Taste of Thailand on menu at Serpent Ridge

Mentioned in a couple of posts about Serpent Ridge Vineyard in Maryland closing for a month. The Carroll County winery will reopen Saturday and also is taking reservations for a Taste of Thailand wine dinner from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Feb. 5.

Chaf Monique Washirapanya of L'Ecole Culinaire School of Cooking will handle the food end of the evening. Cost is $75/person plus tac. Here's a look at the menu, with the wine choice at the bottom of each course:

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Tom Ka Goong
(Shrimp Coconut Soup)
Seyval Blanc

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Taud Man Pla
(Fish Cakes)
Albarino

III
Tam Taeng and Yam Nuea
(A duet of Northeast Cucumber Salad and Beef Salad)
Pino Grigio

IV
Gaeng Ped Gai
(Red Curry Chicken)
Basilisk

V
Glazed Pineapple with Coconut Ice Cream and Pound Cake with Chocolate
sauce
Vintner’s Cabernet

Serpent Ridge owners savor first year, start getting prepared for reopening Jan. 23

Carroll County, Md., winery Serpent Ridge closed for holiday on Dec. 23, 2009, and will be closed one more week before reopening Jan. 23. Owner Greg Lambrecht said it's a good chance to get a lot done around the winery in a short four-week burst, although they might not repeat this exact scenario.

"We may not do it next year; it may just be Christmas week we're closed," he said recently. Because we're small and because we still do everything by hand . . . we don't have have bottling line, we don't bring in a bottling line, everything is still done by hand. I think we can maintain that. We've upped our production by about 50 percent [to 1200 cases] this year and probably another 50 percent [in 2010] and then I'll have to consider where we are." With all that work, he continued, it just helps to have the unimpeded stretch of time to get things accomplished.

Lambrecht said he they're looking at bringing in someone else to work the tasting room and possibly an assistant to assist him with making the wine. And he said he thought that they would open on Fridays this year in addition to the weekends, maybe add a bit of Friday night entertainment.

Currenly they are producing six wines; he said they'd add a Pinot Grigio to the line this year, "one I've been holding back. It's actually from 2007. And we would like to do . . . I have a Vidal that I'm doing in more of a late-harvest style. We harvested it the second or third week of November, just before Thanksgiving. But it's going to be a small run. Testing the water with that one. My grower who is growing that; we're both kind of playing with a late-harvest style. I think it's going to be nice, but I think it will take some time before it's ready to go."

Overall, once he and his wife Karen opened the place in April 2009, things went smoothly. Business, he said, was so good that [the wines] moved veyr quickly, where almost to the point by the end of the year we had to start limiting the sales of some just so I could extend my inventory."

He laughed when asked what, in retrospect, they might have done differently leading up to opening.

"I need a bigger building," he said. "The actual wine production building. Everybody always told me when we started preparing to do this at least five, six, seven years ago, they always said build things better than you think you need them. And I always said I know exactly what I need. And now I'm telling all the new winery committees [to] 'build it bigger.' You know, bigger overall, just everything. I wish in the beginning I wouldn't have spent the money on smaller tanks, I wish I would hav spent the money on bigger tanks to begin with. I wish I had built a bigger building. Bigger everything, because you are going to grow."

Serpent Ridge offering food/wine pairing Dec. 11

Couple of quick notes out of Serpent Ridge Vineyard, a Maryland winery located in Westminster that opened this summer.

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It's opened Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and offers a mix of primarily dry whites and dry reds. Four already have been honored in several Maryland and out-of-state competitions. The most decorated is their Vintner's Cabernet, which is 65 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 35 percent Cabernet Franc. That earned golds in the Indy International and Winemaker Choice competitions, and a silver in the 2009 Maryland Governor's Cup competition. All told owner Karen and Grag Lambrecht produce six wines, including a rose.

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They will be closing from Dec. 23 to Jan. 22, 2010, one of the few wineries I've seen in the region that will shut its doors after the Christmas rush.

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Before then, on Friday, Dec. 11, the winery will hold a holiday hors d'oeuvres and wine pairings. The event will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. and cost $35 per person. Chef Greg Hutsell from L'ecole Culinaire School of Cooking will prepare several dishes and be on hand to answer questions about preparing what he makes at home. There will be six hors d'oeuvres paired with three Serpent Ridge wines. Reservations are required. Call 410.848.6511.

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One final note our of their most recent e-letter: "As many of you know, we are a true artisan style winery and everything is done by hand - including our bottling. There will be multiple opportunities to be part of this exciting process over the next few months and if you would like to volunteer, please email our winemaker, Greg at greg@serpentridge.com with your contact info."

Serpent Ridge among 3 MD wineries pouring at tasting/workshop fund-raiser with VA wineries

I don't think when I posted about the Maryland/Virginia "pourdown" sponsored by Marylanders for Better Wine & Beers Laws that I mentioned the price to attend the seminar/tasting. Was reminded of that by an e-letter that came from one of Maryland's bet new wineries, Serpent Ridge Vineyards in Westminster.

