Easy does it for Pinot Noir at Moondancer

Caught up during the middle of the week with Jim Miller, winemaker and owner of Moondancer Vineyards & Winery in Wrightsville, Pa., and broached the idea of talking about a special bottling he had mentioned to me in a previous conversation of a wine he called Driagra.

Nothing wrong with the wine, Miller noted, but not what he'd call one of his signature products. "That’s not a typical wine for us," he said, then continued, "Our specialty really is a premium dry red. That’s what we really focus on. You know we do other wines and we do a nice job with dry whites, but we focus really on more of a European dry style wine, something that would be more typical of a winery in California or a winery in Europe, not necessarily what you’re typically finding on the East Coast."

Located no more than a 10-minute ride off the Wrightsville exit of Route 30, half the fun is winding up the driveway and taking in the spectacular view of the Susquehanna River as it makes its way south toward Peach Bottom and the Chesapeake Bay. While the entire plot covers a bit more than 30 acres, Miller said about 12 acres are planted with eight varieties of grapes: Chardonnary, Pinot Grigio, Riesling, Cab Sauv, Cab Franc, Merlot, Syrah and Pinot Noir.

"The oldest part of the vineyard is 10 years old," Miller said, "so the wines are really starting to develop nicely."

One in particular is the Pinot Noir, which just won a double gold in the dry red category at the Keystone Wine Competition that was held in Cromwell, Conn., on March 1.

"I don’t really put the wines in many competitions simply because I don’t have the time and we miss the deadlines, but once in awhile we’ll put them in there and we’ve always done well with our reds and our dryer whites," said Miller, who spent the last weekend showing off his collection of wines at the Tastes of PA Wine & Food Festival at Split Rock Resort. "At Split Rock, I think we were one of the only wineries to take [Pinot Noir] up there. I think other wineries make it; in fact, I know they do, but we took it and a lot of people were amazed that you could even grow that grape here, and it actually does pretty well."

Primarily a grape you see on the West Coast in northern California and up into Oregon and Washington, it can be difficult to master on the East Coast because it ripens earlier than most reds, a process called verasion. "So the birds immediately flock to the Pinot Noir," Miller said. "It almost goes from green to black, and that attracts the birds even though they aren’t ripe, so the birds will get after it if you don’t net it right away. So you have to net it, you have to protect it from the birds early in the season, which is just one more management step in the vineyard, which can be difficult."

It's also grows in a tighter cluster than most, he noted, meaning it’s more susceptible to disease pressure. "When that cluster closes you can’t get spray around the berries," he said.

Still, he said, the wine has increasingly developed more characteristics as it heads toward another harvest. "The third year you get a little bit of fruit," he said. "The fourth year you get almost a full crop, but it’s about that fifth or sixth year where it starts to comes into its own , and . . . this harvest will be eight years. But is a difficult grape to grow. You don’t get a huge yield out of it."

That yield will come out of six barrels this year, filling about 150 cases, Miller said, then without a pause added, "We’ll drink half of those and sell the other half."

Cheers to that.

Hauser Estate takes its spot on the Web

We've previewed Hauser Estate Winery that's essentially located in historic Cashtown, Pa., talking to owner Jonathan Patrono and winemaker Michelle Oakes in recent posts. Patrono was working toward a July 1 opening for the winery, located about seven miles west of Gettysburg, but he said Sunday that the middle of July seems like a more likely date.

But they are getting close, obvious by the creation of the Web site. This includes a bit of the background info, including the fact that the winery will have a sales location at 17 on the Square in Gettysburg. But it seems most of the buzz about this family-owned winery will be the view from the glass-enclosed tasting room, which you can get a glimpse of in this photo that we "borrowed" from the Web site. Other construction photos also appear on the site. That tasting room will sit atop the underground winery.

According to the ad posted some months ago for a winemaker, the winery expects to produce 6,000 gallons the first year and quickly expand to 10,000 gallons/year. Both apple and grape wines will be mainstays.

Two acres of hybrid vineyard were in the ground at the time of the posting, with another eight acres of vinifera and two additional hybrid acres expected to go into the ground this year.

Patrono said in the original posting that the planning and work toward next month's opening began in 2006, and it has been a substantial investment of time and money. "Two years ago," he said, "I wouldn't have guessed that as much planning as we've done would have gone into it."

Terrapin Station one of Grapes! big hits

No one is more articulate about the wine industry in general and the Maryland landscape in particular as director of the state's winery association. Reached Wednesday, he talks in this taped segment about how well Great Grapes! did at Oregon Ridge Park last weekend and the impact that one as-yet unopened premium winery (Black Ankle) and one innovative winery (Terrapin Station) figure to have on the industry. Atticks calls Black Ankle "a new breed of East Coast wineries" and says it has been "interesting to see how the public has reacted" to Terrapin Station, which is boxing its wine. "It's an interesting idea that you're selling the wine on taste," he says, "which, frankly, is how it should be selling, not package and label design, which is how most wine is sold."

