and operated by the four “docx” it has hit its stride and is making delicious wines in a new winery built into a hillside. Here, too, canopy management is beautifully executed by vineyard manager Ana Castillo. The tasting room is on Rt 1. I tasted two delicious Chardonnays from local vineyards – the old vines at Haywagon Vineyard and Old Stone Farm.

I wrote about Penns Wood Winery earlier in the year and my opinion of Gino Razzi’s wines is still in force after visiting his new tasting room in an old house on the former Smithbridge Vineyard property (the winery is in Eddystone). Gino has taken one of the oldest vinifera vineyards in the state and breathed new life into it and, along with purchased grapes from the outstanding Waltz Vineyard, is making some truly delicious wines with depth and character. I’ll say again that his winery is now a standard for small wineries in the region and I continue to wonder about the value, importance and practicality of rotary fermenters for red wines in our region. The Cabernet Sauvignon is ripe and delicious, the ultimate test for wine in our region.

Chaddsford Winery still is the standard measure for wines in Pennsylvania. Brett Mihalsik manages the daylights out of their vinifera and hybrid vineyard in northern Chester County so regardless of vintage variation, great grapes always appear on the crush pad. The wines include an eclectic mix of Bordeaux and Italian varieties and blends, along with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay along with delicious hybrids, including vineyard designated Chambourcins. I recently participated in a reserve tasting and also tasted a flight of Pinot Noirs and found all the wines to be full and flavorful – the Merican and Due Rossi are standouts.

Further to the east Karamoor Estate near Fort Washington has 17 acres of various clones of Bordeaux red varieties and Dijon clones of Chardonnay managed by Nelson Stewart. I have always been skeptical of the ability of Cabernet Franc as a stand-alone variety in Pennsylvania. The Karamoor ’08 has changed my mind about that. It is deep, layered, complex, and elegant. I would love to see Michel Rolland construct a Bordeaux blend from these materials. Wow! This is currently the most immaculate vineyard that I have seen in the state. If viticulture matters to the quality of a wine, then this is the acid test for that theory. With the help of Lucie Morton, this is modern viticultural methodology put into practice with quite stunning results. Wines are not yet available and no visitors are permitted but if you ever have a chance to talk with Nelson he is a viticultural encyclopedia.

Rich Blair’s home vineyard is in Mertztown but his new vineyard north of Kutztown takes your breath away. On the PVSAS scale it’s probably a 9+ out of 10 (the home vineyard is a 7+). It was one of our first vineyard sites selected for its viticultural potential and, more specifically, the ability to grow Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Beautiful exposure on rolling hills with gentle to steep slopes and rocky soils this site seems to have it all. Rich will prove the point in the coming years and the early results from young vines are full of promise. Gewürztraminer and Chardonnays from a blend of Dijon clones are vibrant and delicious. The Pinot Noirs are softer and reminiscent of Volnay. Some new methods and winery equipment will help to bolster these wines. This is a very exciting new project and Rich, who is also the current president of PAW, is full dedicated to quality.

There are many other wineries and vineyards in the region and it seems like more vineyards and wineries appear each week. This is a great day trip for anyone living in the SE PA area. My favorite BYO is chef-owner Nick Farrell’s Sovana Bistro in Unionville.

I think, in the end, what these wine producers represent is the basic formula for making a fine wine… taking a good to outstanding site and applying terrific viticulture to it then handing off to a talented wine maker and letting the cellar do its work. On both sides of the equation good equipment and facilities are necessary. The key in the vineyard is that the fruit get fully mature. In most cases this mean combining meticulous canopy management with yield regulation. There is definitely vintage variation and it is easy to taste between some of the wines in 2007 and 2008 but some ‘07’s are better than ‘08s and vice versa. Vintage variation will always be a part of Eastern wine growing but it should never be an excuse for mediocre wines. As in Europe, we have the knowledge and tools to mitigate the effects of a poor vintage. Vintage should add character and variety to our wines.