Serpent Ridge will join Black Ankle Vineyard and Bordeleau Vineyards as represeentatives of Maryland wineries. Michael Shaps Wines, Chrysalis Vineyards and Barboursville Vineyards,, all from Virginia, will share their wines at the function on Thursday, Oct. 8, at the Whittemore House, Dupont Circle, 1526 New Hampshire Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. The wine and cheese tasting will last from 6 to 9 p.m. and will cost $59. You can register at http://www.giramondowine.com/events. A portion of the proceeds will go toward the fight to legalize wine shipping in Maryland.

The events also will include workshops on understanding the terroirs in both states and on the politics of wine in both states.

Also wanted to note that Serpent Ridge is planning to hold a second wine dinner/demonstration with L'Ecole Culinaire School of Cooking sometime in late October. The first time they teamed up, the event sold out quickly.

This dinner will be centered around preparing dishes for your holiday meals paired with Serpent Ridge wines. Reservations will be capped at 20 settings. The announcement on the date should be released soon. And if you don't want to hear it from me, just reach out to them and get on their e-mail list.

The winery has justifiably been touting its recent awards in the 2009 Governor's Cup competition, including a gold medal for a 2007 vintage of a red blend it produces called Basilisk.

Maryland wineries workshop concludes with runaway victory in tasting of Bordeaux blends

You might have had trouble reaching folks at some of Maryland's wineries earlier this week, and it had nothing to do with trying to squeeze in some last-minute tanning time at the beach.

The executive director of the Association of Maryland Wineries said that the organization held a winemaking seminar Monday and Tuesday in Annapolis. According to Kevin Atticks, Monday was spent learning about detecting/fixing/preventing wine flaws and Tuesday included a tasting of the best Mid-Atlantic Bordeaux style blends, hosted by out-of-state winemaking consultants. The lineup was:

Childress 2005 Meritage
Elk Run 2007 Cab Franc
Sugarloaf Mountain 2007 Comus Reserve
Linden Hardscrabble 2006
Octagon 2005
Chaddsford Cab Sauv 2006
Chateau O'Brien 2007 Meritage (Barrel Sample)
Michael Shaps 2007 Cab Franc
Pollock 2007 Cab Franc
Serpent Ridge 2007 Vintner's Reserve
Black Ankle 2007 Crumbling Rock

Atticks noted that all were brown-bagged and tasted blind by the group (about 50 people). In this case, the four Maryland wines turned out to be the four favorites.

Three Pennsylvania wineries blend talents into new wine called Trio

Thanks to those who have written to say they miss these entries and the evolution of this post. Time to get it started again, albeit with shorter posts, a little more on the wine and winemakers and less on the events, and with plans by the end of the month to be Twittering on a regular basis.

So what have I missed?

1, A co-op by Allegro, Manatawny Creek and Pinnacle Ridge that has produced a wine call Trio. Blended with grapes from 2007, it combines Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Syrah and was aged for approximately 18 months, then blended at Manatawny Creek. You couldn't ask for a marriage of three better Pennsylvania wineries, two members of ther Berks County Wine Trail and the other (allegro) a member of Uncork York! and part of the reinvigorated Mason-Dixon Wine Trail. “What started as just an off-the-wall idea has matured into an imminently drinkable and ageable wine,” Allegro owner/winemaker Carl Helrich said in a press release. I hope to talk to all three winemakers sometime this week, “2007 was a wonderful vintage, producing some of the best wines of this decade.” The three wineries thought it would be an interesting concept to take the best of what they did and blend it together. Said Helrich, “It turned out the blend is about as different as we are.”

2, One of my favorite new wineries, Serpent Ridge in Westminster, Md., recently trumpeted a gold medal for its 2007 Vintner's Cabernet in the Indy International Wine Competition.That competition included more than 3,000 commercial entries from 12 countries and 39 states. We are proud to have achieved such a wonderful achievement with one of our first releases. Their tasting room is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Find a table outside and plan to relax and enjoy the view for an hour or two.

3, The Virginia Wine Association recently added a new look to its Web site and introduced a monthly newsletter that includes a list of events, pairing tips and wine education opportunities.

4, Finally, nice to finally have a chance to meet and dine with spokesperson Jennifer Eckinger of the Pennsylvania Wine Association, which continues to add a handful of new wineries to its list every year.

Lot of rattlin' going on at Maryland winery

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Inside and outside the tasting room at Serpent Ridge, including a shot of Karen and Greg on day one of their new winery.
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It's rare that I actually get to visit a winery on "Opening Day," but had a chance yesteday to take the gorgeous drive through the farmland of southern Pennsylvania and northern Maryland and head to Serpent Ridge Vineyards, located south of Westminster not far from Route 97.