The Marcus files: Part 2

I set up this blog as an opportunity in part for people to sound off. Not viciously, mind you, and not to incite fights, but not to get people thinking and prompt discussion. So I invite the opinion and get it on the record. In this case, Doug Marcus of Towson Wines & Spirits has his problems, he says, with a majority of Maryland wines, primarily that so many are sweet nad lacking in quality. He says as much in his recent monthly newsletter, posted previously, as he was touting the wines of Black Ankle that he’s now carrying. That winery, located in Mt. Airy, is scheduled to open by the end of July.

We talked a bit last week and he went on the record a bit more in-depth about why he says he’s frustrated with Maryland wines, in general, and why Black Ankle will raise the bar in the state. These are just some snippets of what he said:

“What happens is, people don’t drink a lot of wine. And so there’s a parallel thing going on. The wineries in Maryland are not making the effort. Some are, most aren’t, because it started out as a hobby, you know, it’s like grandma’s apple pie. She doesn't care where the apples come from, she just wants to make an apple pie . . . so she lucks out and the first couple pies are made with good apples, and after that she has to make 10 pies instead of one, so she wants to cut back on her cost so she buys substandard apples, and all of a sudden the quality goes down. This is kinda what happens because people don’t know how to run a business or ramp up a business. And you end up with substandard wine, partly because of soil chemistry and partly because of wherever the source of the juice is if you’re not growing your own grapes. And you end up with really crummy wine. So what you do is put sugar in it . . . it’s like me and salt . . .salt makes everything taste better. And the same thing with sugar . . . so you end up with 20 of 22 wineries who make almost predominantly sweet wine because it covers all the ills of the wine.”

“When Black Ankle started . . . everybody said, ‘no, no, no, you gotta go sweet, sweet, sweet.' And what they did is they did some soil samples and did chemistries and hired consultants; they spent an absolute fortune. If you’ve not been out there . . .when you go out there you have to think California, not Maryland. They’ve got . . . if I were to guess $20 million, I think I’d be pretty close. They weren’t kidding around. I tasted their wines. To put it in perspective, they have 250 brand new French oak barrels and they cost a thousand dollars apiece. That’s a quarter million dollars in barrels. So before you get started, you’re talking about a lot of money . . . They’re doing the right things in that they’re planting the right vines and going through the chemistries of the soil and they’re doing everything they need to do, knowing full well that ultimately they’re going to be able to turn a profit at the same time they’re making good wine, whereas everybody starts off altruistically wanting to make good wine and they realize, ‘aw crap, this stuff isn’t any good, let’s throw some sugar in it.’ And there are enough people out there that buy wine without fail once a year that you can fool some of the people some of the time and all of the people some of the time, and that’s enough.”

“. . . People will climb up a tree to get a nice product it doesn’t matter if it’s a restaurant or an ice cream store or wine. So it’s really a matter of finding a product and being able to stand behind it. Most people are in the business of making money, and unfortunately with wine, you gotta make the wine first and then the money comes."

“. . . Black Ankle, and another winery -- I forget the name -- apparently they’re both doing it right, and by doing it right they’re going to put Maryland wineries on the map and set a standard that other wineries just can’t meet.”

Making friends with the Marietta folks

Walked into a nearby state store a couple of weeks ago and followed my normal course of action, perusing the shelves for something I haven’t tried that fits my budget. Grabbed an Old Vine Red from Marietta Cellars in Geyserville, Calif., in Sonoma County, and was happy I did from the moment I pulled out the cork. According to the Web site, the blend is primarily comprised of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah and Carignane as well as smaller amounts of Cabernet and Syrah. Other Italian varietals round it out.

Curious, I checked their Web site and felt immediately at home. In addition to all the information you’d expect to find, they add a splash of extra personality by listing their top 10 things. Not wines. Their top 10 things, like trips to Montana and Alaska and a recipe for Minestrone soup. It’s a clever special touch that introduces newcomers to owner and winemaker Chris Bilbro and his family.

Sending along four questions that I hoped would give me a little more insight into the winery, which does not have a tasting room, I received this response from Jake, one of Chris’ sons, in under 24 hours, far faster than it took me to polish off the bottle of Old Vine. That one I slowly savored for a few days.

