Va La's Vietri: 'No predictions of doom or diamonds for either color of wine yet'

Checked in with Anthony Vietri at Va La Vineyards in Avondale, Pa., for his early assessment of his harvest. Summed up, it's a little too early to tell.

"As far as the harvest to date," he wrote, "I can't speak for anyone else's experiences, as I have not really spoken to anyone else about their experience, but I will say that it has been highly unusual vintage for us here on the little hill. Whites are looking strangely good, for what we are looking for here. The jury is still out on the reds for us; I make no predictions of doom or diamonds for either color of wine yet. "

Two items of interest off his Web site.

1, Their local friends, Andrea’s Best of Italy, are now offering bagged lunches for the Va La Nation. Each little sack of goodness includes a side, a bottled water, and authentic bag for $10 (US). All selections are dolphin-free. So if you feel like taking a little lunch at the vineyard after your tasting, you can pick up a bag on your way out to visit. Menu, directions, and info www.andreasbestofitaly.com

2, The Brandywine Book of Food features recipes, chefs, and winemakers of the Brandywine. (And yes, that's their little vineyard on the front cover). A special book signing will take place from noon to 4:01 p.m. on Nov. 14-15. Authors Roger Morris, Cathleen L. Ryan and photographer Ella Morris will be in the Galleria to celebrate the premier of their beautiful new book The Brandywine Book of Food. According to the site, the advance buzz promises this book to be a defining image of the Valley for years to come. "They will be available for these two days only to sign copies, answer questions, poke with sticks, or just stare at and whisper," the site says.

Va La site gets a new look, but old charm remains

Looks like Va La Vineyards in Avondale, Pa., recently made some improvements to its Web site. The winery is a must-visit if you're anywhere in the mid-Atlantic looking for good wine to sample, as is Chaddsford and Pinnacle Ridge and Allegro in Pennsylvania and Black Ankle in Maryland.

The wines at Va La are superior, using a number of grapes you won't see made into juice at other regional wineries. And it's a comfy atmosphere, either out in front of the main tasting bar downstairs or relaxing at a small table upstairs amid the brights colors and vivid shapes of whichever local artist's work is being featured. And I could listen to owner Anthony Vietri talk baseball for hours (while sipping the Silk or Mahongany or Castana or other unique names that grace his labels).

Why else do I like the place? The sense of humor, found in large doses either in person or on the Web site. To wit, on the page under TO CONTACT:

Your suffering shall be legendary...

Attempting to contact Va La has been likened to attempting to contact the dead.
We can not lie. We are farmers who actively avoid electronic devices. For the latest info on hours, etc, we usually make a telephone recording of our voices for people to listen to. Hopefully, the info on the recording is somewhat accurate. Occasionally, people have been known to leave a message on the offhand chance that one of us accidentally wanders by the answering machine.

610 268 2702

And

We can accommodate groups of six or more persons by reservation only. We regretfully cannot accommodate buses, stretch limousines, wedding parties, professional tour groups, or ocean liners during our regular weekend hours. For reservations, info, pricing, private events, life counseling, root canals, etc, please leave a message for Ms Kelly at 610 742 3981, or by computer device: events@valavineyards.com

Vietri on Va La's La Prima Donna: 'Our initial goal was to create a white wine with some richness and complexity'

If you've read this blog you know the respect I have for Anthony Vietri and the work he and his staff are doing at Va La Vineyards in Avondale, Pa., as far as I'm concerned a must-see of wineries in suburban Philly. Asked Anthony on Friday what was going on in the cellar and he said that they just bottled the 2008 La Prima Donna, the 2008 Zafferano, and our 2008 Silk. All will be released at different times next spring, he noted.

I asked about La Prima Donna, a distinctive blend of grapes you mostly haven't heard of: Malvasia bianco, friuliano, viognier, pinot grigio and petit manseng. Wine writer/critic Roger Morris and esteemed foodie/critic Craig LeBan of the Philly Inquirer have put their stamp of approval on the wine. Wrtoe Morris, for Sommelier Magazine: “La Prima Donna…is perhaps the best east coast table wine that I have ever tasted — a beautiful blossom of aromas, exotic and spicy flavors of green figs, nectarines, with a crisp finish.” And LeBan wrote: “A flamboyant, showy white, with layers of aromatic grapes…that dance exotic on the palate.”

