Two events on tap at Crossing Vineyards

Flatt (left) and Mino

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These two workshops loom on the horizon at Crossing Vineyards & Winery in Washington Crossing, Pa., one of the most active of the regional wineries for educational opportunities.

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For anyone overwhelmed when the waiter presents a leather-bound wine list, Crossing Vineyards and Winery in Washington Crossing, Pa. is offering some help from wine writer Colin Flatt.

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The winery is presenting a “Wine List Survival Guide” workshop with Flatt from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 10, at the winery, 1853 Wrightstown Road.

Participants will learn how to navigate intimidating restaurant wine lists and choose a great, reasonably-priced wine.

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Flatt, who holds a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Temple University, learned to appreciate wine while living in Italy, he said. He continued to collect wine when he returned to the states and began studying its culture and history. Realizing, he said, “that reading books can only teach you so much,” Collin began attending classes at the Wine School of Philadelphia. Under the tutelage of Keith Wallace and Brian Freedman, he says, he discovered he had a “sharp palate” and was ready to devote his time fully to wine culture.
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Cost of the course is $20 and includes wine tasting and printed material.

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The day before, on Sunday the 9th, Crossing Vineyards will offer answers to some often-asked questions related to the use of alcohol when physician and wine enthusiast Dr. David Mino offers a workshop “Wine and Wellness: Eat, Drink and Be Healthy.” It's scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.

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The one-hour course, which will include a wine-tasting, is based on Gene Ford’s best-selling book, “The French Paradox,” which explores the connection between daily wine consumption in France and the lower rate of heart disease among the French.
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Mino, an orthopedic surgeon from Washington Crossing, earned his medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine and his wine expertise – which began 30 years ago with a wine appreciation class at Moravian College - through his own studies and travels through Sonoma and Napa Valley, New York’s Finger Lakes, Switzerland, the Northern and Central regions of Italy, and the Champagne, Rhone, Burgundy and Loire regions of France.

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For the past 20 years, Mino, who also designs wine cellars, has been lecturing on the sensory evaluation and analysis of wine, proper pairings and the health benefits of wine.
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Cost of the workshop is $20.

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Reservations for either event can be made by calling 215.493.6500, ext. 19, or by accessing the winery's Web site.

Fall tour: Newtown's Rose Bank Winery

It’s a thread from the same spool that has been pulled through the past few stories. Dave Fleming, owner of Rose Bank Winery, is feeling it wind around him and tighten just like many area winemakers and proprietors.

In his case, what’s tugging on his schedule is the Buck County Wine Trail’s Nouveau Release that’s scheduled for Nov. 15 and 16. “I’m working the Nouveau right now,” he said by phone the other day, “and I’m expecting to bottle that in another two weeks, planning on bottling it the 13th. I’m actually trying to bottle before that; the 13th is just a little too close. It sort of makes me nervous.”

He’s readying the Chancellor grape for the wine trail’s version of what has become more and more an international tradition: a release of a fruit-forward wine right before Thanksgiving and the five weeks that follow. Last year the trail called it a Nouvelle release, and Fleming instead was crushing and bottling his Vidal grapes. “This year we’re going back to the red grape,” he said. That weekend will kickoff for Rose Bank with a Friday evening celebration, from 5 to 8 o’clock, that will feature the new wine and hors d’oeuvres. The festivities will continue from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.

In addition, Fleming said, the winery is planning a DiBruno Cheeses tasting in November and December, and also a Tots for Tots Ball on the fiorst Saturday night (Dec. 6) in December. “They have a band and they have caterers who come in and provide food,” he said. “There’s food and dancing, of course, wine drinking. It will be the third year. It really took off last year. This year we’re not going to have ticket sales at the door. Last year we sort of got swamped at the door and had to bring more tables and chairs out. It got a little hairy there for a while. So we do have to limit the number.”

Dave, who runs the winery along with wife Beverly, said the business has been going strong since the opening in 2000. “This wine thing is just, for the last five, six years, has been booming,” he said. “There’s more wineries coming into it. And our last couple of years the growing conditions have been extremely good. I mean, we’ve had conditions the past two years similar to California in terms of rain the last six, eight weeks.”

Asked about his signature wines, Fleming mentioned his Proprietors Reserve Cabernet and their blackberry dessert wine. It’s one of seven sweet wines of the 21 sold by Rose Bank. “To tell you the truth, 80 percent of the people who come through the front door go for the sweet,” he said of a wine list that includes blueberry, cranberry and red raspberry. “I think some people are finally getting the idea that you can make wine out of fruit. And grapes are a fruit. And so is a raspberry. And you can make a good wine out of raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, all that.”

