Blue Bear Ease blends blueberries, white grapes

Blue Bear Ease?

Could be the name of the horse running in the second race today at Penn National. Maybe something you'd find in the gadget section of Bass Pro Shop. It certainly could be the name of one of those zillion colors that Sherwin Williams includes in its line of paints.

In this case it's the name of a popular blend that winemaker and owner Joanne Levengood nurtures at her Manatawny Creek Winery in Douglassville, Pa., unique. The winery recently sent an e-mail out that bottles of Blue Bear East are back on the shelves. That prompted a note from me to Levengood asking about the wine and its following.

Her reply: "We've been making the Blue Bear Ease for 4 years and we typically make about 500 gallons per year. It is pretty popular. We used to make a straight blueberry sweet dessert wine which I loved but didn't sell all that well. We started blending white grapes with blueberries to make a lighter style of fruit wine that people could enjoy by itself - not just for dessert. The addition of the grapes lowers the acidity of the overall blend and resulted in less sugar needing to be added to bring the wine into balance."

And there you have it.

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."

First stop on Tour: Hauser Estate Winery

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Included a shot looking up at the tasting room from the start of the driveway, several taken from inside the tasting room, and one downstairs in the winery.

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Anyone who has traveled out to Hauser Estate Winery has told me the view is worth whatever the price of admission winds up being. Now I can vouch for that. Rode out during the middle of a chilly Saturday after a workshop at Gettysburg College; it's the same direction you'd head to visit the Adams County Winery. Make a right at the blinking light and you drive less than a mile before you look up on the left and there's the tasting room. It sits at the top of at least a half-mile drive up an unpaved road that snakes into the parking lot adjacent to the building.

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Included a few snapshots I took of the spectacular view and the tasting room; you can enjoy that view either out on a large patio that's built off the tasting room in several directions or through one of the room's enormous windows. There was a crowd in the room Saturday, and another group underground where the winery is located. Those visiting as part of Uncork York's Tour de Tanks had a chance to taste two whites and two reds, grab a bowl of soup, and then move over to where winemaker Michelle Oakes was holding court to sample some reds (a couple of Cab Francs, Chambourcin, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon) out of the Hungarian-oaked barrels.

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Business, said GM Jon Patrono, has been great. The recently revamped Web site now includes, among other things, a blog. The Candlelight Friday events on the last Friday of every month have been packing people into the winery; those tight quarters will ease considerably once the music, goodies and wine all head outdoors this spring and summer.

There are certain obstacles to surmount with a first-year winery; one being supply. Four wines were for sale upstairs: two whites, a Chambourcin and a peach. More cases were stacked in the winery downstairs, awaiting labels. And the reserve wines need another year to age under the guidance of Oakes, a West Coast native who learned her craft at several wineries in the Finger Lakes region. What was particularly good both in color and taste were several of the Cab Francs; the winery brings grapes in from a local vineyard and from a supplier closer to Philly. Indeed, that might wind up being Hauser Estate's signature wine among the reserves that it eventually bottles and markets. Time obviously will tell.

But it's definitely worth the trip this month if you have a Tour de Tanks passport. And, if you're heading over from York, you might want to delay that trip at least one weekend. One, for the weather to warm up so you can somewhat comfortably stand around outside on one of the patios and savor the view and, two, because by then Reid's Orchard & Winery will unlock the doors on his new winery. The owner has been away in Italy and expects to open if not this weekend, then next. That would allow those driving over from eastern and central York County, or from point farther east, to hit Hauser Estate, Adams County and Reid's in one jaunt through Gettysburg and out among the hundreds of acres of orchards that dot the hills to the west of the battlefield. And when you're trying to stop at all 12 wineries in only five weekends, you definitely need a plan.

California contest offers unique criteria

This note on an upcoming wine competition comes courtesy of Jim Trezise and his weekly
e-letter from the New York Wine & Grape Foundation.

LODI INTERNATIONAL WINE AWARDS scheduled for March 8-9 isn’t just another wine competition, as one would expect when Tim Hanni and Pooch Pucilowski are running the show. It’s based on the premise that different people taste differently in terms of sensitivities (hypersensitive, sensitive, and tolerant are the three basic categories), which applies to both judges and consumers alike. The judges are screened according to those categories, including an actual counting of their tastebuds, then placed on panels so there’s a balance. The final awards are provided in a way that consumers can find the wines that best match their own preferences by the judges with similar sensitivities. And wineries which enter the competition receive a sensory evaluation of each wine to determine where the wines fall along the sensitivity continuum, as well as receiving access to “taste budometer” technology that can help determine the taste preferences of their customers. The awards ceremony and tasting will take place on May 1 in Lodi, CA. More info is available at www.lodiwineawards.com.