We can really do very nice white wines in the different regions of Pennsylvania, like those in the Endless Mountains, around Erie and across the Lehigh Valley. Black Ankle Vineyard’s Albarino and Gruner Veltliner and Elk Run’s Gewurztraminer in central Maryland are two other examples of the region’s white wine prowess. I know there are countless other Pennsylvania examples that I have not mentioned. Whites are generally more forgiving and malleable in the vineyard and cellar. As we continue to work on and refine the reds, they will certainly get much better. We can make “food friendly” reds which used to be a pejorative term for a wine but now refers to a wine with balance, restraint and class, one that doesn’t blow the food off of the table. But this is very exciting news for our industry and most of all for wine consumers.

I’ll clearly have to come down here more often to check out what’s going on since the wine scene changes every day. All of the above is just my humble opinion and few will agree with everything I say. I am hoping that it may make you curious enough to get out there and try survey the wine landscape around the state and region. I think it is pretty important that people involved in the wine industry along with wine consumers and critics explore these vineyards, wineries and wines because they appear to represent the vanguard of quality in the state. It is good for all of us to calibrate our progress against those who appear to be most aggressively pursuing it.

A good place to start looking for information is the web site for the Brandywine Wine Trail at http://www.bvwinetrail.com/

Pa. confab draws 80-plus, names award-winners

There was some news that came out of Tuesday's Pennsylvania Winery Conference in State College, where more than 80 people attended. They heard morning educational sessions on agricultural law, winery marketing in a down economy and wine consumer insights, then in the afternoon got some dirt on how Pennsylvania wines are progressing from Mark Chien, the state wine grape educator and someone whose insight has been featured several times on this blog.

Dr. Nancy Childs of the Center for Food Marketing at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia said the results of a study conducted by her organization found that the down economy isn't affecting wine sales. Indeed, calls to a number of wineries in Pennsylvania and Maryland have reaped the same consensus.

“The economy shouldn’t be a factor in winery visits and wine purchases this year,” she told the group. “Based on everything we learned, we see exciting potential for Pennsylvania wines
in 2009. What matters most is simply spreading the word about wineries and building a culture of wine enthusiasm throughout the state.”

According to the study, 92 percent of respondents purchase their wine in state wine and spirits stores. The stores also play a key role in disseminating information about the local wine industry. But of all the communication channels used by potential winery visitors, none, according to the study, has more impact on consumer attitudes about Pennsylvania wineries than word-of-mouth.

“We need to encourage discussion among visitors and potential visitors in any way possible,” Childs said. “We also need to connect with consumers on a hedonic level by portraying winery visits as a fun and exciting activity.”

Chien tends to be less about fun and more about business, although perhaps the best way to sum up his talk is that his job is more fun every year as grapes and the quality of the winemaking improves. The grapes picked in 2008, he said, marked the third consecutive good vintage that the state's wineries have produced.

“Our whites are definitely the star of this year’s vintage,” said Chien, who noted that it’s still too soon to tell how late-season storms will affect Pennsylvania’s red wines. Chien also noted a sign of growth for the Pennsylvania wine industry: a significant increase in the number of aspiring wine makers.

“I’m getting more calls and e-mails than ever before from people who want to start a vineyard or a winery,” he said. Pennsylvania currently is the nation's eighth largest wine producer, with more than 130 wineries. “A lot of people are changing careers and wine making is an attractive option. It’s certainly a challenge to start and maintain a successful winery, but the romance of the job is very appealing in times like these.”

Results from the state wine association's annual competition also were announced, and Schuylkill County’s 2008 Benigna’s Creek Sunshine Vidal wound up with Best in Show honors. The Lower Susquehanna wine region took home 18 medals, including two golds.
Nissley Vineyards, located in Lancaster County and a member of the Uncork York! trail, led the region with nine medals, including a gold medal for its 2007 Niagara.