Probably the other thing that sets apart Rose Bank from other wineries is that they don’t charge for tastings. Some in the region charge as much as $7 for tastings; you tend to find the price lower or nonexistent as you head north into the Lehigh Valley or west into York. But being where Rose Bank is located, in Bucks County, it’s a question they hear often. Fleming has a succinct answer. “We’re doing very well, so [why charge]?” he said. “I think where our prices are, if we were to contemplate charging, I think I’d just raise the price [of the wine] a little bit."

Fall tour: Kreutz Creek Winery

I tracked down owner Carole Kirkpatrick mid-week at the Kreutz Creek Winery in West Grove, Pa., doing any number of tasks now that harvest has come to a close. Calling it a really good year, Kirkpatrick said the only problem of the next few weeks it trying to do it all: pressing grapes, racking, and then bottling. Oh, and there’s those holidays beating a path for the door that will keep Carol and husband Jim plenty occupied.

Their winery is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, plus they have a Bring Your Own Food tasting room at 44 E. Gay St. in West Chester that’s open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays thought Thursdays and Fridays and Saturdays from 1 a.m. to 9 p.m. They offer music from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

While they sell a variety of reds and whites, Carole said one of the pleasant surprises has been the sale of the port wine. “I’ll tell you what, we cannot keep that on the shelf,” she said. “It keeps going, going, going, so we’re really happy with that.”

Jim works full time, leaving evenings and weekends to get to the many chores that await at the winery. That’s the primary reason why, as Carole explained, “We don’t bottle 3,000 cases [of something] at a time. We bottle in smaller lots, and that’s why we can’t keep it on the shelf. He’ll get 50 or 60 cases done, and another month or so later he’ll need another 60 cases.”

Called a dessert wine on their Web site, it’s described as a liquid with a cherry flavor complemented by dark chocolate. It sells for $14.99.

“There are some folks who really think of it as a fireplace wine,” she said, but we sold it all summer long. We’ve had it out for about a year and a half, maybe not quite that long. It’s just been very popular.”

'Drink NY' promotion gaining momentum

This comes out of the New York weekly e-letter, on the subject of promoting state wines that I covered with foundation director Jim Tresize a month or so ago.

LOCAVORE & LOCAPOUR seem to be catching on in the Big Apple, according to the way restaurants and consumers are behaving these days. I spent most of the week in New York City, arguably the world’s most competitive wine market, and there is not only awareness, but enthusiasm, for local foods and wines. At BLT Market, a highly successful, seasonally-focused restaurant on 59th St. right across from Central Park, the wine list is undergoing a transformation after the beverage director took a trip to the Finger Lakes. At the French bistro Brasserie Les Halles on Park Ave., the special selection of New York wines is accompanied by a special menu featuring foods of New York as well.

The Cornell Club hosted a fabulous New York-centric winemakers’ dinner featuring many New York foods paired with wines of Channing Daughters of Long Island and King Ferry Winery (Treleaven) in the Finger Lakes. The sommelier at Chef Waldy Malouf’s Beacon restaurant said the “New York Wines & Dines” promotion had gone well, that New York wines sell much more readily now, and he intends to continue featuring some after the promotion ends. But the real highlight was a Wednesday night fundraiser for the parent organization of the New York City Greenmarkets, where a couple dozen of the City’s top chefs created recipes using farm fresh products gleaned at the Greenmarket that day. Thanks to the initiative of our colleagues at Wine & Food Associates, only New York wines were poured, reinforcing the “local” focus, and the consumer reaction was great—curious, enthusiastic, and supportive.

Wycombe releases spice wine

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Wycombe Vineyards in Furlong, Pa., has just announced the release of its first spice wine, called Everything Nice! This wine is made from Chardonnay and spiece, and served warm. It's selling for $15.

The winery hours are noon to 6 p.m., Fridays through Saturdays.