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."

The Event Grapevine: Feb. 27-March 1

Within the posts of The Wine Classroom have been reports on winery events tied to music, eating and education. Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard adds another one to the list, scheduling some time Saturday in the tasting room after welcoming folks from The Potomac Hunt Club and the New Market-Middletown Valley Hunt Club to a midday joint hunt.

The Web site describes it as something out of the set of an old English movie, a pack of barking foxhounds will be cast into the rough to flush out their elusive and cunning quarry, while riders in their stately colours will traverse the SMV countryside giving chase. What you haven’t seen in the typical movie before are riders retiring to the tasting room for “a bit of wine and repartee.” Sounds like something that one of the wineries along the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail could copy with its location on the rim of Philly’s Main Line, but for now this idea remains uniquely Sugarloaf’s.

That winery, by the way, is celebrating its recent recognition in the 2009 Grand Harvest Awards in Santa Rosa, Calif. It received two silver medals for its 2007 Cabernet Franc and 06 Chardonnay Reserve, along with a bronze medal for our 2007 Comus. This competition is unique in that it is the only one in North America “based on terrior – a group of vineyards (or even vines) from the same region, belonging to a specific appellation, and sharing the same type of soil, weather conditions, grapes and wine making savoir-faire, which contribute to give its specific personality to the wine.” This approach to judging allows for greater consideration for “the complexities and nuances of regional wines.”

It also possesses one of the region’s newsier Web sites, including information on its vineyard. The entry explains: Our unique soil and microclimate create favorable growing conditions, or "terroir", for our carefully selected grapevines. With the expertise of world renowned viticulturist Lucie Morton, in 2002 we selected 19,000 certified French vinifera clones which were grafted on American rootstock by Caldwell Nurseries of northern California. We planted these babies in the spring of 2004, and additional vines of similar pedigree in 2007 and 2008. The care and attention provided by our vineyard manager, Carl DiManno, have produced outstanding results. We hand-pick our grapes, cold-soak them, cold-ferment all our varietals, and age them in French oak barrels (except for our Pinot Grigio, which is aged in a special tank). Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard has planted 3.5 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, 2.5 acres of Pinot Grigio, 2 acres of Chardonnay, 1.5 acres of Merlot, 2 acres of Cabernet Franc, .5 acre of Petit Verdot, and .25 acre of Malbec. We plan to plant an additional 15,000 certified French Bordeaux clones in the next several years.

Sugarloaf already has its wines served at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and wouldn’t mind adding another home in D.C. to its distribution list: the White House. Hmmm. Does one drink red or white after an exhausting game of hoops? Anyone have a suggestion?

As for what’s going on elsewhere, both this weekend and beyond, take a look:

PENNSYLVANIA WINERIES

Adams County Winery, Orrtanna: Wine Appreciation class ($$), Saturday, March 21, 6 to 8:30 p.m.; Tour de Tanks, starting Saturday at all Uncork York wineries, link to winery

Allegro Vineyards, Brogue: Fridays’ Weekly Winedown ($$), 4 to 7 p.m.; Sweet & Spicy Saturdays ($$), 2 to 5 p.m.; Sip & Savor Sundays ($$), 2 to 5 p.m., all require reservations at 741.3072, all events at the Wine Gallery in Olde Tollgate Village EXCEPT for Tour de Tanks ($$), which starts Saturday at all Uncork York wineries, link to winery

Black Walnut Winery, Sadsburyville: Barrels on the Brandywine ($$), starting Sunday and continuing every weekend in March at all Brandywine Valley Wine Trail wineries, link to winery

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

Chaddsford Winery, Chaddsford: Wine & Chocolate Tasting ($$), Saturday, seatings at 1, 2:30 and 4 p.m.; Barrels on the Brandywine ($$), starting Sunday and continuing every weekend in March at all Brandywine Valley Wine Trail wineries; reserve tastings ($$) begin in March, 1, 2:30 and 4 p.m. every Saturday; winemaker dinner ($$) at Caffe Gelato, Newark, Del., Sunday, March 22, 6 p.m., link to winery
Clover Hill Vineyards & Winery, Breinigsville: Annual wine rack sale ($$), all Clover Hill locations, through March 8; March Madness ($$), passport required, a Lehigh Valley Wine Trail event; beginner tasting class ($$), Saturday, April 25, 3 p.m., link to winery

Country Creek Winery, Salford Township: Dinner at Brazzo Downtown ($$), Thursday, March 26; Liquid Fridge will perform, Saturday, March 28, 6 to 9 p.m., link to winery