I asked Vietri to shoot me an e-mail with his thoughts about what he has tried to do with that blend and wine, and he sent me the following: "I actually first got the notion of wanting to create this wine when I was living with a family of fishermen in Campagne," he said. "I had made white wines with my family since I was a boy, but I wanted to do something different. The wines of that coastal region inspired me, and I wanted to take their ideas a few steps further. When we started this vineyard our initial goal was to create a white wine with some richness and complexity, and to have those elements come strictly from the grapes themselves, and without the aid of oak, so that the wine would directly translate our vineyard to the glass. When we taste it we smile and say 'that's our vineyard.' It is a horribly antiquated way to look at things, but it is now in its now in its ninth version, believe it or not."

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/

Va La ready for sounds of 'play ball'

My 400th post. Thank you for all those who have returned my calls and given me your time during these past 11 months. I was reminded of that again today, placing a call to a Maryland winery that I'm sure would have found a minute to answer questions about its new red wine if had been Wine Spectator or Eric Asimov of the New York Times or, well, maybe even if they knew it was Gary Vaynerchuk. Congrats to all who have been talking wine and swilling the juice long, long before I came on the scene. As for a red wine called The Red Door, maybe I'll be surprised and get the call back tomorrow.


One person who has provided substantial help and support to this blog has been Anthony Vietri of Va La Vineyards, whose winemaking is surpassed only by his sense of humor. You've seen snippets of its in this blog before. Where is Va La? Well, according to his site, "Va La World Corporate Headquarters are located on RT 41 (Gap Newport Pike) in Historic Brandywine Valley, home to high sewer and school taxes, and right smackin the heart of the Mushroom Capital of the World. As the place to see and be seen, we invite you to come and experience the whole Avondale scene, the latest in farm fashions and celebrity watching, gossip, and culture from the world of Avondalia . . . "

In that world Vietri says he is content, "just living the life." For sure, the start of the baseball season can't come soon enough. But between now and then there's some pruning to do and several wines to release (the Zafferano, a cold-fermented 100 percent Pinot Grigio; and the Patina, a blend of red grapes that 98 percent of the American population probably has never heard of: Primitivo, Malvasia Nera, Charbono and Teroldego). Typical of most of Va La's vintages, between the small size of the vineyard and the amount of grapes they drop to improve the quality of the yield, what remains won't last long. In the case of the latter, the medium-bodied Patina has been aging in one barrel and will fill about 600 bottles. Anthony, the Philies would have gone through that amount by the end of the night that they clinched their title.

But there are more bottles to fill this month, some with the esteemed red called Mahogany and others with another red that the winery calls Cedar. Says the Web site: The intention of this wine was to createa Pietmontese-inspired, age-worthy red grown here in our region, to match to the flavors of wild game, local mushrooms,and other gifts of the forest. Four clones of nebbiolo and corvina veronese. Total production normally ranges from one to three barrels."

He also plans to bottle another mix of red grapes, all 2006 vintage, called Castana (which means chestnut in Italian), a blend of Barbera, Nebbiolo and Corvina that he says he's put together before, just not commercially. "I did that one back before we launched with our first vintage," he said. "I did a little experimenting with that one and it went over well, so we decided now and then that we'll mess with it when the year's right . . ."

At Elkton shop, 25 Md. wines and counting

Greg Birney said he was 7 when his family opened Cherry Hill Liquors in Elkton, Md. He learned all aspects of the business, from stocking shelves to sweeping the floors. And by the time he graduated high school and took over the shop in 2002, he had a pretty good idea of what he needed to set his store apart. Something unique. A niche product. And carrying Maryland wines turned out to be that element of his inventory that other stores didn't have; today he carries around 150 of them.

I had visited a lot of liquor stores in the area and really nothing to me set them apart,” he said by phone last week. “I'd find the same product sets at each liquor store. So my thinking was, 'What am I going to find, what am I going to do, what kind of services or products can I offer my customers to draw form a larger customer base? Because otherwise it was just going to be a neighborhood shop; not that there was anything wrong with that, but I wanted something more. And that's when I stumbled into [Maryland wines], in early 2003, that's when I started rolling with them. And at that point there were only 12 Maryland wineries, and it was easy. Now there are into the 20s that actually selling to retailers; I believe we're around 25, 26, and I just made contact with another one today [Bordeleau] that I'll probably be picking up later in the week.”