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Considering that owners Karen and Greg Lambrecht leaned on word of mouth, they had a good crowd milling around in the comfy tasting room and outside under the umbrellas at the picnic tables during the hour or more that we stayed and tasted.

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You can't ask for a prettier setting, with the tasting room sitting at the back end of a wooded lot, the 2 acres of grapes stretching up the hill to the top of the incline. All of Greg's white grapes are outsourced, with his vineyard yielding red grapes only.

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You never quite know what to expect with a new winery, but these wines all exhibited character and care. Could have taken any of them home, but wound up having a Grenache Rose and a bottle of Albarino popped into one of the reusable bags that they were sending home with customers who made any purchases. Sharp. Considering that a couple of weeks ago I lost a bottle that slipped through a tear in a plastic bag and splintered all over the garage surface, I was delighted to walk out with two bottles that would make it safely into our wine refrigerator.

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Tastings are $5 apiece for the five wines: the Rose ($14); Albarino ($22), a crisp, delightful white that I make time for amid a "red heavy diet" of wine; Seyval Blanc ($16); Basilisk ($26), a 60 percent Cab Franc-40 percent Cabernet Sauvignon that showed beautifully; and a Vintner's Cabernet ($34), essentially reversing the blend on the Basilisk. Greg said he gives both some extra brawn with a small percentage of Norton grapes. Greg, if I heard that wrong, drop me a line and I'll get it fixed pronto.

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All in all, it was a delightful afternoon amid what seemed to be a mix of strangers and many friends who came to see the tasting room and offer their congrats . . . and taste the goods. Greg said he still has work to do on a third building that will give some elbow room to the operation, but that work surely won't get done on weekends based on what we saw yesterday. Visiting hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays.

Serpent Ridge ready to cut the ribbon

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News. News. News. Let's see. Haven't been able to catch up with Greg and Karen Lambrecht, who's Serpent Ridge Vineyards will open tomorow in Westminster, Md. It's the first one to open in that community and the newest to open in Carroll County. They are planning to be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days this weekend, and for the near future anyway. They're starting out with five wines, close to the average for any new winery that I've seen debut in this region. Those will range from a Vintner's Cabernet (blend of Cab Sauv and Cab Franc) to a what's become an accepted to an American Cabernet blend aged with American and French oak alternatives to a Rose to two whites, a Seyval Blanc and an Albariño.

I don't often just lift from another Web site's story, but the Association of Maryland Wineries that Dr. Kevin Atticks directs posted a feature on the couple recently in its e-letter. Let me run that to give you an introduction to the couple and the winery, and then try to get down there this weekend and gather some more details.

Famed Australian Max Schubert once said “The greatest wines have implanted in them the ideas of the winemaker as to what they should be. His character is part of the wine.” True to form, Greg Lambrecht produces structured yet innovative wines. Greg is the winemaker at Serpent Ridge Winery, which he owns with his wife Karen.

Over the past 22 years, Greg’s Coast Guard career kept him travelling. He spent some time in the Russian River Valley of California, and that is where his love for wine and the art of wine making blossomed. “The unbelievable vistas coupled with the wonderfully new experiences on my palate had me hooked.” Greg devoted as much time as he could to experience those wineries and to tasting wines.

It wasn’t until the mid 1990s that Greg and Karen began their small-scale winemaking. This lead to a love affair with the vines, the grapes, and the wines they produced. In their new passion, they found the perfect location on a beautiful 5+ acres, and named it Serpent Ridge due to the abundance of the reptiles found on the hill.

Greg compares the climate and its challenges similar to grape growing areas like Bordeaux, Northern Italy and Eastern Europe.

“Because we are blessed with this climate we can successfully produce many vinifera and hybrid varieties,” says Greg Lambrecht. “I use the word blessed because I do not consider our climate a negative but rather one of the influences that work to define the wonderful character of our wines.”

He is a firm believer that Maryland’s grapes offer wonderful varietal characteristics and earthy undertones. These are quite different from the more popular “big” reds from the West Coast, but Lambrecht poses the question “the characteristics of Maryland wines are derived from the regional differences offered by our climate. This 'regionality' is embraced in other parts of the world–why not here?”

Serpent Ridge consists currently of two acres of grapes, and this leads to a hands-on approach to wine making. Each vintage is made in small lots, and aged in stainless steel or new age oak. The bottles are sealed with a Zork, a relatively new and quite innovative approach to bottle closures. In regards to the debate of art versus science when wine making, Greg says this “At Serpent Ridge we allow the art of winemaking to be nudged by science if it decides to wander too far from our vision.”

Serpent Ridge officially opens in April. Look out for Serpent Ridge Albariño and two Cabernet blends, both influenced by Greg’s favorite varietals. Serpent Ridge will also be making a Pinot Grigio, Seyval-Blanc, and Ophion, a semi-sweet blush.