Crossing Vineyards & Winery, Washington Crossing: Wine and food pairing ($$), Saturday, March 14, 7:30 p.m.; Wine Tasting for Dummies ($$), Sunday, March 15, 2 p.m.; St. Patrick’s Day celebration ($$), Tuesday, March 17, 7:30 p.m.; Wine 101, at the Wine Institute ($$), 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., topic on Friday, March 23, is An Introduction to Wine, link to winery

Cullari Vineyards & Winery, Hershey: Tour de Tanks ($$), starting Saturday at all Uncork York wineries, link to winery

Four Springs Winery, Seven Valleys: Tour de Tanks ($$), starting Saturday at all Uncork York wineries, link to winery

Franklin Hill Vineyards, Bangor: Free winery tour, Wednesdays at noon, link to winery

Hauser Estate Winery, Biglerville: Candle Light Friday/Happy Hour, Today, 5 to 8 p.m., warm food and live music Ray Owens will perform and Crossroads will cater; Tour de Tanks ($$), starting Saturday at all Uncork York wineries, 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.; Barrels on the Brandywine ($$), starting Sunday and continuing every weekend in March at all Brandywine Valley Wine Trail wineries, link to winery

Manatawny Creek Winery, Douglasville: 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. through February; Tour de Tanks ($$), starting Saturday at all Uncork York wineries, link to winery

Naylor Wine Cellars, Stewartstown: Tour de Tanks ($$), starting Saturday at all Uncork York wineries; Forget The Taxes and red Wine Dinner, Saturday, April 18, 3 to 6 p.m., and Sunday, April 19, 2 to 5 p.m., link to winery

Nissley Vineyards & Winery Estate, Bainbridge: Tour de Tanks ($$), starting Saturday at all Uncork York wineries, link to winery

Paradocx Vineyard, Landenberg: Barrels on the Brandywine ($$), starting Sunday and continuing every weekend in March at all Brandywine Valley Wine Trail wineries, link to winery

Penns Woods Winery, Eddystone: Barrels on the Brandywine ($$), starting Sunday and continuing every weekend in March at all Brandywine Valley Wine Trail wineries, link to winery

Pinnacle Ridge Winery, Kutztown: March Madness ($$), passport required, a Lehigh Valley Wine Trail event, link to winery

Reid’s Ochards & Winery, Ortanna: Opening March 7; Tour de Tanks ($$), at all Uncork York wineries, link to information

Rose Bank Winery, Newtown: Spring Art Fest, Friday, March 20, 5 to 8 p.m., Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.;Winter Wine Concert Series, Sundays through March 29, 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

Seven Valleys Vineyard & Winery, Glen Rock: Tour de Tanks ($$), starting Saturday at all Uncork York wineries, link to winery

Stargazers Vineyard & Winery, Coatesville: Barrels on the Brandywine ($$), starting Sunday and continuing every weekend in March at all Brandywine Valley Wine Trail wineries, 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: Barrels on the Brandywine ($$), starting Sunday and continuing every weekend in March at all Brandywine Valley Wine Trail wineries, link to winery

Va La Vineyards, Avondale: Open Thursdays and Fridays, noon to 5 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 6 p.m.; David Oleski exhibit, Saturday, www.davidoleski.com; a proud participant this year in the 2009 Avondale League of Octogenarians Spring Swimsuit Festival, link to winery

Vynecrest Vineyards & Winery, Breinigsville: Mardi Gras Saturday, Feb. 28, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.; March Madness ($$), passport required, a Lehigh Valley Wine Trail event, link to winery

Waltz Vineyards, Manheim: Winery opens its new tasting room tomorrow, noon to 5 p.m., will be open every Saturday through March 28, or by appointment, link to winery

West Hanover Winery, Harrisburg: Tour de Tanks ($$), starting Saturday at all Uncork York wineries, link to winery


MARYLAND WINERIES

Basignani Winery, Sparks: Pizza and herbs ($$), April 18-19, noon to 5 p.m., link to winery

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; wine and cheese pairing class ($$), Sunday, 2 to 4 p.m., to book your spot, visit The Wine Coach or call Barb at 410-428-6693; St. Paddy’s Day with the Bog Band, Sunday, March 15, noon to 5 p.m., link to winery

Boordy Vineyards, Hydes: Fond of You Fondue ($$), Saturdays in February, 1 to 5 p.m.; Stew in Our Juices ($$), homemade stews and wine pairing, with musical entertainment, every Sunday in March, 1 to 5 p.m., winery link

Frederick Cellars, Frederick: Happy Hour, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. every weekday, glasses are half-price; Music in the Cellar, Saturday, March 7, 7 p.m., link to winery

Fiore Winery, Pylesville: Wine tasting dinner at Liberatore’s in Bel Air ($$), Saturday, March 14, link to winery

