Off and running in 2010 . . . chilling at Woodhall

Sorry about the delay in posting. Blame it on the holiday, on work, on getting out of the routine. So, with the Farm Show under way it's time to roll this out daily again, with plans to add social media to the mix as this year ages.

Would prefer to start where this all started, down at Woodhall Wine Cellars in Parkton, Md., on Sunday, where several dozen visitors gathering to watch the Ravens in the tasting room. Others paraded through on the second part of a weekend library tasting, a rare commodity in this region. An annual event at Woodhall, the winery has blocked off a couple hours on a Saturday and Sunday in December and allowed case club members to saunter down the path to the winery and storage building, essentially down into the cellar. This year it was the second weekend in January, where they served a few wines with virtually no inventory (including a 1994 Vidal) and another dozen where the winery had perhaps a case or several left.

They went as far back as a 1991 Cabernet Sauvignon, a 1993 Meritage and that Vidal that I mentioned. You probably don't want to keep your whites more than several years, but there are always exceptions. One was a 2001 Chardonnay they produced for Corks Restaurant in Baltimore. It still tasted good several years ago when I had bought a half case, and little had changed in the last couple of bottles remaining that were pulled out on Sunday. Same with the Vidal, which still held up its end even thought it's 16 years old. Took home two of the last five bottles left in storage, and we'll wait for a suitable occasion this year to open them.

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Winemaker Chris Kent and former co-owner Al Kopp served as the guides at the tasting. Kopp noted that they would always put a case aside of every wine they would produce. But these tastings over the last few years have pretty much wiped out the cellar, so there's a good chance several years could pass before the next one. Not sure why some of the older wineries do not hold a similar tasting; but it's a question I want to ask as I catch up to the proprietors of wineries in Pennsylvania and Maryland that are 15 years or older.

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Most of the bottles at Woodhall sold in the mid-teens up to 20 dollars; several of the Copernica Reserve Cabs (2002, 2005) were selling for $30. The most expensive was a Jubilee Reserve Merlot from 2007, acknowledged as a best vintage of the decade. That was going for $35.

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This event done, the winery prepares for its annual wine and soup pairing starting next weekend and continuing into February. This has become a staple event there, as has the Valentine's chocolates and barrel tasting that will commence Feb. 13 and likely continue into March.

Sunday loop through Maryland hits Mount Felix and Woodhall wineries

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From Mount Felix: What's left of the delicious plate of figs and cheese and a shot of the tasting room.

Spent part of Sunday afternoon visiting Mary and Peter Ianniello at their new Mount Felix Winery in Havre de Grace. Haze cheated us out of the sharp view of the distant Chesapeake Bay, which sits beyond the property, including the vineyard, and makes for a scenic backdrop off the large patio that sits off the house and a stroll from the tasting room.

Originally from northern New York, the couple and their three children have called the 9,000-square-foot Mount Felix Manor -- which dates back to the 1830s -- home since the early part of this decade. They have Chambourcin and Foch vines in the ground; they hope to plant more over the next couple of years, including Traminette. Getting signs out on I-95 at their exit (89, Md. Route 155) has to help their exposure; so will getting a sign put along Rt. 155 at the end of their driveway. It's an easy one to miss the first time through, as we found out yesterday. The winery is less than a mile from the exit, located on the right side of the road.

It's probably one of the smaller operations you'll come across in terms of parking and the size of the tasting room, which you can see in the picture above. But it's cozy inside, with plenty of small personal touches on the wall and counters. Mount Felix is producing a line of nine wines, from dry white (Matilda's Devotion) to dry red (Adlum's First) to semi-sweet and sweet red and white. Our hosts went the extra mile, taking figs off a tree they planted when they moved in and cutting those up on a plate with some chunks of sharp cheese. Loved it. That fig tree is so big it looks like it's been there for 20 years, and the fruit is fantastic. We stayed until a wave of visitors arrived, packing the tasting room. All of the wine's names, by the way, relate to the historical significance of the area where the winery sits.

So we took the couple of bottles we purchased and headed north and west back to York Road, where Woodhall Wine Cellars sits. That's the winery that has helped cultivate our passion for regional wines; there are no friendlier folks in the business than the gang at Woodhall, where they have been turning out bottles of wine since the mid-1980s. That would make it one of the oldest wineries in the state. A five-minute drive off I-83, it's in a far more rustic setting than what you'll find at today's newer wineries. But there's room to stretch out and taste wines in the main tasting room and out on a covered back porch, where we got comfy yesterday. You should have no trouble finiding something you like there; I didn't specifically count the wines available for tasting that were listed on their chalkboard, but it's gotta be at least 25, including some delicious reserve wines.

This is a winery that until recently had a vineyard on the hill next store; safe to say at this point it's dormant. Winemaker Chris Kent said Sunday they'll likely replant at some point in 2010 or 2011. But they've done fine sourcing in the grapes and producing the extensive line of wines; we walked away with a couple cases that we ordered back in the winter during barrel tasting. Well, that's not the only thing we stopped for. A glass of wine out on the back porch hit the spot. Others were streaming in and out to pick up wine they had ordered; in the middle of it all was a party of about a dozen working through some Woodhall wines with a few plates of appetizers. Unfortunately, we couldn't manage an invitation.