Birney's name came by way of Morris Zwick, owner of nearby Terrapin Station Winery. What prompted the call was a question about how difficult he found it to sell Zwick's wines in a box, a concept foreign to regional wineries but not so much any more nationally or internationally. The winter edition of Pennsyvania Wine & Spirits devoted a story to the subject. Writer Anne Taulane noted that in Pennsylvania over the past 52 weeks, sales of alternative wine boxes (three-liter, one-liter, and 500-milliliter wines) were up 35.9 percent. Zwick packages his product in 1 ½-liter boxes, the equivalent of two bottles of wine.

Boxed wines, Birney said, have kind of a negative connotation in the industry, especially on the retail side of things. “But Morris and Janet [Zwick] have really worked to put quality wines into their final product. One of his goals, and this is something I have to explain to consumers or potential customers of his [is that this] is one of his personal goals, one of their goals at the winery, is to have a lower carbon footprint. So they want to be as environmentally responsible as possible. To answer your question, it's one customer at a time, explaining that concept. Being the closest liquor store to their winery, it's been a lot easier doing that. I don't know how other stores have fared, say 10 or 20 miles from here, because they're not next door. But a lot of people have seen the winery, seen the grapes go in and wanna try it, and they're very curious, and generally speaking there are a lot of repeat customers on it.”

He charges $22 per box for the wines, explaining that it's in line with other wineries “when you break it down because you have two bottles in each box. When you break it down,” Birney said, “and explain to a consumer that, hey, there's a liter and a half of wine in there, that means it's comparable pricewise to $11 or $12 a bottle. And when you explain that, they're more agreeable to it.”

The two questions most often posed? Birney said one is why Terrapin Station has decided to package their wines in a box. And the second has to do with the names of the wines -- Vidal Blanc, Traminette, Cecil Red, Cecil White. It's a similar situation, though not quite as extreme, to the names that Anthony Vietri uses for his Va La Vineyards wines in Avon Grove, Pa. “They don't recognize Vidal Blanc; they recognize Chardonnay,” Birney said. “It's explaining to a customer what Vidal Blanc is, explaining how it tastes, that's kind of a secondary questions is what is this grape.”

It's that willingness to answer questions and sell the product that ranks Birney's liquor shop high on Zwick's list of favorites from among the more than 40 outlets that carry his product. For now, that's the only way you can buy Terrapin Station Wines, although Zwick said last week that they are planning to erect a tent by the winery for a couple of months this summer and, besides selling it, allow customers to taste some of them. While that happens, he said, he'll evaluate what shops his wines are going into now and how they're doing.

“We’re probably going to have to ruminate on the mix of stores that we have,” Zwick said. “Some do pretty well in terms of moving product and others don’t. It's just a matter if you’re a small winery producing local product, you’re generally going to be attracting people interested in wine to begin with beyond getting bulk 1 ½ liters bottles of wine from California or something. So some stores, they just don't push much premium wine and, of course, right now, in particular. And so when we're placed in a store where they're moving a lot of lower-priced, lower-value wines and beers, that's just not a successful place for us to be. So we'll keep evaluating our mix of stores.”

E-letters, Web sites, vary in style, substance

Perhaps nothing shows the wide disparity in how serious regional wineries take communication than their Web sites and e-letters.

It could take hours just reading through all the info contained on the Chaddsford and BlackAnkle Web site, and few organize their events page as well as CrossingVineyards. Several, such as Terrapin Station, have an altruistic endeavor as part of their mission statement and include a link to that. Perhaps none are more fun than Va La, as distinctive for its humor as it is for the information it carries. Some recently have freshened up their sites, such as Paradocx and the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail's Big Creek Vineyards in Kresgeville.

On the other end of the scale, a few wineries don't have active Web sites right now. Some haven't updated the news or events on their site in months or, in a couple case, more than a year. This difference also extends to the vigor they put into their communication, and it runs the gamut from returning calls or e-mails within 24 hours to some that have never responded. Ever. Even to questions about their wines or winery, and they exist on every trail in every part of eastern and central Pennsylvania and Maryland. It just seems that the way it is. Head-scratching, to say the least, for businesses that are in the public eye.

