Make way for newest Maryland winery: Galloping Goose to start welcoming visitors in 2 weeks

Some people spend a summers visiting all the baseball stadiums in the country, or all the minor-league parks in their area.

Me? I keep a scorecard that allows me to record how many wineries I can visit in a year, and I see where another one will be put into play later on this month.

Galloping Goose Vineyards in Hampstead, Md., notes on its Web site that it will give visitors a first peek at the premises from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31, and Sunday, Nov. 1. There will be wine tastings, light fare and winery tours, along with a barrel tasting of wine that will be released next year. Some of you might already have tasted wines from the northern Carroll County producer when you attended the Maryland Wine Festival. And maybe you tasted so many wines that day that they all blended together.

The winery is located on 27 acres of rolling countryside. Directions from I-83 seem simple: Get off at Mt. Carmel Road, then head toward Hampstead. Travel 6 miles to the light at Falls Road. Turn right onto Falls Road and then left onto Brick Store Road. Take that to the second road on the left, which is Maple Grove Road. You'll see the vineyards on the right.

Report: With higher rain and fewer degree days, harvest promises to be a bumpy ride for vintners

I've been sharing excerpts from the monthly e-letters that Mark Chien, who is Pennsylvania's wine grape educator, sends to his clients and friends. Some of the terminology and subject matter can get more technical than many novices want to or can absorb, but for those like myself who share an interest in all that goes on to produce the wine, it's meaty stuff. Plus it often makes you realize just how many hurdles these folks jump over to turn out each year's vintage.

Mentioned in other recent posts how bad the season has been for most grapes; just too much rain throughout much of the state. And that's what Chien references in one of the items that came via e-mail on Monday.

I've been stuck in the mud as far as posts these past couple weeks. Have three or four interviews to get up, but between work and school and a nasty cold, I'm behind on things. Worst part is trying to stay away from alcohol and, thus, not drinking any wine. Well, maybe the worst part was having tickets to the Maryland Wine Festival in Westminster this past weekend and being too sick to go. Kevin, we'll try again next September.

Anyway, Chien writes:

The weather has improved but by no means is this vintage out of the woods. Dry periods like we are experiencing are great for putting the brakes on disease conditions, if only temporarily and moving the physiology of berry ripeness forward. The conditions of this vintage are pretty much etched in stone and even with good weather we won't make much brix progress. I think the idea now is to push fruit as far as possible to gain flavors, phenolic balance and drop acid, especially in red varieties.

All of your work with disease control, canopy management, crop adjustment, etc are either paying dividends now are maybe indicating what should have been done but if the work isn't done by veraison [Editor's note: the terms for when wine grapes change color], it is mostly too late to catch up. Gazing at fruit chemistry data from our colleagues to the north (statewide NY data in their Veraison to Harvest newsletter) it is pretty certain, as you have surmised by now, that we are staring at a low sugar year. The data from the Lake Erie Regional Grape Program is even more scary - current degree days are 24 days behind 2008 and a whopping 33 behind '07. It's hard to quite know what to do about making still wine in these conditions.

But low sugar doesn't have to mean low flavor and-or balance. I remember vintages like this in cool-rainy Oregon and one of the nicest Pinots we made came in at 19.5 brix. I think in a cool vintage like this one good wines are more about flavor and phenolics and not as much about sugar. In cool conditions getting the necessary heat to the berries to synthesize flavor and phenolic compounds is a struggle and every effort should be made to warm the fruit (see attachment).

Alcohol can be "fixed" with careful chapitalization to bring balance and texture to the wine. Chapitalization is a science and art and you should ask experienced wine makers how and when to ameliorate a wine. The biggest cellar problem I have heard about so far is high pH and high acid grapes. This is a real cellar conundrum. Wines that suffer from this imbalance can have awkward texture and suffer from "Eastern twang", that sensation you get when in your mouth when you play a Jews harp. You'll have to find a really experienced enologist to tame a wine with this problem. . . . The duty of the grower right now is to get the grapes in as clean as possible. At least if the grapes aren't fully mature the wine maker won't have to worry about diseased fruit and off flavors. That might not be easy, even if the sun continues to shine.

Downy and powdery mildew on leaves and even phomopsis on fruit are all a continuing concern, even more if the rain starts again. The rots are all out there, if not already fully expressed in tight clusters then in latent form just waiting for the right moment. There isn't much you can do at this point but to keep the fruit zone very open and hope for sun, dry conditions and a nice breeze. When the rot starts to spread, consult with the wine maker about the threshold for damaged grapes. Ideally he or she should be out in the vineyard tasting grapes with you. Whites are more forgiving of rot than reds so the wine maker might let white varieties hang a little longer. But if the grapes are mired in bitter, ripe or sour rots, you can't push them too much further before they turn to mush that has no hope wine.

State hands over Governor's Cup to Black Ankle

Black Ankle Vineyards in Mt. Airy, Md., officially received its

Governor's Cup trophy Tuesday in Annapolis. Pictured are Maryland Secretary of Agriculture "Buddy" Hance and Black Ankle Vineyards owner Sarah O'Herron with the Governor's Cup trophy and the winning wine, its 2007 Crumbling Rock.