Benigna’s Creek and its winning white wine was pushed by Flickerwood Wine Cellars in Kane, Pa., (McKean County), whose 2006 Flickerberry Dew was named the state’s best fruit wine. Best red wine honors went to a 2007 Greendance Barbera from Greendance, The Winery at Sand Hill, in Mount Pleasant, Pa., (Westmoreland County). It was the second Best in Show win in the last four years for Benigna’s Creek, whose 2005 Grandview White also won top honors in the 2006 competition.

The 362 wines entered for consideration were judged by Amenti Del Vino, a regional wine society based in Mystic, Conn., on Feb 8.

I happened to be on the phone with John Kramb of Adams County Winery in Orrtanna when the results were released. They won three awards, including a silver for a wine called Black Magic that they just began making. "That was actually our first year [that we made the wine]," Kramb said. "A lot of blackberry, and there's a couple other things in there. We actually have blackberries inthe back thawing out for this next year's crop." It sells for $15."

Bronze medals were awarded the winery's rebel Red and Seducente [Se do CHEN tay]. "That's a fairly new one, too. It's a red blend. Dry. Pretty tasty."

Being one who loved one-stop shopping, I've included this link to all the award-winners, which appears on the Pennsylvania Wine Association Web site.

Chien offer view of other coast's assets

I've been lucky enough to make acquaintance with Mark Chien, Pennsylvania's wine grape educator, and receive his monthly updates. This month's, as usual, had a variety of information that would make more sense to people in the industry. Still, there's always something in his e-mails that's worth sharing with everyone, and that's the case this month, too.

Chien wrote that "in the East, wine growers are often so busy battling the elements that they do not have time to be serious viticulture innovators. I have always found it helpful to go to other wine regions, in particular Europe and California, to find information and practices that might help us to be better wine growers. These areas simply have the critical mass to support research and innovation that we lack. I recently traveled to California to attend the Unified Symposium, a National Grape and Wine Initiative board meeting and visit vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains and Santa Barbara County. The trip was enlightening for me and I’ll share some of the highlights."

Those highlights include this edited assessment of growing grapes in Santa Barbara County:

"After visiting Santa Barbara County (SBC) and its vineyards it is necessary to wonder why anyone who wants to grow wine would do it anywhere else. This is as close to wine paradise as I have experienced. The region has just emerged during the past decade and one of its greatest proponents is Jeff Newton. I have known Jeff since we were grad students studying viticulture at UC-Davis. We followed different career paths – he went on to become one of the best viticulturists in California, well, most of you know what happened to me. I am not being frivolous with this accolade. In the preface of his most recent wine tome, Robert Parker, Jr. mentioned just two viticulturists in his broad view of the wine world, David Abreu and Jeff. His name is now popping up everywhere.

Jeff started Coastal Vineyard Care (CVCA) as a one-man consulting business 25 years ago and now it is a multi-million dollar company managing over 2500 acres in Santa Barbara County. The business itself is remarkable to behold, a lean and mean planting and management machine that farms medium to ultra-premium wine grapes that have achieved 95+ Parker scores. I have to keep reminding myself that this is the guy who used to grow broccoli in the central valley.

Jeff no longer works alone. He has three partners in the business who help to oversee the 30 or so ranches they farm. Below them is an incredibly integrated and efficient hierarchy of managers and foremen who monitor every last minute detail of work. They manage 2500 acres as well as any five acre vineyard in Pennsylvania. The company has its own accounting department, pest control advisor, and farm safety officer. CVCA draws talent from the excellent program at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and many of those working at CVCA have diverse and very accomplished backgrounds in other fields. There are viticulturists to look after the detail work such a irrigation scheduling. CVCA also relies on expert consultants to help them do a better job of farming, including Tom Prentice of Crop Care. It is truly a team approach to wine growing.