All of this prefaces the bevy of e-letters that landed in my mailbox in the past 24 hours, each one unique and carrying bits of news. Sand Castle Winery in Erwinna, Pa., puts out a one-page sheet that lists upcoming events (see Thursday's Event Grapevine for what's on their schedule), a little news from the vineyard ("Pruning continues in the Riesling. Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon are the last ones to be done. If anyone would like to have the cuttings for their private vineyard, please contact the winery.") and a few impressions of the latest vintage ("2008 young wines are performing beyond our expectations. Last bottling of Pinot Noir 2005 has been done and any lovers of this vintage should know there are only 200 cases in stock.")

Joanne Levengood at Manatawny Creek includes news on their February sale ("our 2006 Cabernet Franc Port at 10% off."), their holiday hours ("We will be open on Monday, 2/16 from 10-6 for the President’s Day holiday.") and a wine update ("The Blue Bear Ease will hopefully be back on the list in a few weeks. I will send out another email to announce its release.") After filling in readers on next weekend's Berks County Wine Trail's wine and chocolate festival, she finishes with a segment that answers a question. And it's far from a one-sentence answer. The question? What exactly is Port?

"Port is a sweet, fortified wine that is typically served after a meal. The process to make port differs from the typical winemaking process for table wines in that the fermentation is stopped about halfway by the addition of grape neutral spirits. This results in a wine with an alcohol content between 18% and 20% with a lot of the natural sweetness from the grape remaining. Port originated in Portugal’s Douro Valley and the name comes from the fact that historically, these wines were shipped out of the city of Oporto.

"There are three basic categories of port made with red grapes – vintage, ruby and tawny (white port is made with white grapes but is much less common). Vintage ports, the expensive type, are made from grapes of a single vintage and are typically bottled with only a little more than a year of aging in barrel. They are only made in declared years in Portugal and the consumer is expected to do most of the aging since Vintage port gets better with age and often needs many years to become drinkable. Ruby port can be made from grapes of different vintages and is aged for about 2 years before release. It is typically ready to drink when released and is simpler and less expensive than Vintage port. Tawny ports are made from grapes of different vintages and aged in barrels to purposely undergo slow oxidation; this turns the color of the red wine to a tawny color and gives it a unique character. The label of a Tawny port will often show the average number of years of aging - typically 10, 20, 30 or over 40 years.

"The grape varieties used in port in Portugal are numerous and varied and do not include anything that we grow in Pennsylvania. At Manatawny Creek, we make our port from Cabernet Franc, one of the red varieties that grows very well in our area. We produce it in the vintage port style, using grapes from a single vintage and bottling the wine after 1 year of aging in neutral oak. Our port definitely benefits from several years of aging and, just like true Portuguese Port, is the ideal beverage to pair with chocolate!"

Carol and Jim Kirkpatrick at the Brandywine Valley trail's Kreutz Creek Winery adds some folksiness to their e-letter with several photos of their 7-year-old dog, Fetzer, plus a schedule of their entertainment schedule at their West Chester tasting room, and their own winermarker's notes.

"Winter is the time for pruning, yes even during these frigid temperatures we're outside prunning. We're about 60% completed so we're right on schedule. If you're feeling crafty and want some of the prunnings, let me know soon and I'll save some. They make beautiful wreaths and the price is right...free! Last week I pumped over the 2007 Kordeaux and WOW!!!!, it was fabulous. Needless to say, I'm very excited about it and hope to bottle it in 2 weeks. It should be ready for Barrels on the Brandywine in March where we'll be doing the popular vertical Kordeaux tasting. This year it's 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 Kordeaux. I think this is the best yet and I hope you agree!!! The 2008's are coming along nicely. We really had a great season and I can't wait to get some of these wines in the bottle. Stay tuned for more information next month! See you in the tasting room!"

The Event Grapevine: Jan. 30-Feb. 1

Look down through the calendar of events and you'll see just about every winery incorporates chocolates into a February event. Why not, with Valentine's Day coming along right in the middle of the month. Some wineries hold them as individual events, and a few wine trails such as Berk County's make it an all-encompassing event. Some charge, almost all pair them up for you with their wines.

And a few wineries, such as Chaddsford, elevate their promotion to a unique level. Lee Miller, one of the proprietors and someone I always can depend on to talk about he various aspects of the business, said they have developed their wine and chocolate pairing into a precursor to their reserve tasting program that begins in March. So beginning this Sunday and continuing every weekend through February, the winery welcomes those who want to learn more about chocolates and wine. Sessions each of those day take place at 1, 2:30 and 4 p.m. The cost is $25; reservations are requested at 610.388.6221.