Event Grapevine: Oct. 31-Nov. 2 (and beyond)

PENNSYLVANIA WINERIES

Blue Mountain Vineyards, New Tripoli: Fall Foliage Tasting ($$), every Sunday through the end of November, with the exception of Nov. 9, 2 to 5 p.m., http://www.bluemountainwine.com

Chaddsford Winery, Chaddsford: Reserve tastings ($$), Saturday, sittings at 1, 2:30 and 4 p.m.; Sommelier’s Secrets of Holiday Wine and Food Pairings ($$), Friday, Nov. 7, 7 to 9 p.m., taught by wine educator Marnie Old, reservations at 610.388.6221; Brandywine Valley Wine Trail Vintners’ Dinner ($$),. Longwood Gardens, 6:30 to 11:30 p.m., special guest and speaker is Joel Peterson, winemaker/president and founder of Ravenswood Winery in Sonoma, Calif., make online reservations for $135 per person at bvwinetrail.com or call 610.444.3842 or 866.390.4367, http://www.chaddsford.com

Clover Hill, Breinigsville: Beginner wine tasting class ($$), Saturday, from 3 to 4:30 p.m., reservations required at 1-800-CLOVERHILL, www.cloverhillwinery.com

Clover Mill Farm Vineyards & Winery, Chester Springs: Open again, Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m., http://www.clovermillfarm.com/

Country Creek Winery, Telford: Country Creek Winery in the Barn ($$), Saturday, Nov. 8, 6 to 9 p.m., Squirrel Tail Breakfast, http://www.countrycreekwinery.com/

Hauser Estate Winery, Biglerville: New winery open, Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.; Friday Spooktacular, today, 31, 5 to 7 p.m., Happy Hour with live music, http://www.hauserestate.com/

Galen Glen Vineyard & Winery, Andreas: Winter Wine Release, Saturday, Nov. 1, and Sunday, Nov. 2, http://www.galenglen.com

Moon Dancer Vineyards & Winery, Wrightsville: Music every Saturday (2 to 5 p.m.) and Sunday, 2 to 5 p.m.; Halloween party, tonight, 6 to 9 o'clock, with music by A.D. Chandler, best costume wins a prize, bring your scariest food; Vineyard Hike & Mulled Wine ($$), Saturday, Nov. 8, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., http://www.moondancerwinery.com

Naylor Wine Cellars, Stewartstown: Home for the Holidays dinner ($$), Saturday, Nov. 8, 3 to 6 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 9, 2 to 5 p.m., reservations required, http://www.naylorwine.com/


MARYLAND WINERIES

Black Ankle Winery, Mt. Airy: Open for business, winner of Maryland Governor’s Cup in 2008; hours: Wednesday - Friday: noon to 5 p.m., Saturday: noon to 6 p.m., Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., information on winery at this link

Frederick Wine Cellars, Frederick: Hallo”wine” party, tonight, 7 to 11 o'clock, information at this link

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

$$ – Admission charge

Fall tour: Adams County Winery

Harvest admittedly is the busiest time of the year for wineries, lasting several weeks to more than a month. So now what, John Kramb of Adams County Winery in Orrtanna, Pa., was asked yesterday?

Kramb said he’ll turn his attention to strategic planning. And he’ll certainly keep an eye on what’s going on elsewhere in the operation as we get ready to tear off another calendar sheet and suddenly come face to face with November.

“We are preparing, of course, for Thanksgiving and the holidays,” he said, “getting items in for that, for gifts and stuff. [And] all those grapes we got have to be processed and that includes the crushing, the destemming, the pressing, transferring from tank to tank or what we call racking. That’s the grapes we process this year, and for last year’s grapes we’re doing lots of bottling.”

There is some urgency to getting that done, Kramb said, “because we’re running out of things . . . running out of space and wine. Like, let’s see, so far we’ve done some Rebel Red and Tears of Gettysburg. This month they’re setting up to do our sweet Catawba for bottling. We need to get our apple ready and our Fireside Memories for the holidays. So all of that takes time.”

Kramb said some shoppers will use the bottles for gift baskets. Other will come looking for specific wines because of the time of the year. “Especially with the cold air coming, they’ll like the apple wine mulled,” he said. “The Fireside Memories is good for holiday meals. We also have some new products this year. We have some blackberry wine . . . we have ice wine in limited quantities. So, yes, we’re finding stuff to do.”

That’s the primary reason they take a hiatus from the classes and entertainment that runs primarily from spring into fall. They will welcome a few small tours and plenty of customers through December. In January, Kramb said, they’ll crank up the classes again and begin the cycle anew.

But that’s getting ahead of things, especially in a euphoria of what Kramb called a very good year in the vineyard. “We tried some different growing techniques, which resulted in not only a better crop as far as tonnage but as far as wine quality.” he said. “The sugars, the acids, the pH were all much better. You know, we’ve had some good years, but this one turned out very nicely.”