Crossing Vineyards list two Riedel workshops, wine and chocolate pairing

Crossing Vineyards & Winery in Washington Crossing, Pa., will toast the holidays with a tasting workshop Dec. 27 (and Jan. 24), featuring four of its premium wines served in Riedel Crystal specifically designed for each varietal. It also will offer a wine and chocolate pairing workshop Jan. 3. Included below some specifics, and you can learn more about other Crossing events and its wines at this link.

Sunday, Dec. 27, 2009, and Jan. 24, 2010

Riedel Crystal Wine-Tasting Workshop, In 90-minute class, sample premium wines in Riedel Vinum glasses, analyzing taste difference using various shapes and sizes of stemware. 2 p.m. starting time both days. Crossing Vineyards & Winery, 1853 Wrightstown Road, Washington Crossing, PA. Cost: $99, includes Riedel sampling kit with four glasses. Anyone purchasing Riedel stemware will receive 50 percent off a second item. Information and reservations: 215-493-6500, ext. 19 or www.crossingvineyards.com.

Sunday, Jan. 3

How Sweet It Is: Pairing Wine & Chocolate, Tips on enjoying wine and chocolate together, presented by Eric Cavatore, sommelier at Crossing Vineyards and Winery; 2 p.m., Jan. 3, Crossing Vineyards and Winery, 1853 Wrightstown Road, Washington Crossing, Pa. Cost: $35, includes samples, learning materials and the Lindt Chocolate bar of the participant’s choice. Information and reservations: 215-493-6500, ext. 19 or www.crossingvineyards.com.

Call ahead before you made any winery visits throughout the region this weekend

Based on my conversations with some wineries around the region, if you can get out and are tending to visit one later this afternoon or tomorrow, call ahead. Some never opened, others opened and then closed early. Saw where Fiore Winery in Pylesville, Md., closed on what was its Customer Appreciation Weekend and wasn't exactly sure if it would reopen on Sunday. Check the Web site. Once it does reopen, it will extend its 21 percent off sale through Christmas Eve. The winery is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Fiore's Customer Appreciation Weekend still a go

Customer Appreciation Weekend is still on at Fiore Winery in Pylesville, Md. Just got off the phone with them, one of a number of calls they're received today about the event, which is scheduled to run Saturday and Sunday.

Should the predicted storm for the winery to close, then expect to find that information on the winery Web site and on its Facebook page. Also expect Fiore, as well as many of the other regional wineries, to probably extend their sales past the present deadlines.

Admission to Fiore is free, where the winery will serve light refreshments and Rose Fiore's fresh-baked Italian cookies. All cases of Fiore wine, solid or mixed, will be 21 percent off . The winery will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and noon to 5 on Sunday.

Lehigh Valley wineries list invididual schedules

Been AWOL for a week trying to stay afloat with my other job, so I apologize. Most obvious subject heading into this final weekend before Christmas is the bad timing of this prdicted snowsotrm for wineries trying to unload product and gifts before the holiday.

With that in mind, let me post a couple of e-letter that I received about activities at several wineries over the next week or so.

Courtesy of PR ace Courtney Romain, here's the listings of what the wineries on the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail in eastern Pennsylvania have planned.

• Amoré Vineyards: The warmed Spiced Apple is always a special holiday treat. A cinnamon stick makes it even more festive. The brave and bold enjoy it with apple pie. Open daily until Christmas.
• Blue Mountain Vineyards is offering a new release of its Sparkling Peach ($19.50). It is a semi-sweet sparkling wine produced with succulent peaches and alive with sparkling bubbles. Blue Mountain also offers an Adopt a Vine Program for that wine lover who has everything on your gift list. Purchase a vine and receive a certificate explaining the program to present to the recipient. The first year they receive a plaque to be placed on their vine and for five years thereafter they will receive a specially labeled bottle of wine for the varietals you have chosen. The winery will be open Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and will be closed Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
• Clover Hill Vineyards & Winery: Share the grape of the Lehigh Valley, Chambourcin, with friends and family this holiday season. Clover Hill makes two styles of Chambourcin: 2008 Chambourcin ($14.99) is a dry, oak-aged medium body red with rich, luscious berry flavors and a warm toasty oak. The Turtle Rock Red is a lighter, fruiter version of the Chambourcin made in stainless steel tanks with just a hint of residual sugar. Celebrate the holidays with local flavor! Open Monday – Saturday from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon – 5 p.m. Closed Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
• Galen Glen Vineyard & Winery: The winery suggests custom labeled wines as a great gift; an extensive collection of artwork with your personalized message for a flat fee of $10, plus cost of the wine. Minimum order is a case (12 bottles). Through January 3, 2010, Galen Glen will be open Sunday through Friday noon -5 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Also open Christmas Eve 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Closed: Christmas Day and New Years Day.
• Pinnacle Ridge offers great gift baskets for holiday giving. Choose your wine, wine accessories and gourmet foods and create your own special gift for that special someone. The winery is open Sunday through Friday (except Christmas Day and New Year’s Day) from noon- 6:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Open until 6:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve for those last minute wine and gift purchases!
• Vynecrest Vineyards & Winery’s Spiced Winter Red ($9.99 a bottle), a seasonal holiday wine, is reminiscent of a German Gluwein, which can be served warm with Christmas cookies or fruitcake. Spiced Winter Red is available in a three pack, specially priced for December at $25.00. Starting Thursday, December 17, the winery is open every day from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., until Christmas Eve (open 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.). Closed Christmas Day, then open December 26 - 29, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m., December 31 open 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
  

Basignani holiday open house Saturday/Sunday; among a number being held around the region

Safe to say that wineries across the region want one thing this weekend, and that's good weather for their holiday open houses. Some, such as Basignani Winery in Sparks, Md., held their first of two weekends last Saturday and Sunday and spent a lot of time, well, maybe sipping their own wine as the snow fell outside their windows. Lynne Basignani said by phone a few minutes ago that all they want are some crowds this weekend after the weather kept a lot of people indoors last weekend.