One place to taste this wine and a majority of other throughout the state will be this weekend at the Carroll County Farm Museum in Westminster. The times for the 26th anniversary of the Maryland Wine Festival are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday. The cost to get in? $25, unless you decide to visit the Premier Tent, which costs $45. Entry into the Premier Tent will entitle ticket holders to a private sampling of premier Maryland wines and gourmet foods provided by area restaurants.

Black Ankle's Crumbling Rock voted state's top wine in Governor's Cup competition

Inside the Black Ankle tasting room and a view from the patio.

Results are in from the Maryland Governor's Cup competition and the new kids on the block, Black Ankle Vineyards in Mt. Airy, had the most to celebrate.

Guided by the work of Sarah O'Herron and Ed Boyce, the Frederick County winery won a best in show with its 2007 Crumbling Rock, its Bordeaux-style red. That wine was best in class in the best red blend category, and its 2008 Bedlam was named best white blend. A 2007 vintage of that same white blend -- a mix of Viognier, Chardonnay, Gruner Veltliner and Albarino -- was a winner of the 2008 Maryland Winemasters' Choice Award. Not even open a year yet, the winery already is considered by some as the best winery in Maryland and among the best on the East Coast for the quality of its wines. The winery's success is even more of an achievement considering that it's still in its infancy.

Elk Run Vineyards, essentially a next-door neighbor of Black Ankle, took best in class in the best red division and a double gold with its 2007 Cold Friday Cabernet Sauvignon.

Below are some of the top wines and wineries, with a link to the complete list. By the way, one way to taste many of these wines is to attend the 26th annual Maryland Wine Festival on Sept. 19-20 at the Carroll County Farm Museum in Westminster. You can find out more by clicking on this link.

Best in Show
Black Ankle Vineyards, 2007 Crumbling Rock

Best of Class Awards
BEST RED: Elk Run Vineyards • Cold Friday Cabernet Sauvignon 2007
BEST RED BLEND: Black Ankle Vineyards • Crumbling Rock 2007
BEST WHITE: Fiore Winery • Chardonnay 2007
BEST WHITE BLEND: Black Ankle Vineyards • Bedlam 2008
BEST OFF-DRY: Cygnus Wine Cellars • Manchester Hall 2007
BEST SWEET: Orchid Cellar • Monk (mead)
BEST DESSERT: Dove Valley Winery • Late Harvest Vignoles 2007

Double-Gold Medalists
Elk Run Vineyards • Cold Friday Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

Gold Medalists
Black Ankle Vineyards • Crumbling Rock 2007
Black Ankle Vineyards • Leafstone Syrah 2007
Black Ankle Vineyards • Rolling Hills 2007
Black Ankle Vineyards • Bedlam 2008
Cascia Vineyard • Queen Anne Reserve 2005
Cove Point Winery • Blaufrankish
Cygnus Wine Cellars • Manchester Hall 2007
Dove Valley Winery • Late Harvest Vignoles 2007
Elk Run Vineyards • Liberty Tavern Cabernet Sauvignon 2007
Elk Run Vineyards • Vin de Jus Glace 2006
Fiore Winery • Chardonnay 2007
Legends Vineyard • Cabernet Sauvignon 2007
Legends Vineyard • Meritage 2007
Legends Vineyard • Pinot Gris 2008
Orchid Cellar • Monk
Revolution Winery • Declaration Meritage 2007
Revolution Winery • Pursuit of Happiness NV
Running Hare Vineyard • Chardonnay 2008
Running Hare Vineyard • Sangiovese 2008
Serpent Ridge Vineyard • Basilisk 2007
St. Michael’s Winery • Syrah 2007
Woodhall Wine Cellars • Golden Run Reserve Barbera 2008

Complete winners identified at this link.

Legends Vineyard expanding its reach despite absence of a tasting room

Talked to Carrie and Ashby Everhart sometime last summer about their new venture called Legends Vineyard in Churchville, Harford County, Md.

Suffice to say they have encountered their share of obstacles in getting a tasting room done. Currently you can purchase their wine in restaurants and shops in 12 Maryland counties, but completing that home where folks can stop and taste their wines remains out of their reach. Carrie wrote by e-mail on Saturday: "Still no progress on the tasting room. We have focused mainly on new accounts to try and make it work. We are in nearly 200 locations and are continuing to grow. The highlight account would be Ripken Stadium, which features all of Legends Vineyard’s wines. We have consulted an attorney for our options on the tasting room and he thinks we could get it done. But we would be looking at another 20K for fees and filings over the next 2 years."

So they celebrate the other victories, such as word a day or two ago from the Association of Maryland Wineries that they placed in several categories in the 2009 Governor's Cup competition. Those results will be announced officially on Tuesday; hoping to have them to post a day earlier. Carrie wrote that the winery picked up seven medals in the competition, including "gold medals for our Meritage, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Gris, silver medals for our Vidal Blanc and Daylight White, and bronze medals for our Chardonnay and Midnight Red."

This winery and many others across the state are planning to participate in the 26th Maryland Wine Festival on Saturday, Sept., from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, the 20th, from noon to 6 p.m., at the Carroll County Farm Museum in Westminster.