Miller said this isn't an event where you just stop by, pick off a few chocolates, and satisfy your appetite. This program, she said, “we do as very serious. We work with a local chocolate maker whose name is Chris Curtin, at Eclat Chocolate [in West Chester]. Very distinguished. They are in Wine Spectator this month . . . they've been in all the big magazines. They're a really high end, $2 per truffle chocolate maker. [Chris] he does it all himself, literally, sells it, he's the guy in the store in the back. It's a great place.

“We had our tasting, in fact, Monday night. We get 20 of his chocolates and 20 of our wines and all of our wine educators, there were like 10 of us, and we taste them and pick out the best combinations. And then we give people a plate that has six different chocolates, these are really intense chocolates, you can't eat any more than that, and a tasting mat with six different wines, and then we kind of guide them through, 'take a little taste of this, take a little taste of this,' we make them do some wine and food pairing. It's a lot of fun.”

Each session lasts about an hour, Miller said, noting by then people are ready to head to the tasting bar. “But we do them as sit down, kind of serious tasting,” she said, “and just try and give them a different experience.”

Here's what's going on this weekend and beyond:

PENNSYLVANIA WINERIES

Adams County Winery, Orrtanna: Wine appreciation class ($$), Saturday, Feb. 7, 6 to 8:30 p.m.; home wine-making ($$), Sunday, Feb. 22, 1 to 3 p.m., link to winery

Blue Mountain Vineyards & Cellars, New Tripoli: Sunday Blues Wine Tastings, music every Sunday ($$), 2 to 5 p.m., through April, except for Feb. 1, link to winery

Chaddsford Winery, Chaddsford: Wine and Chocolate Reserve Tastings ($$), every weekend in February; Barrels on the Brandywine ($$), every weekend in March at any of the members of the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail; reserve tastings ($$) begin in March, 1, 2:30 and 4 p.m. every Saturday, link to winery

Clover Hill Vineyards & Winery, Breinigsville: Wine and Chocolate Weekend, Feb. 14-15, a Berks County Wine Trail event; beginner tasting class ($$), Saturday, Feb. 21, 3 p.m., annual wine rack sale ($$), all Clover Hill location, Feb. 19 through March 8; March Madness ($$), passport required, a Lehigh Valley Wine Trail event, link to winery

Country Creek Winery, Telford: Wine and Chocolate Tasting, Friday, Feb. 6, 6 p.m., Harleysville Books, 672 Main St., reservations requested, link to winery

Crossing Vineyards & Winery, Washington Crossing: Wine & Wellness, East, Drink and Be Healthy ($$), Wednesday, Feb. 4, 7:30 p.m.; Wine Tasting for Dummies ($$), Sunday, Feb. 8, 2 p.m.; Champagne for Lovers ($$), Thursday, Feb. 12, 7:30 p.m.; Wine & Chocolate for Lovers ($$), Sunday, Feb. 15, 2 p.m., link to winery

Galen Glen Winery, Andreas: St. Valentine’s Day Weekend, Saturday, Feb. 14, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 15, noon to 5 p.m.; President Day Weekend, Feb. 21-22, pizza and wine pairing, link to winery

Hauser Estate Winery, Biglerville: New winery open, Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.; Candle Light Friday/Happy Hour, the last Friday of every month, 5 to 8 p.m., Voxology will perform Friday; satellite shop opened at 17 Lincoln Square, Gettysburg; Valentine’s Day at Hauser Estate, Saturday, Feb. 14, 5 to 8 p.m., warm food and live music, link to winery

Kreutz Creek Vineyards, West Grove: Music at West Chester tasting room, 44 E. Gay St., Fridays and Saturdays, 6 to 9 p.m.; Valentine’s Day Celebration, Feb. 14-15; Barrels on the Brandywine ($$), every weekend in March at any of the members of the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail, link to winery

Manatawny Creek Winery, Douglasville: Chocolate & Wine Weekend, weekend of Feb. 14-15, a Berks County Wine Trail event; Cab Franc and Harvest Red on sale through the end of January; hours have changed to Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sundays, noon to 6 p.m., link to winery

Moon Dancer Vineyards & Winery, Wrightsville: Music every Saturday (2 to 5 p.m.) and Sunday (2 to 5 p.m.); will close Fridays at 5 p.m. at least through February; vineyard hike and mulled wine ($$), Saturday, Feb. 21, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., link to winery