Q, What one or two issues are of most concern to wineries where you are located?
A. I don't think there are any specific concerns in Sonoma County that wouldn't be industry wide concerns… more competition globally, rising production costs etc. I don't think there's anything astronomical however.
Q, How much is NOT having a tasting room an asset and a detriment?
A. Not having a tasting room hurts us from the aspect that we can't sell direct to consumers and we don't have a large local following but having a wide distribution gives us market share in a lot of different states which as a small winery insulates us from regional trends.
Q, Have you updated that top 10 since it was originally written. I love that. Not seen that on any other site I've been to.
A. We've updated it a few times but not consistently, it is pretty much our staple favorites.
Q, Really, really liked the Old Vine. How has that one evolved over the years?
A.I think OVR has the following that it does because it hasn't evolved over the years… It is the same wine we started making 30 years ago and our consumers know that and trust the corresponding consistency level in it.

Back & forth with Twin Brook's Jobe

One thing I’d like to do more of as this blog evolves is actually get out to the winery and sit and have a conversation. I did that at Twin Brook in Gap, Pa., a few weeks ago, and winemaker Tim Jobe and his wife Melissa were gracious hosts. I’d prefer to place these as podcasts, but I’m being told by too many people that they prefer to read the transcript rather than click and just listen. Part of the conversation was previously posted; this is the remainder of the discussion that essentially followed the subject of East Coast wines and how little most people know about them.

Tim: “We’re having to educate people on wines along the East.Coast, and I think it’s the same all the way from Virginia to New York, how every far they are doing it. You can’t just say, ‘this is great wine, buy it,’ because they’re not going to, because people just know a few words. They know Merlot. They know Chardonnay. And they know a few others. And if it doesn’t come from Europe or California, then they’re not going to try it. And if they come into our tasting room; as John said one time, the people came into one of our tasting rooms, and when the lady found out that it was all Pennsylvania wines, he said that she reacted as if she had walked into a porn shop unknowingly. She grabbed the kid and said, ‘Oh my god, let’s get out of here.’”

Question: So you’re still teaching a lot of folks who stop in about Eastern wines?

Tim: “Certainly. There is a stigma associated with Pennsylvania, well not only Pennsylvania but Eastern wines, that we have to try to educate the public. And the real shame of it is that everybody is buying what they know.. they know Merlot .. they know Syrah now because of Australia. And that’s what they’re buying.”

Melissa: “And Niagara. They like sweet.”

Tim: “That’s great, and it’s the only place you can get the Niagara and Concord.”

Melissa: “And they know them.”

Tim: “They know them and they buy them. That’s our highest-selling wines . . . [the wines that are sweet].”

Q: Is that fondness for sweet wine particular to the East Coast?

Tim: “I would say the majority come in for the sweet wines. The real jewel about our area is that there’s more diversity here. There’s so many different types of grapes being grown. So many different flavors in the wines that that’s our saving grace is that we get people in they can taste 14 different wines. They’re going to find something they like. It’s not like we have one Chard, one Cab and a Merlot. And I think you can probably do OK at that. But the Eastern United States is not like that yet. It’s not like California. It’s just not like California. But that’s what we’re trying to do is get them in the mindset that, yes, you can go into any Eastern winery and find a good Chard, a good Cab, a good Merlot, but you also might find some other things you like: the Chambourcin, the Vignoles is absolutely gorgeous. I like it better than Viognier, and you can only find it in the Northeast pretty much.”

Q: What do people want to know when they stop by?

Tim: “Occasionally we do get people in who want to know what they can eat with this certain type of wine.”

Melissa: “We get two types. Those that know wines who come in to taste to see if they can find some kind of jewel.”

Tim: “And those people are pleasantly surprised.”

Melissa: “And then you have others who walk in who have never been to a winery before, who really don’t know what they want, who really don’t know what we have”

Q: But they do know what they like and don’t like?

Tim: “That’s the real key there is that you buy what you like, and I think that’s one of the greatest things about the tasting room and having people in here that talk to you about wines and find out what you like and what you don’t like.

Tim: “If it was up to me, I would produce three wines, three or four wines, instead of 14. But we have such a diversity of grapes here -- when they first planted the place they didn’t really know what they wanted to plant, and so they planted a little bit of everything [30 acres planted, 12 different varieties]. That’s pretty normal for Eastern wineries, but you know in California you have those wineries that just grow Chard, Cab, Merlot, or they grow Cab Sauvignon, Cab Franc, Merlot so they can make a meritage. They’re very specialized. In the East you don’t have that very much, and I think one of the reasons is that no one has really figured out what is the specialty of the East. What is the specialty of the east yet? No one really knows. We’re trying to define that now.”

Q: Is it Chambourcin?

Tim: “Well, Chambourcin, yes, I would think so. I would think that’s definitely one of the ones . . .”

Q: It seems most if not all the regional wineries have a good Chambourcin and a good Vidal Blanc.