Basignani will hold Part 2 of its annual open house from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Cost is $8 per person, which covers a tasting glass that visitors can take with them, wine tastings and food such as bread, cheeses and Christmas cookies. Lynne said they served hot mulled wine last weekend made out of Marisa, what the winery terms its version of a Beaujolais with a little more structure. The fruity mix includes a blend of Foch, Chambourcin and Chancellor grapes.

At least give Piccolo, the winery's newest offering, a try. Tasted it after harvesting in October and really liked it. The red table wine pairs equal parts of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and sells for $11.99/bottle. Works superbly with any kind of pasta or a beef or steak dish.

Sand Castle opens TASTE, unveils 2 new wines

Two recent wine releases and a new store have the folks at Sand Castle Winery in Erwinna, Pa., buzzing. A suburban Philly winery that's a member of the Bucks County Wine Trail, it recently came out with a 2006 Pinot Noir and a 2004 Chardonnay Classic. About the Pinot Noir, general sales manager Peter Ricci said was tasting "very good, good fruit, with raspberry flavors to it. Pinot Noir is hot, that's just a given in the marketplace." It's selling for $30/bottle.

The 2004 Chard hardly sounds like a new release, but it emerges from three years aging in French oak. "It has really nice flavors of vanilla and almonds and caramel. You really pick up the French oak in the wine," Ricci said. That's available at $17/bottle. Three years in a barrel is probably as long as any winery in the region ages its Chard.

Ricci said the winery's new retail store, called TASTE, is located in a former Starbucks shop at the Valley Square Shopping Center, 711 Easton Road, in Warrington, Pa. You can purchase wine there, but that's just part of what Ricci called selling a gourmet experience that includes wine-related gift items, a coffee bar, a wine bar, an imported olive oil and balsamic vinegar bar, gourmet cheeses and gourmet foods. Samples are scattered throughout the shop, giving customers a chance to try things before they purchase them. Hence, the name of the shop. The hours at TASTE are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.

This isn't the winery's first attempt at an off-site retail outlet. Last year it tried a kiosk at a mall in Lower Bucks County that Ricci said "worked reasonably well" for awhile. The economy took some of the initial burst away, and so did the mall insisting that the kiosk be opened when the mall was. During the holiday season, that could mean as early as sunrise. "Well, how many people are going to buy wine at 6 o'clock in the morning?" Ricci asked. "We didn't lose money last year, but it just simply wasn't worth all the time and effort we had to put into it."

Looking for a wine job? You could start by attending Thursday class at Philly's Wine School

So many people these days are making decisions about their lives and careers, whether out of necessity or simply out of unhappiness or fear about what the future holds. This morning at the Harrisburg-Patriot News we talked about covering a midday job fair at the Giant Center in Hershey, which turned out drawing around 500.

Within that context was the blurb I saw on the holiday e-letter from the Wine School of Philadelphia, 2006 Fairmount Ave., which I've blogged about in the past and have its Web site linked to my blog. School founder Keith Wallace wrote about a one-hour talk and wine tasting he's planning tomorrow (Thursday, Dec. 10) on how to get into the wine industry. Cost for a workshop that Wallace has entitled Becoming the Next Robert Parker is $18, primarily to cover the expenses for the wine.

Wallace said this idea is an extension of the one-on-one discussions he's already having with his students at the nine-year-old school, helping them not only decide what they want to do but finding the route to get there. He said a number of those students have gone on to successful career as either a winemaker or the owner of a company that has a connection to wine. "You're not going to make great money," he said, "but you can have a decent living and actually be able to enjoy life and be your own boss. And in this economy, why not do what you love?" So, he continued, he'll talk on Thursday about how to scout out these potential jobs and find a niche.

And those opportunities to make money do exist, he noted, although at one point breaking into a laugh and noting "not in wine education, by the way. Most of the money I make comes from a lot of the other things I do on the side." He noted that while the wine industry as a whole is hugely regulated, "it's like the Wild West. It's highly regulated, but state by state there are no clear dominant leaders, except in distribution, but it's a place . . . that you can really start something and ramp up very quickly, to the point of actually becoming a national figure, or at least a regional figure and turning that into a company."

Showtime is 6 p.m. Thursday at the school, which offers an A to Z of classes from 101s to more specialized education experiences such as Napa Valley & Beyond and Winter Cooking and Wine Class. Even saw a special wine and food arrangement that Wallace is cooking up with Luca Garutti, the chef at nearby L'Oca Bistro. That four-course dinner and Italian wine class is on the calendar for Wednesday, Jan. 13, from 6 to 9 p.m. Cost is $52 per person, taxes and tip not included.