Wine Excellence awards provides firsts for Chambourcin and Chaddford

I write about a number of wineries from the region that few people have heard about, either because they've just opened or don't get their product into the state store (in Pennsylvania) or into the hands of many merchants in Maryland.

But that's not meant to downplay the continued great work of some of this region's standbys, one being Chaddsford in southeastern Pennsylvania. Can't think of another regional winery that carries more weight as an innovator and is known in more corners of the world that wine drinkers occupy. And the winery's win Sunday in the annual judging by the Pennsylvania Wine Society serves as a reminder of where winemaker and co-owner Eric Miller has set the bar at a winery that will celebrate its 30th birthday in a couple of years.

Society president Paul Beesom said that there were several precendents this year: no Chambourcin had ever won before and Miller and Chaddsford had never won before. Those streaks are over, off the win of the fabulous 2007 vintage. Those who follow the progress of the local industry will recall that Pinnacle Ridge's 2007 Chambourcin was the Farm Show's top winer in 2009.

It took awhile, Beesom admitted, for Chambourcin to even be allowed into the competition.

"I had mixed feelings and a lot of us had mixed feelings of whether to include Chambourcin," he said. "But the feeling was that it was so close to a vinifera species that it could almost be one and also that it was the one area that this state and this area could make its mark with. And it does very well here. So we agreed to include it."

The Society has been around since 1987, but has only been judging PA wines for its Wine Excellence competition for eight years. Wineries are invited to submit their wines to the organization, which narrows the entries to a more workable number. This year, according to the Pennsylvania Winery Association Web site, there were 11, including two each from Allegro, Manatawny Creek and NW Pennsylvania's Presque Isle.

And more and more, Beesom said, it has become a pleasureable experience. "They're getting better," he said of the state's wines and the ones in particular that wind up in the competition. "Better every year, and I say that after each event. I can honestly say that of the 11 wines that we [judged], every one of them could be on a fine-dining restraurant list."

That wasn't the case early, he added. There were two or three good ones, the rest a "little shaky. But they're just getting better. I think the winemakers are learning more as they go along on how to do things right in this area."

If you want to check out some comments on Chaddsford wine, here's a link to the Web site where Lee Miller has assembled a collection of praise from magazines and bloggers alike. These include insight from some of the folks I follow regularly, including Delawareonline.com's Roger Morris (who also blogs under the heading of Been There Tasted That) and theother46.com's Brian Kirby.

Va La's Vietri: 'No predictions of doom or diamonds for either color of wine yet'

Checked in with Anthony Vietri at Va La Vineyards in Avondale, Pa., for his early assessment of his harvest. Summed up, it's a little too early to tell.

"As far as the harvest to date," he wrote, "I can't speak for anyone else's experiences, as I have not really spoken to anyone else about their experience, but I will say that it has been highly unusual vintage for us here on the little hill. Whites are looking strangely good, for what we are looking for here. The jury is still out on the reds for us; I make no predictions of doom or diamonds for either color of wine yet. "

Two items of interest off his Web site.

1, Their local friends, Andrea’s Best of Italy, are now offering bagged lunches for the Va La Nation. Each little sack of goodness includes a side, a bottled water, and authentic bag for $10 (US). All selections are dolphin-free. So if you feel like taking a little lunch at the vineyard after your tasting, you can pick up a bag on your way out to visit. Menu, directions, and info www.andreasbestofitaly.com

2, The Brandywine Book of Food features recipes, chefs, and winemakers of the Brandywine. (And yes, that's their little vineyard on the front cover). A special book signing will take place from noon to 4:01 p.m. on Nov. 14-15. Authors Roger Morris, Cathleen L. Ryan and photographer Ella Morris will be in the Galleria to celebrate the premier of their beautiful new book The Brandywine Book of Food. According to the site, the advance buzz promises this book to be a defining image of the Valley for years to come. "They will be available for these two days only to sign copies, answer questions, poke with sticks, or just stare at and whisper," the site says.