I got to ride shotgun with Jeff for two days as he made the rounds around his ranches. It was an amazing experience. First of all… the weather. It was perfect. The temperature in Lancaster hasn’t crept much out of the 30s all winter and here we were, 60 degrees, blue sky, shimmering sunlight. Amazing. Maybe too amazing as a drought lingers and an early bud break brings the threat of frost.

Vineyard development: Clients usually approach CVCA with a property and ask them to evaluate it. It then goes through the suite of testing, primarily soil and water testing. Soils can be very high in magnesium which affects structure and nutrient availability. Salinity in the water can be a major problem. The initial walk over is important to determine the quality of the site and how vineyard blocks, varieties and rootstocks will be assigned. The soil work and determination of total available water will guide decisions, particularly rootstocks.
Depending on the AVA location relative to the ocean, varieties are selected. In the cool Santa Rita AVA it is mostly Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Further east into the Los Alamos AVA Syrah, Sangiovese, Grenache excel. The furthest east region is Happy Canyon where Cabernet Sauvignon has taken hold. Jeff has a good sense in each area what varieties will do best. The topography is highly variable, from some flat land on the valley floors to Mosel-steep hillsides but almost always with rolling hills defining the vineyards and adding complex slope, aspect and elevation qualities to the wines.

The vibrating winged plow has been used to rip in soil preparation. This is a wing on the end of a shank that glides through the ground at a depth of 2-3’ and lifts the soil and gently lays it back down. They rip on each vine row adding uniformity to the soil structure. There is an applicator that can drill soil amendments deep directly behind the winged plow shank. Gypsum is often used to help improve soil structure and to neutralize active aluminum. Gypsum is much more soluble than lime so it can move deeper into the soil.

Row direction in warmer areas is established more by terrain contour than a strict N-S or NE-SW preference, although they try to achieve optimal orientation. In cooler Santa Rita, N-S becomes more important.

Development costs can be high, upwards of $40,000 an acre for the ultra-premium, high density vineyards. Farming costs can also be steep, pushing $10,000 per acre for the best vineyards but most are in the $6-8K range and as low as $3500. Labor is the major expense.

Soils: Mostly clay loams with some sandy soils. They care about soils but not to the extent that Europeans value the soil for wine quality. Here soil is a medium to irrigate and hold water long enough to get the vine to the next irrigation set. But one premium vineyard was on very sandy soils and the expectation may have been for lighter, fruitier wines but the strength of viticulture applied to the vineyard allows it to produce big, juicy Parker wines. It demonstrates the Thunevin method of taking a medium site and raising it to a top site through maniacal viticulture."

Couple find it difficult to bottle up excitement

One of the wineries that I can’t wait to try is actually fairly close to my house, not always the case for someone handling a beat that spans from Bangor to Orrtanna, Pa., and south to Dickerson, Md. Sometime between now and the middle of the month, Jan and Kimberly Waltz officially will open the doors on Waltz Vineyards,

As was obvious by my last post, the couple have earned a reputation as one of the best grape growers in this region, supplying the yummiest fruit to a number of vineyards in Pennsylvania. That part of their business isn’t about to end, but now visitors will be able to head to Kim and Jan’s tasting room at 1599 Old Line Road, about 2 miles outside Manheim and around 10 miles north of Lancaster City. The phone number there will be 717.664.WINE.

Jan said in a phone interview the middle of last week (sorry, Jan, for not being more vigilant about getting this post up) that they were content for the eight or so previous years just serving as the supplier. At some point, they chose to do more than that and start selling at least some of their grapes in a bottle with their own label slapped onto it.

“Over the past eight years of making wine, we were researching and working on methods and equipment,” he said, talking about how the transition began to unfold. “We did meet some key people, finally we took some trips to some other countries and found equipment that we wanted to work with. We started construction in July of last year, and now we’re . . . fully licensed to sell wine, so it’s just a matter of opening a tasting room. As soon as we have our occupancy complete in about two weeks, we’ll be open for business, at least by appointment to start and probably have hours later on this year. We just want to kind of see the clientele that comes in and come up with the best days [to serve them].”