Naylor Wine Cellars, Stewartstown: Lovers Weekend Dinner White Wine Tasting ($$), Saturday, Feb. 14, 3 to 6 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 15, 2 to 5 p.m., link to winery

Paradocx Vineyard, Landenberg: Valentine’s Day at the Vineyard, Saturday, Feb. 14; Barrels on the Brandywine ($$), every weekend in March at any of the members of the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail, link to winery

Penns Woods Winery, Eddystone: Barrels on the Brandywine ($$), every weekend in March at any of the members of the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail, link to winery

Pinnacle Ridge Winery, Kutztown: Chocolate & Wine Weekend, weekend of Feb. 14-15, a Berks County Wine Trail event; March Madness ($$), passport required, a Lehigh Valley Wine Trail event, link to winery

Rose Bank Winery, Newtown: Winter Wine Concert Series, Sundays through March 8, 1 to 4 p.m., at Shady Brook Farm, link to winery

Rushland Ridge, Rushland: Closed January and February; will reopen March 5, link to winery

Tamanend Winery, Lancaster: New winery open, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m., classically styled premium wines in their bottled wine group, and premium sweeter styled wines in their Bag in Box group of wines, link to winery

Twin Brook Winery, Gap: Valentine’s Concert in the Vineyard ($$), Saturday Feb. 14; Wine, Cheese & Chocolate Weekend, Saturday, Feb. 14, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 15, noon to 5 p.m.; Barrels on the Brandywine ($$), every weekend in March at any of the members of the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail, link to winery

Va La Vineyards, Avondale: New holiday hours starting Dec. 1, weekdays, 12:01 to 5:27 p.m., Saturday and Sundays, 12:02 to 5:48 p.m., http://www.valavineyards.com/

Vynecrest Vineyards & Winery, Breinigsville: 8th annual Super Bowl Saturday party,
Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; January white sale; Valentine’s Day weekend event, Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., link to winery


MARYLAND WINERIES

Black Ankle Winery, Mt. Airy: Open for business, winner of Maryland Governor’s Cup in 2008; winter hours start Dec. 1, Saturday and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., other times by appointment, link to winery

Boordy Vineyards, Hydes: Chili Winter Days ($$), Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m.; Fond of You Fondue ($$), Saturdays in February, 1 to 5 p.m., winery link

Frederick Cellars, Frederick: Valentine’s Day dinner ($$), reservations required, Saturday, Feb. 14, link to winery

Fridays Creek Winery, Owings: Winemaker’s Dinner ($$), Saturday, Feb. 14, reservations only, link to winery

Linganore Winecellars at Berrywine Plantations, Mt. Airy: Wine and desserts pairing ($$), through the month; Jazzin’ in January ($$), Saturday, noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.; Cask to Kisses, wine and chocolates pairing, every day in February, http://www.linganorewines.com

Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard, Dickerson: Barrel tasting ($$), case club members are free, Saturday, 1 p.m., food available, reservations required as 301.605.0130; White Wine Sensory Training Seminar ($$), Saturday, Feb. 7, 1 p.m., reservations required at 301.605.0130, link to winery

Woodhall Wine Cellars, Parkton: Soups of the World ($$), ends this weekend,
all are served with bread from Stone Mill Bakery and Woodhall wine pairing recommendations, reservations are requested at 410.357.8644, link to winery

Other MARYLAND winery events can be found at this link, VIRGINIA events at this link and New York events at this link

$$ – Admission charge

Home winemaker Patone about to take plunge

If you haven’t heard of Mario Patone and you’re at all into regional wineries, you will soon. Off the conversation with Roger Morris last week I got ahold of Patone, a longtime home winemaker, late last week. With his roots in the Abruzzo region of Italy, Patone followed in the footsteps of a number of family members. Only now he has some grander ideas.

By fall, he hopes to have his winery operating in Chester County, no more than a comfortable walk on a pretty day between the Kreutz Creek and Paradocx wineries that will bookend his operation. So close, I joked with him, that visitors attending that Brandywine Valley Wine Trail’s Barrels on the Brandywine could walk to the three wineries rather than drive. “I’m in the middle of them by a mile each,” he said. “They could walk between them; they’d probably burn off a little wine during the walk.”

At the same time, he’ll look to build a combo boutique winery and house on Route 841 in Lancaster County, capping off these past few years in which he decided to become more serious about what has been a hobby up until now.