Vietri on Va La's La Prima Donna: 'Our initial goal was to create a white wine with some richness and complexity'

If you've read this blog you know the respect I have for Anthony Vietri and the work he and his staff are doing at Va La Vineyards in Avondale, Pa., as far as I'm concerned a must-see of wineries in suburban Philly. Asked Anthony on Friday what was going on in the cellar and he said that they just bottled the 2008 La Prima Donna, the 2008 Zafferano, and our 2008 Silk. All will be released at different times next spring, he noted.

I asked about La Prima Donna, a distinctive blend of grapes you mostly haven't heard of: Malvasia bianco, friuliano, viognier, pinot grigio and petit manseng. Wine writer/critic Roger Morris and esteemed foodie/critic Craig LeBan of the Philly Inquirer have put their stamp of approval on the wine. Wrtoe Morris, for Sommelier Magazine: “La Prima Donna…is perhaps the best east coast table wine that I have ever tasted — a beautiful blossom of aromas, exotic and spicy flavors of green figs, nectarines, with a crisp finish.” And LeBan wrote: “A flamboyant, showy white, with layers of aromatic grapes…that dance exotic on the palate.”

I asked Vietri to shoot me an e-mail with his thoughts about what he has tried to do with that blend and wine, and he sent me the following: "I actually first got the notion of wanting to create this wine when I was living with a family of fishermen in Campagne," he said. "I had made white wines with my family since I was a boy, but I wanted to do something different. The wines of that coastal region inspired me, and I wanted to take their ideas a few steps further. When we started this vineyard our initial goal was to create a white wine with some richness and complexity, and to have those elements come strictly from the grapes themselves, and without the aid of oak, so that the wine would directly translate our vineyard to the glass. When we taste it we smile and say 'that's our vineyard.' It is a horribly antiquated way to look at things, but it is now in its now in its ninth version, believe it or not."

Black Walnut's spacious bank barn becomes Pennsylvania's newest winery

Congrats to Val and Lance Castle and Karen and Jack Kuhn, whose longtime dream of opening a winery was realized on July 31 when Black Walnut Winery in Chester County opened its doors. The couples go back to 2001 when they first started winemaking; several years later they took the first steps toward transitioning their passion into a business.

Overcoming a number of hurdles the past year, and still with some work to do, the renovated (almost) 200-year-old bank barn opened for business a little more than a week ago. It's worth the trip out Route 30 (about 2 miles from where two-lane Route 30 turns into an elevated bypass and heads toward Downingtown and King of Prussia) to see what they've done and try the wines. By the way, if you're headed east of Route 30, stay on the business route. You'll find the winery on the right-hand side about 2 miles after passing a Wawa and crossing Route 10.

From the wide-planked flooring to the gorgeous high ceilings, you'll spend the first few minutes just wandering around the top floor and marveling at how they've converted what some called the oldest antique shop in America into the home of Pennsylvania's newest winery. A member of the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail, expect it to open officially Labor Day weekend or the weekend after. But already on Friday afternoon, as we were finishing up our tastings, several parties were funneling into the place. The winery itself is located below the tasting room. Tasting hours are noon to 6 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

No grapes are grown on the premises, all are brought in from other vineyards, primarily from other members of the trail. Tastings are $6 to try any seven of the six whites and five reds that the winery has bottled. We wound up carrying away a bottle of Mischief ($18), a blend of 2008 Pinot Gris and 2007 Chardonnay that we found interesting and worthy of a spot in our wine refrigerator. And, frankly, we liked the doggone name.

And there were other to savor. Wine writer Roger Morris, who has earned the title of expert when it comes to the wines of the Brandywine Valley, included Black Walnut's Blanc Franc ($16) on his third annual News Journal Case of the Brandywine. The Black Walnut's owners describe this 2007 wine as made of grapes "harvested two weeks before the other Cabernet Franc grapes, crushed and pressed within 24 hours after crush to limit the contact between juice and red skins. The result is a white wine with soft fruity flavors and with about 1 1/2 percent residual sugar, a soft sweet finish."

In short, congrats to the state's newest winery. Here's to a long and fruitful future of producing good wines.