That they’ve pretty much sailed through the process says something about how prepared they are; perhaps you could look at it as a sign that this is indeed the right time and place to start selling Waltz Vineyards wines. “We had a good experience with all the municipalities,” he said. “It wasn’t easy, but we got through it on our own in a rather quick manner. My wife did all of that work and got that accomplished [quickly] . . . got label approval within nine days, and that doesn’t happen too often.”

They plan to sell six wines, including Merlot (“our largest varity planted, so we will make quite a bit of Merlot”), Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. “We’re working on bottling,” he continued. We don’t have a lot of wine bottled yet because obviously, the reds are not bottled. We’re waiting to bottle some of that wine. But we will have limited product here to sell and hopefully as the year goes on we’ll bottle more as it’s ready.”

Some of that wine also will be served soon at several area restaurants, although Jan didn’t disclose which ones those would be. All in all, Jan said they’re eager to get through this final week or two and welcome visitors to their winery. For years, the primary visitors have been other winemakers and proprietors, along with the crowd that has stopped by for a clinic or two that statewide wine grape educator Mark Chien has put together and held there. Soon it will be cxustomers filling in, sitting and tasting the wine from the grapes that so many winemakers have lauded throughout this decade.

“It’s exciting,” he admitted. “Like I said, we’ve been thinking over it, trying to come up with different scenarios over the years of how we would open up and where we’d do it, and finally all came together in the last two years plan-wise, so it was worth putting the time and through into it. Being in the business for a dozen years now, we’ve seen a lot of people who have never grown grapes and never made wine just jump into everything at one shot. I think that can compromise the quality of your product going out the door.

“It’s a stressful enough business because it’s an ag commodity. When you’re also at the mercy of the weather and you have no idea what your site is going to produce, I think that would even make it no fun at all,” he said, laughing. “But we’ve taken this over a decade to figure out what our site produces well with, and messing with the wine in the garage we figured out that hey, this stuff turns out pretty good without even having a whole lot of knowledge initially when we started. And then the more that we applied and the more help we brought in, the more we can fine tune things. We figured out that it’s definitely worth pursuing.”

No better ad for soon-to-open Waltz winery

I wanted to post this first, as a prelude to the news that Jan and Kim Waltz will be opening their Manheim, Pa., winery in a couple of weeks. Jan has established himself as a master in the vineyard, and a number of wineries that have bought his grapes during the past decade or so will vouch for that. I remember seeing an extremely positive reference to the Waltz vineyard and a review of his soon-to-be-sold in a recent newsletter by Mark Chien, the well-respected statewide Viticulture Extension Educator, and I thought it would be worth sharing before posting Jan's thoughts on the reasons for moving from supplier to more of a dual role in the wine community.

Chien wrote in his December e-letter:

"Many of you are familiar with the vineyard of Jan and Kim Waltz in Manheim, either having attended a viticulture workshop there or purchasing their outstanding grapes. Jan has always dabbled in wine making and he is one of those persons whose amateur wines are often better than many commercial wines. There is no surprise here since the vineyard is one of the most meticulously maintained anywhere. It is easy to connect the quality dots in this case … great fruit can yield great wines. There is a reason I use it as my default teaching vineyards so growers, especially new ones, can soak in the vision of what a fine vineyard looks like and get exposed to Jan’s knowledge. It was inevitable but Jan and Kim have built a beautiful winery and tasting room on the property. It’s not quite done yet but wine was made there this vintage.