“I always wanted to be in an entrepreneurial business, “said Patone, a CPA, “and food and wine are an absolute passion of mine. I’ve been with big firms, traveled all over. At this point [I] turned 40 last year, and we’re just trying to head for something a little more simplistic, a little more back to basics. So we decided to try to take the plunge and try to head that way with the food and the wine.”

For now, Patone will continue to source grapes from wineries such as Paradocz, Penns Woods and Waltz Vineyards in Manheim, Lancaster County, until he can begin pulling them out of his own vineyards. He sees the glass half full in terms of whether this is a good time to open a new business.

“Quite honesty, we’re in some interesting economic times and I’m not sure what the recovery is going to b,e but I think regardless there’s going to be a stronger focus on local economies and local tourism,” he said. “I think people will kind of look a little more inward and enjoy the region where they live." And taste a quality of wine that will continue to improve.

"I belong to the [Brandywine Valley] wine trail and I spend time with all the other winemakers. Everybody is very, very motivated to really improve the quality, to really hit the books, so to speak, and crack down and really trying to study and understand what’s going on and really trying to make the region come alive," he said. "As we both know, California was laughed at when it came on line, Washington was laughed at, and people 10 years ago said, ‘Wine from Pennsylvania, you’re nuts.’ But I think that, I know Penns Woods is doing a real nice job and Va La is doing a nice job . . . and they’re making some wines that are starting to turn people’s heads, and they saying ‘Wow, they’re coming from Pennsylvania.’”

Morris: More wineries coming on board

He doesn’t grow grapes, at least not to my knowledge, but wine writer and blogger Roger Morris plays as significant a part in the complexity of this region as a wine producer as anyone bottling the juice from the grapes.

His reviews are posted on several Web sites, and he’s credited with pairing the wines and foods for the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail’s vintners’ dinner that I attended at Longwood Gardens last November. A former writer for the Washington Star, he is in the middle of a long return stint with the Wilmington (Del.) News-Journal, and he occasionally contributes to a blog he created named Been There Tasted That.

Morris said by phone late last week that, from everything he has heard, business at wineries around him remained pretty stable last year in the midst of all the economic obstacles. And while interest in local wines continues to expand, he said the quality keeps increasing.

“As you know, Va La just decided to drop out of [Brandywine Valley] the wine trail so it can concentrate on making high-end wines,” he said. “Obviously at $55 a bottle that they sell, and Penns Woods sells theirs at a pretty high price. Eric Miller [of Chaddsford Winery] routinely has wines in the 30s and 40s [dollar range], so I think that’s working.”

Asked whether they’ve reached a level where they’re worth that much, Morris said it’s not his choice to make that assertion.

“If someone likes it well enough to pay for it, then it’s worth it,” he said. “But from everything that I can see, they are, and I think that without a doubt that [Va La’s] Mahogany is one of the best if not the best red wine that I’ve tasted on the East Coast. The other thing that’s interesting too is that the new wineries continue to have their plans to come onstream. I know that there are some people . . . I know there’s one winemaker for other reasons decided not to move ahead with a new winery, but he already has a winery, just didn’t want to break ground. But the people at the old Folly Hill Winery [Galer Estates], they re going full speed ahead. There’s a new fellow named Mario Patone, who is opening up Patone Cellars in West Grove. He’s been a very large homemaker for a long time and bought grapes this fall and is going to try to have his tasting room open this coming fall. And there’s two wineries opened in Cecil County [Md.] as you know, the past year and half. So, so far, I don’t see any main change in anything. The main thing I’ve heard at Va La that hurts them [is] when the Eagles are playing on Sundays.

“One of the things that Patone did tell me that I thought was interesting to me that may apply to what you’re doing is that he hasn’t decided whether he’s going to do any more than a showcase vineyard where he’s got the property. He’s thinking about even going out around Lancaster where the land is cheaper and whereas as you know there are some people up there who grow grapes. Sp that’s what he’s thinking about, so I guess that the land even in a recession is still fairly higher here to buy for a vineyards.”

Morris said Patone will be one new member expected to essentially replace Va La on the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail. “Since he just joined the wine trail he’s not going to be on their March agenda, when they do the Barrels on the Brandywine . . . I didn’t ask him this, but I was thinking just because of trying to catch the fall events he’s going to try and sell his first wines then.”