Mount Felix lauds bond with local eateries

Mentioned the other day about Mount Felix Winery's improved Web site that offers a blend of information; some present, some past. There are older wineries that provide more substantial news on their wines and events, but there are a heckuva lot of other wineries that have been around a lot longer than Mt. Felix whose Web sites can't match up.

Peter Ianniello said by phone Wednesday that he and his wife Mary have done the upgrades, evidence that they're willing to invest the time and energy needed to help market their wines. Peter said they've been blessed these first few months in business by the support they have received from the business community.

“Some retailers were thrilled to carry a quality local wine,” he said, “and some restaurants . . . even created some special dishes featuring and highlighting Mt. Felix wines.”

According to the site there are 22 retailers carrying some or all of the eight wines that Mount Felix produces, and 10 restaurants that have included the label on their wine lists. That's not an easy advance; so many wineries have talked about how difficult it is to move any of their wines onto the wine lists of area eateries.

“That's the best part of what I'm mentioning to you,” Peter said. “We have been very, very fortunate to work with some really great businesspeople that took us on. You know what this market is like. You have Chile on the bottom, Italy on top, New Zealand to the left, Australia to the right. It's a pretty crowded market.”

Peter said that MacGregor's Restaurant and the Laurrapin Grill, both in Havre de Grace, Md., have created dishes using Mt. Felix wines. “So in addition to carrying them and offering them on the list, they actually made special dishes. The one place, Laurrapin, people would come up here and they were raving about it. They took our blush wine, which is blend of Traminette and Chambourcin, and they sauteed some large sea scallops in it. I had some people come in who were still drooling from tasting it. It was that good. So we're very, very humbled by the support we've gotten. That's the only reason we've been successful.

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That and their location, less than a mile off Exit 89 of I-95. Peter said that when winetrailtraveler.com came down for a taste, they told him that of all the hundreds of wineries they've been to across the entire United States that “we have one of the best locations next to a highway infrastructure and major population sites.”
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He said they have applied to have their name put on signs preceding the exit north and south to let people who are driving by know they're there. “We're just waiting,” he said. Hopefully the applications wil lbe approved soon.”

Boordy's Cab Franc figures to be excellent stew

What I didn’t ask Rob Deford of Boordy Vineyards in Hydes, Md., was how long it takes to invent the names for some of their monthly events. One example is this month’s, a Stew in Our Juices promotion that features stews made with Boordy wine. This comes on the heels of its February promotion, called Fond of You Fondue.

“We just got the highest compliment,” Deford said by phone yesterday afternoon. “We just saw another winery has picked that name up in Virginia.”

Deford said business through this dark stretch since the holiday, both literally and economically, has been good. “People seem to recognize that coming here is an antidote to spending a lot of money on a cruise ship,” he deadpanned. “We seem to be in good shape.”

Waiting on the horizon are the annual events at the winery and festivals around Maryland. Also sitting around is Boordy’s ’07 Cab Franc, which Deford said has turned him into an overanxious parent.

“It looks to be just wonderful,” he said. “That was the vintage that was really quite perfect in every way. The franc has lots of wonderful qualities to it.”

There’s not a whole lot, only in the vicinity of 1,200 gallons that Deford said is out of a total production of 90,000. That small amount translates to about 500 cases. There are a couple of reasons for the limited supply.

“It s limited to basically what the acreage in our 1 acre vineyard produces, in Burkittsville, that’s out near Frederick, and there’s a guy over the hill, a very capable producer, who produces a little bit for us as well,” Deford said. “That’s what limits it. We’re doing extreme crop management levels with the consequence that it’s just not a lot of wine.”

Expect the release sometime in April and May. Deford said the lot will sell out, as it typically does, and not necessarily overnight. “We don’t put a big push on it just because it’s going to run out, it does every year,” he said. “We don’t take it around to a lot of places.”

Deford said a bottle of the Cab Franc typically sells for $14. “We’re trying to just hold the line,” he said. “I am constantly humbled by the wines that are out there at reasonable prices, and I guess you can play that game many ways. But I always feel like I’m building for the next hundred years, and I really want Maryland wines to be viewed, and regional, forget the political boundaries, to be viewed as real contenders in the value sector.”

This one, he said, should be one of those contenders. “So many things can happen to a wine that can either surprise you on the upside or downside,” he said. “But right now it’s looking like it will be a very nice bottle of wine.”