Sugarloaf Mountain, Dickerson: Red wine sensory tasting seminar ($$), Saturday, March 7, 1 p.m.; soup will be served in the tasting room on Saturdays and Sundays throughout February; Friday Flights ($$) is every Friday from 2 to 4 p.m., which consist of 3 half glasses of SMV wine, each paired with an appropriate cheese, fruit or chocolate, reservations at 301.605.0130, link to winery

Woodhall Wine Cellars, Parkton: Annual barrel sale, futures sale and chocolate tasting ($$), extending every weekend through March 29, 2 to 4 p.m., call 410.357.8644 or send an e-mail to reserve your spots; Patricia Della Casual Fine Dining will be serving lunch and dinner from noon to 3 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. each weekend by reservation (410.357.5078), 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

PASSPORT WEEKENDS

Tour de Tanks, starting Feb. 28 and continuing every weekend in March, noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays, cost is $15 per person, pick up tickets at any participating winery or order online here, wineries include Adams County, Allegro, Cullari, Four Springs, Fox Ridge, Hauser Estate, Moondancer, Naylor, Nissley, Reid’s Orchard, Seven Valleys and West Hanover; information on Meet the Winemaker dinners here.

Barrels on the Brandywine, starting March 1 and continuing every weekend in March, noon to 5 p.m., cost is $25 per person, pick up tickets at any participating winery or order online here, wineries include Black Walnut, Chaddsford, Kreutz Creek, Paradocx, Penns Woods, Stargazers and Twin Brook.

$$ – Admission charge

Past meets present at Naylor Tour stop

Wander into Naylor Wine Cellars in Stewartstown during the Tour de Tanks event that begins Saturday and you're likely to get more than a sip of the present. You'll also receive a taste of the past.

“That’s what I'm trying to do, let them try to take something home with them besides the wine,” owner Dick Naylor said by phone on Wednesday. “Let them take some knowledge home, some history, so they get some feel of what the wine industry is all about.”

Tour de Tanks will begin its fourth year this weekend, incorporating 12 wineries that come together once a year as the Uncork York wine trail for this event. Passports cost $15 per person and entitle holders to stop in at each winery and sample some of their goods while learning a few of the basics of how the wine is produced. Each winery lays out a spread of food, some catered and others prepared in the kitchen of the adjoining home. The idea, one shared by other wine trails in the region, has mushroomed into something grander than anyone could have imagined.

“It’s great. Last year we had 1,014 [come in for Tour de Tanks],” Naylor said, noting they had around 200 the first year. “Each year it has jumped. Last year it really jumped. And the nice thing about it . . . we get people who hear about it and come in from northern Virginia, from Maryland, from Jersey, from Delaware. Some come down from New York even. The B&Bs are making out like crazy, same with the hotels. So it’s a win-win for everybody. We're really looking forward to it.”

Naylor said he'll go through around 100 bottles of wine that visitors will try as samples during the four weekends that the event runs. He'll also dole out some history lessons, maybe noting that while his winery was the first one in York County when it opened in 1975, it actually has a predecessor who was picking grapes and making wine early in the 19th century along the banks of the Susquehanna River in Wrightsville. And, if you really want to dig deeper, you can research the early work done by William Penn, who planted a vineyard of French vinifera in 1683 around Philadelphia.

That's well before Naylor was scouting York County for a place to grow grapes, lured by the adage that wherever peaches grow, grapes can grow. Others have followed; indeed the 14 wineries in York County, Naylor said, is the most in any one county in the state.

“It's because we have a fantastic area to grow grapes,” he said. “Our high plateau . . . we're at 1,000-foot elevation here, we have everything going for us. Good air and drainage, just enough breeze to keep the vines dried off. The soil is such that the grapes don’t have wet feet, they call it, because it drains so well. We’ve been growing grapes for 34 years and we've never had frost damage on a bud in the springtime nor in the fall while we had fruit in the vine. Hardly any place in the United States can make that statement. So we’ve been blessed [here].”

Tour de Tanks, in essence, becomes a chance for Naylor and the other 11 winery proprietors to share their stories of a fraternity, he said, that's worldwide. “My wife and I have had the good fortune of traveling all over Europe, New Zealand, Australia, and wherever we go we bring our wine along and brochures," he said. "And we’ll see some people out in the vineyards in Italy or Germany working and we’ll go up and try to converse with them. And once we let them know that we’re a winery owner in America, you’re like a brother that's come home. We have a couple of German families that we wouldn’t dare go over there unless we stayed a couple nights at their home. I think all of agriculture has a little of that, but I think wine, because Mother Nature is a little tougher to work with than when growing corn or wheat, so we’re at it 12 months a year. That’s the way the wine business is.”