"I had a chance to taste the 2007 and 2008 wines and they are remarkable. Jan had a vision of Sauvignon Blanc growing where Merlot also excelled and has planted it along with Semillon. The sauvy is a shining example of the versatility of what this variety can do, from the absolute fruit forward New Zealand version to the more restrained, creamier, nutty, barrel fermented white Bordeaux or California style. While I’m not a big chard fan in general I think we can do very fine Chardonnay in SE PA and I might have to change my tune. Jan’s blend of three Dijon clones, stainless steel and barrel fermented versions were both incredibly fruit-driven wines with pure flavors of honey, apple, citrus, full and rich in the mouth, these are truly reminiscent of Pouilly-Fuisse, especially the barrel wine with its toast and smoke. Sauvy and Chard both appear to be well suited for our region but they are both rot prone so they need great viticulture to succeed consistently. I guess we are just a white wine region.

"That is, until I taste his reds. The 2007 estate Merlot is deep in color and full in body with layers of dark fruit flavors, great structure and balance. Merlot is a fruity red that, I believe, needs blending to add complexity. That is a practice that I think we can improve upon, maybe by getting some help from outside. Jan’s could easily stand alone as a varietal but I think it could be even better with some Cabernet Sauvignon for structure, Cab Franc for that herbal note and Petit Verdot for rusticity, but I don’t know how to do it. His Cabernet Sauvignon is a surprise and delight. This block took it hard in the shins during the ‘04 freeze but they have brought it back and the 2008 is nice and ripe but with that savory quality that Jim Law describes in his reds and a character of Bordeaux. No one will mistake it for a cult Napa cab, but who would want to anyway? This is a foodie’s wine and it had me thinking of what to pair it with. Okay, well, by now you know I wear my palate on my sleeve when it comes to the Waltzes. These wines couldn’t happen to a nicer and more deserving family."

Self-taught Knapp now a teacher for others

I keep playing phone tag with the folks from the Pennsylvania Wine Society, so let me use some written comments from state-wide wine grape educator Mark Chien to describe a bit of what he saw at the society's excellent award last Sunday in Harrisburg. What could be called the wine Oscars (hey, that description no more timely than today with the nominations being released), 10 wines were recognized during a program at the Harrisburg Hilton where Chien served as guest speaker.

Of the 10, four were produced by Brad Knapp of Pinnacle Ridge, which has a Kutztown mailing address but could be considered out in the middle of nowhere except for the fact that I-78 happens to be located adjacent to the vineyards and winery. It's no more than a minute's drive from the Krumsville exit.

Chien said in a phone conversation we had yesterday that Knapp and his winery have set themselves apart, and he didn't quibble with my suggestion that no wines in the state carries more value overall than his line right now. Here's what Chien wrote in a newsletter that came out Tuesday:

The results of the PA Farm Show and PA Wine Society wine competitions are in and there is one winery that has excelled in both, Pinnacle Ridge Vineyards in Kutztown. To me, it is no surprise. Owner and wine grower Brad Knapp is as meticulous a grower as you can find anywhere. He farms his vineyard on a south slope visible from I-78 and also maintains a textbook grower-winery relationship with Round Ridge Vineyards. Brad sends me during the harvest with cluster number and weight information as he monitors the crop until moments before harvest. His vines are well-maintained during the growing season with good canopy balance and fruit zone treatments. He is very fussy about the quality of his viticulture. Chambourcin, for example, is thinned to one cluster per shoot on VSP and yields wines of vinifera-like quality and character. Like many winegrowers Brad is self taught but he exemplifies the unique characteristics that can take a vineyard and its wines to the next level... an insatiable curiosity and desire to learn - he's always asking why and seeking knowledge that will provide answers, a keen sense of observation and ability to collect data and translate them into management practices, a willingness to bring in outside experts for advice and help, a great passion for wine growing and finally the ability to execute in the vineyard and cellar. I would encourage fellow wine growers to taste Brad's wines, they are setting benchmarks for quality for Pennsylvania. In the interest of full disclosure, most of the wines that made the final round in the PWS tasting, including those from Pinnacle Ridge, contained fruit grown by Jan and Kim Waltz in Manheim. Their reputation for high quality grapes is well known and the results here simply help to acknowledge their tremendous efforts in the vineyard.