Cassinelli opens doors on Eastern Shore

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Cassinelli Vineyards & Winery, Maryland's newest winery, has opened. If I've counted right, that's 27 open for business that are members of the Maryland Wineries Association.

Located on the Eastern Shore in Church Hill, the family-owned and operated boutique winery grows Merlot, Chardonnay and Viognier on part of its 110-acre farm and sources the remainder of the fruit.

Its Web site also notes that visitors will also see Blank Angus cows, buffalo and donkeys. A 3-acre pumpkin patch and apple orchard also occupy some of the land. Hours run from noon to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Magazine list Sugarloaf as destination-worthy

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Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard & Winery is reporting that it was featured in “DC” Magazine’s “The Best of the City 09.” The current issue of “DC,” a publication spotlighting innovation in the metropolitan area, recommends a day trip to the winery as one of its “Best of the City 09” selections. “Oenophiles are swarming to Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard . . . to sip top-flight Cabernet Franc, Pinot Grigio and other wines”. To read the article, visit www.modernluxury.com, click on “digital editions,” scroll to and click on the DC edition, and flip to page 71.

The winery will hold a tasting at Black Ridge Restaurant on Wednesday, April 15, from 6 to 8 p.m. Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard wine will be featured at Black Ridge Restaurant’s “Meet the Maker” series. This segment of the series will feature a flight of SMV wines paired with a sample menu prepared by the Black Ridge Culinary Team. Black Ridge is located at Ridge Road, Mt. Airy, Md. For reservations and more information, call Black Ridge Restaurant at 301.829.8191.

And three other notes from the winery that appeared in its latest e-letter:

Expanding Taste, Part III: In order to better serve our increasing number of guests as Spring is springing, we have increased our tasting facilities... again! Eight large tables have been added to our outdoor space and the tasting bar has been expanded. Our offerings of wine will also expand: by the end of April, SMV’s 2008 Pinot Grigio will be available and Sangria will be served once the weekend temperature rises above 65 degrees. Clearly, there is more to enjoy, so come visit!

In the Vineyard: Hand pruning will be completed in April. In May, we look for “bud break” on each vine. Since fewer grapes means better ripening and high quality wine, we reduce the potential cropload. We will remove all buds from the trunk of each vine and select buds to keep on each lateral cane. The goal is to allow ideal airflow and dappled sunlight for our 2009 crop.

Bottling at the Winery: In mid March we bottled 2,000 cases of 2007 Chardonnay, 2008 Pinot Grigio and 2008 Stomp. Several customers pitched in on the “bottling line” and were most helpful. We look forward to offering these wines for tastings and sales by early summer. In April we will bottle 2000 cases of Circe, Comus Reserve, Cabernet Franc Reserve and Cabernet Sauvignon. If you are interested to see the bottling process in action, check our website, contact us at info@smvwinery or call 301.605.0130 to confirm the latest details of the bottling schedules.

Same Md. bills, new year, likely same results

One day of hearings, which took place earlier this week in the Maryland legislature, was enough to convince Maryland Wine Association executive director Kevin Atticks that it might take a few more years before anything significant bills finally achieve passage. Right now, Atticks said, the wholesaler and retailer lobby remains in a total position of power . . . "and they know it. And we know it, but it doesn’t make any sense to us."

Two of the bills had to do with allowing direct shipping from wineries to the homes of Maryland residents, and the other would create a special license developing a uniformity around the rules guiding how wineries are permitted to do business. For instance, it would allow the sampling and selling of winery wines at the winery for on- or off-premise consumption, grant permission to hold events and permit it operate seven days a week, among other things.

None of the measures discussed has been vetoed as yet, at least from a quick glance at the legislature's home page. Atticks said he felt the bill for the new license would be sent to the alcohol subcommittee for further discussion and review. Still, he said, the message he heard was a familiar refrain: Leave things alone.

"With everything it’s just a matter of ‘We’re comfortable the way things are, we’re comfortable the way the law is, and thank you for keeping it that way,'" he said. "There’s all these little arguments about specifics of each bill, but they’re hollow arguments." The ultimate message, he said, is that no change is good.

Assuming nothing passes, it leaves the wineries walking in place, not necessarily a bad thing. Several new ones opened last year; more are scheduled to open this year. And, in general, business has been good, or at least the perception is that business is good.

"I think much of our industry at this point is new," Atticks said, "so they are entering the market in a down year and they’re still seeing sales. So their understanding is that business is good and I think it is for the small wineries. The larger wineries [in our state] have seen a noticeable drop through sales in retail stores and sales at the winery."

That's W, as in whoopee, for pending Md. law

Wanna learn how to hurdle? Just try and open a winery, at least according to what many proprietors in both states have told me. Lots of stipulations to meet, enough red tape to completely wrap a vineyard, plenty of requests to jump over. And there can be as many difficulties even after opening because of a variety of laws that change at the borders of townships and counties.

So it was with a lot of interest that I read a story sent earlier today by Maryland Wineries Association executive director Kevin Atticks detailing a special winery classification that the state legislature is considering. According to the story in the Hagerstown Herald-Mail, this new Class W license would provide more uniformity in the rules that regulate Maryland wineries.

The story, published Saturday, said the new license would "allow the sampling and selling of winery wines at the winery for on- or off-premise consumption, allow the business to hold events and allow the winery to operate seven days a week, among other things."