Tim: “But you see, those are both hybrids, and that’s a stigma. You can’t . . . nobody else in the world knows what that is except for people who come into the Northeast. So it’s kind of hard to say, yes, we specialize in Chambourcin when nobody knows what it is. In fact, that’s the reason when this one was named, the Consiglieri, nobody knew what Chambourcin was. That was back in 1985, nobody knew. And that’s why they name it Consiglieri, because nobody knew what Chambourcin was. A lot of the names we have on our private wines, like Traminette; the Clocktower White we make is made from Traminette, but we don’t call it Traminette because when we planted it . . . it was called NY65.533.13. So nobody knew what that was and so you had to call it something, and then when they did eventually name it, by that time you had a clientele for Clocktower Whites and you gotta go back to that. Same way with Vignoles. It was a Ravat 51 for many years. And the only person I know of that still calls it that is Bully Hill [Vineyards in Hammondsport, N.Y.]. One of the girls that works for me actually, she goes to New York a lot and she’s like, talking about how she likes the wines and everything. And I said something one day about the Ravat 51 and she’s like, ahhh, that’s a wine myth. And, I said, well, it Vignoles. They named it . . . eventually. So I think that the East Coast is still so young that we don’t have a, I guess, a signature. There’s really no signature wines. We can produce Chards just as good as anybody else, in my opinion. Especially on the good years, when it hasn’t been raining.”

Q: Is it a goal here to shoot for new blends every year, just to diversify more?

Tim: “At Twin Brook, we’re kind of maxed out on what we can do. And one thing we don’t do is, we don’t throw the Cab Sauv, Cab Franc and the Merlot into a meritage. I don’t believe in that. I have a few customers come in and a whole lot of winemakers that say, ‘It’s great to see that you’re still producing a Cab Franc instead of throwing it in.a meritage. And I like that. I like keeping them all separate. I could be doing that, and that would cut down on my winemaking a lot just to make a blend from those. But it’s just something that I like. I like having the different wines and, if you go to [France] or there’s actually a couple of places in California still doing Cab Franc, that you can still get good Cab Franc. I think that’s great, you know. And nobody knows what that is. Everybody comes in and say, ‘Cab Franc?’ Well, it’s the father of Cabernet Sauvignon, but nobody knows what it is.”

Tim: “I do try to tailor what I make to what will sell. We all have to do that. That’s why I have six or seven wines that are sweet, but also, I have my own opinions about like the Cab Franc and the meritage. I like to keep mine separate.”

Q: How much of what you make is an expression of why you’re in the business?

Tim: “You have to do a little bit of that, but the majority of it has to be what is going to sell.”

A letter from (wine) camp: Day 3

The campers gather for a goodbye pic.

Courtesy of Nina Kelly, the director of communications for the Chester County Conference & Visitors Bureau, here's a summation of the third and final day of the inaugural Brandywine Valley Wine Camp. You can check out this site and the Brandywine Valley site for a followup on the camp and a list of other activities and events scheduled for that area in Chester County.

It is hard to believe that we are at the last day of our first Wine Camp - time does indeed fly when you are having fun. Our last winery visit is to Stargazers Vineyard & Winery in beautiful Chester County, just north of Unionville. John and Alice Weygant began growing grapes on 30 beautiful acres in 1979 and sold them to other winemakers. In 1996 they began to produce their own vintages and today specialize in sparkling wines. John spoke to the campers about the chemistry of winemaking. It really is a science at the start of the process and an art at the finish, he states. Use of sulfur dioxide (to inhibit bacteria growth) and types of yeasts used were discussed. Champagnes have become Stargazers' niche market - they produce it for themselves as well as some other area wineries. John explained that the process for making a sparkling wine included a double fermentation process. A tour of their winery ended with the tasting of several sparkling wines. Ones made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir (a blush/sparkling wine) were simply delicious. John had a great thought to describe the effect of champagne as we were tasting: "Champagne should feel like you need to keep your mouth closed or it will float out." Indeed it did, and as all good things must come to a close so ended our wine camp.

Part of the Wine Camp package included Brandywine Sampler coupons (admission to eight area attractions including Longwood Gardens, Brandywine River Museum, QVC and more.) Many participants were going to one of the attractions and since the coupons are valid through 2008, several were planning a return visit also.

As we said goodbye, kudos were given to all the hosts at the Bed and Breakfast (their hospitality was exceptional, stated our campers; "We felt like family," was exclaimed more than once.) Staff and owners of each of the wineries were commended also. "What a unique experience to meet the owner/operators and hear their stories," said one of the camping couples who have been to wineries in California and New York. Finally, something must be said about the campers themselves. Had we been able to hand-pick a group of participants ourselves, we could not have come up with a nicer, more fun group of people. Many thanks to them for participating in our inaugural camp. Look for the second annual Brandywine Valley Wine Camp, June 12-14, 2009, and visit www.brandywinevalley.com for upcoming events and camps.