Morris: More wineries coming on board

He doesn’t grow grapes, at least not to my knowledge, but wine writer and blogger Roger Morris plays as significant a part in the complexity of this region as a wine producer as anyone bottling the juice from the grapes.

His reviews are posted on several Web sites, and he’s credited with pairing the wines and foods for the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail’s vintners’ dinner that I attended at Longwood Gardens last November. A former writer for the Washington Star, he is in the middle of a long return stint with the Wilmington (Del.) News-Journal, and he occasionally contributes to a blog he created named Been There Tasted That.

Morris said by phone late last week that, from everything he has heard, business at wineries around him remained pretty stable last year in the midst of all the economic obstacles. And while interest in local wines continues to expand, he said the quality keeps increasing.

“As you know, Va La just decided to drop out of [Brandywine Valley] the wine trail so it can concentrate on making high-end wines,” he said. “Obviously at $55 a bottle that they sell, and Penns Woods sells theirs at a pretty high price. Eric Miller [of Chaddsford Winery] routinely has wines in the 30s and 40s [dollar range], so I think that’s working.”

Asked whether they’ve reached a level where they’re worth that much, Morris said it’s not his choice to make that assertion.

“If someone likes it well enough to pay for it, then it’s worth it,” he said. “But from everything that I can see, they are, and I think that without a doubt that [Va La’s] Mahogany is one of the best if not the best red wine that I’ve tasted on the East Coast. The other thing that’s interesting too is that the new wineries continue to have their plans to come onstream. I know that there are some people . . . I know there’s one winemaker for other reasons decided not to move ahead with a new winery, but he already has a winery, just didn’t want to break ground. But the people at the old Folly Hill Winery [Galer Estates], they re going full speed ahead. There’s a new fellow named Mario Patone, who is opening up Patone Cellars in West Grove. He’s been a very large homemaker for a long time and bought grapes this fall and is going to try to have his tasting room open this coming fall. And there’s two wineries opened in Cecil County [Md.] as you know, the past year and half. So, so far, I don’t see any main change in anything. The main thing I’ve heard at Va La that hurts them [is] when the Eagles are playing on Sundays.

“One of the things that Patone did tell me that I thought was interesting to me that may apply to what you’re doing is that he hasn’t decided whether he’s going to do any more than a showcase vineyard where he’s got the property. He’s thinking about even going out around Lancaster where the land is cheaper and whereas as you know there are some people up there who grow grapes. Sp that’s what he’s thinking about, so I guess that the land even in a recession is still fairly higher here to buy for a vineyards.”

Morris said Patone will be one new member expected to essentially replace Va La on the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail. “Since he just joined the wine trail he’s not going to be on their March agenda, when they do the Barrels on the Brandywine . . . I didn’t ask him this, but I was thinking just because of trying to catch the fall events he’s going to try and sell his first wines then.”

Morris: Feedback to winery reviews are rare

Anyone familiar with the wineries of the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail has read the sentiments of Roger Morris, who has been writing about wines for a number of publications for years and who manages a blog called Been There Tasted That.

I had a lengthy conversation with Moris the other day, most of which I plan to post later. But I was curious what kind of reaction he got from wineries when he was even a bit critical. A review of Dove Valley Winery in Rising Sun, Md., that he wrote for the Wilmington (Del.) News Journal pointed out that the year-old winery needed to improve its wine if it hoped to compete with those around it. Unfortunately, those stories only stay online for seven days before the news operation charges for them, so I can't link to it. Nonetheless, Morris did admit he felt compelled to include that in his review.

"Usually most of the things that somebody has said, it's usually a matter of interpretation," he said Thursday by phone. "I don't get much feedback at all. First of all, unlike film criticism, which I did when I was very, very young, I don't have to review everything. So I think that most wine people out there, unless they’re slaves to wine ratings, they’re more interested in me saying 'Hey, here’s something that’s interesting you might want to think about, or here’s something that you may want to try or here's someplace you may want to go.' I thought that when I did Dove Valley though that I thought while I was writing about it that I had to sort of let my readers know what I thought they were going to get. Just basically nice, simple wines that pretty much taste the same from one to the other."