Wine Off The Vine opens Friday and continues through Sunday at 10 midstate wineries

What the Uncork York trail is calling Wine Off The Vine, another name for Nouveau Weekend, will begin Friday and continue through Sunday at 10 wineries in midstate Pennsylvania.

Tickets are $10 to taste wine made from freshly harvested grapes at any of the participating wineries. There might be some minor variation, but the wineries are expected to be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can buy those at any of the wineries involved, although note according to the Web site that a $1 processing fee will be assessed per ticket for anyone who used a credit card to purchase them.

A number of winemaker dinners are being held in conjunction with the event. PR coordinator extraordinaire Alison Smolinski noted in a Wednesday e-mail that the Allegro Vineyard's dinner in the Commonwealth Room at the Yorktowne Hotel in York this weekend is sold out. That's a total of 70 seats that will be filled for the food and drink, the latter produced by winemaker and owner Carl Helrich.

Brown's Orchards set to open winery

It sounds like York County's next winery is about to open.

What will be called Logan's View Winery should be opening in the next few weeks at Brown's Orchards & Farm Market in Loganville, Pa. According to a story on the farm market Web site from earlier this year, the tasting room and winery would be located on Yellow Church Road, just a few miles west of the highly successful market that pulls in customers from all over southern York County and Maryland.

That story also noted that seven acres of grapes were planted on Brown’s farm, just a half mile from the market, in April 2008. The winery was expected to begin by selling fruit wines and white varietals at Brown’s Farm Market in 2009, with red varietals to become available during the fall of 2010.

There's a pretty good chance that the UnCork York Wine Trail's next member will be this winery that opens near the farm market. Tamanend Winery in Lancaster recently became the 13th member of the wine trail.

Uncork York plans Nouveau weekend event

The Uncork York Wine Trail that stretches from the western part of Lancaster to Gettysburg and up to Harrisburg has decided that its spring event was so successful that it would try one in the fall, after harvest time, similar to what the Bucks County Wine Trail members do.

They're calling it the Wine Just Off The Vine weekend, schedule for Friday, Nov. 20, through Sunday, Nov. 22. That's the weekend before Thanksgiving. Tickets are $10 per person for the event, which will start at 11 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. at the 10 participating wineries.

It's one of those rare chances to leave the tasting room and head into the winery and/or cellar to take a quick lesson in how grapes are transformed into juice and what they go through on the way to the bottle. Awaiting visitors at the end is a taste of the Nouveau wine, an easy-sipping fruit-forward liquid that brings a special appreciation when you realize that it came from grapes that were still hanging on the vine three to six weeks ago.

York County tourism is developing this with the same strategy as it does for Uncork York in the spring, incorporating packages that include area restaurants, hotels and bed anbd breakfasts. For more, click on this link, call 888.858.9675, or contact one of the participating wine trail members, including:

Adams County Winery
Allegro Vineyards
Cullari Vineyards
Four Springs Winery
Moon Dancer Vineyard & Winery
Naylor Wine Cellars
Reid's Orchard & Winery
Seven Valleys Vineyard & Winery
Tamanend Winery
West Hanover Winery

Road trip: Seven Valleys and Four Springs

Since I can't be everywhere . . . thought I'd "employ" the sentiments of Alison Smith, PR coordinator for the York Country Convention & Visitors Bureau, from her visits to two wineries last weekend as the Tour de Tanks got rolling. The 12 wineries making up the Uncork York Wine Trail will welcome visitors every weekend through the end of March. Passports are $15/person.

She wrote: "Sunday a group of my family and friends visited Four Springs Winery and Seven Valleys Vineyard & Winery during the 4th annual Tour de Tanks event. We arrived at Four Springs in the early afternoon to a sea of friendly faces eager to greet us, stamp our tickets and point us toward the wonderful spread of dips, fruits, cheeses and other yummy noshes. As we listened to Bud, one of the owners, discuss the finer points of their winemaking, it was clear to the group that we were in for a treat. The Niagara wine was clean, crisp and bright - from the barrel. Tasting the finished product next to the one still in process was truly a eureka moment for some in our group. This being some of their first tank & barrel tastings, they weren't sure what to expect. After tasting another fine vintage in the making the questions started flowing, first from my brother-in-law, the carpenter. He had a string of questions about where the oak for the barrels comes from, why the heads of the barrels are toasted and for how long. Bud was thrilled to answer all of our seemingly endless questions, all with a smile.

"As we made our way to the tasting room, we chatted with others who'd been traveling the trail, trading stories, driving routes and personal preferences. Four Springs really is all about friends meeting and sharing, it's why the owners started their winery together and now they're reaching out and spreading the laughter and joy of wine with everyone who visits.

"Just a short drive from Four Springs, we arrived at Seven Valleys, a beautiful oasis tucked back in the rolling hills of Southern York County. The chocolate fountain was the first thing that caught my sister-in-law's eye. She instantly clapped her hands together and said "perfecto."

"We were greeted by Linda, who has worked the vineyard since the vines were planted. She shared stories with us about bringing her children along in the vineyard to help her when they were young. She also shared a fabulous Chambourcin that was just the right amount of dryness for my taste. After sampling a few wines from the tanks we headed upstairs where even more wonderful food was waiting. Out of this world crab dip, gourmet pizza and flavorful cheeses were spread out before us - we were like kids in a candy store. After sampling a refreshing and palate pleasing apple wine we moved on to the red wine station where I made my new find of the day - Little Roundtop, a red wine from their Gettysburg series. I served it Sunday evening with a roasted red pepper and turkey breast lasagna I had made Saturday. It was the perfect compliment to my meal and my weekend.

"It was truly a wonderful way to spend time with people who like myself are busy young professionals, some with young children, who all enjoyed an afternoon to relax and share laughs with friends new and old."