NY updates on harvest, Web site

Two items from the weekly New York Wine & Grape Foundation e-letter that I'd like to share with you. The latter talks about upgrades to the Foundation's already excellent Web site. If you are looking for states sites that are in-depth, you'll certainly find them not only at the New York site but also for the states of Maryland and Virginia.

From New York director Jim Trezsie comes the following:

KILLING FROST has basically put an end to the 2008 grape harvest in all regions except Long Island, but in most cases that didn’t cause a problem since the season was already winding down. In the Lake Erie, Finger Lakes and Hudson Valley regions, hard frosts last weekend killed the leaves, which halted any further ripening. Galileo described grapes as “sunlight held together by water”, and what ripens the grapes is the sunlight gathered by the leaves, leading to the magic of photosynthesis that we all learned in high school biology. When the leaves are shut down by a killing frost, so is the ripening process. Due to the large bodies of water surrounding it, Long Island has a longer growing season than New York’s other regions, which is a good thing since there are also more late ripening varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon. At the other end of the state in the Lake Erie grape belt, Concord grapes (for grape juice) still have some ripening to do (in vineyards not affected by the hard frost) in order to meet required quality levels. In most regions, the crop was larger than expected, and over the quality was very good to excellent. A significant concern, however, was the surplus of some grape varieties which in the past have had strong demand.

and

WWW.NEWYORKWINES.ORG now has a new look, several new features, and enhanced navigational tools to get you where you want to go faster, thanks to months of work by our own Susan Spence. The home page is designed to help you find the information you’re looking for as quickly as possible through a new “Search” option, a continually updated listing of special events, a place to sign up for the Wine Press, and ways to quickly reach other parts of the site like wine regions or award-winning wines. The Search feature allows you to type in the name of a winery (or restaurant or retailer) and get the contact information directly, along with restaurants and retailers we know have carried their wines in the past (and we hope still do). The major sections remain the same, but with new graphics updated content: Wine Country lets you go right to the various regions, and includes maps and direct links; Information Station includes a wealth of information about our industry; Wine Locator helps you identify stores and restaurants in your area which carry New York wines; New York Gold includes a continually updated listing of award winning wines searchable by wine type or wine competition; Corkboard invites postings, Wineline lets you sign up for the Wine Press, and the Contact Us is for correspondence (which we read and respond to when we can).

Wine Grapevine: Oct. 25-Nov. 2 (& beyond)

PENNSYLVANIA WINERIES

Adams County Winery, Ortanna: Halloween at the Winery, today, noon to 4 p.m.,
http://www.adamscountywinery.com/

Blue Mountain Vineyards, New Tripoli: 11th annual Hallowine Tasting ($$), tonight, 5 to 9 o’clock; Fall Foliage Tasting ($$), every Sunday through the end of November, with the exception of Nov. 9, 2 to 5 p.m., http://www.bluemountainwine.com

Chaddsford Winery, Chaddsford: Reserve tastings ($$), Saturday, sittings at 1, 2:30 and 4 p.m., Spiced Apple Sunday ($$), Oct. 26, noon to 5 p.m., picnic on the grounds, music from 2 to 5 p.m., tours and tastings, fee is for hot mulled wine tastings; Sommelier’s Secrets of Holiday Wine and Food Pairings ($$), Friday, Nov. 7, 7 to 9 p.m., taught by wine educator Marnie Old, reservations at 610.388..6221, http://www.chaddsford.com

Clover Hill, Breinigsville: Beginner wine tasting class ($$), Saturday, Nov. 1, from 3 to 4:30 p.m., reservations required at 1-800-CLOVERHILL, www.cloverhillwinery.com

Clover Mill Farm Vineyards & Winery, Chester Springs: Open again, Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m., http://www.clovermillfarm.com/

Country Creek Winery, Telford: Country Creek Winery in the Barn ($$), tonight, 6 to 9 p.m., Hank’s Cadillac; next one is Nov. 8, http://www.countrycreekwinery.com/

Crossing Vineyards & Winery, Washington Crossing: Harvest Winemaker’s Dinner ($$), tonight, starting at 7:30, five-course dinner with Crossing’s award-winning reds; Wine Tasting for Dummies ($$), Sunday, Oct. 26, 2 p.m., at East Falls classroom, http://www.crossingvineyards.com

Hauser Estate Winery, Biglerville: New winery open, Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.; October Onward, Friday, Oct. 31, 5 to 7 p.m., Happy Hour with live music, http://www.hauserestate.com/

Galen Glen Vineyard & Winery, Andreas: Winter Wine Release, Saturday, Nov. 1, and Sunday, Nov. 2, http://www.galenglen.com

Moon Dancer Vineyards & Winery, Wrightsville: Music every Saturday (2 to 5 p.m.) and Sunday, 2 to 5 p.m.; Halloween party, Friday, Oct. 31, 6 to 9 p.m., with music by A.D. Chandler, http://www.moondancerwinery.com

Mount Hope Estate and Winery, Manheim: Annual Mount Hope Wine Sale, 25 percent discount mix and match, goes through the end of October, http://www.parenfaire.com/

Naylor Wine Cellars, Stewartstown: Home for the Holidays dinner ($$), Saturday, Nov. 8, 3 to 6 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 9, 2 to 5 p.m., reservations required, http://www.naylorwine.com/


MARYLAND WINERIES

Black Ankle Winery, Mt. Airy: Open for business, winner of Maryland Governor’s Cup in 2008; hours: Wednesday - Friday: noon to 5 p.m., Saturday: noon to 6 p.m., Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., information on winery at this link

Frederick Wine Cellars, Frederick: Hallo”wine” party, Friday, Oct. 31, 7 to 11 p.m., information at this link

Other MARYLAND winery events can be found at this link, VIRGINIA events at this link and New York events at this link

$$ – Admission charge

At Twin Brook, another harvest is over

Passing along my sincere thanks to winemaker Jason Price at Twin Brook Winery in Gap, Pa. He was kind enough to respond to a question about what’s going at his winery.

He wrote: “harvest is officially over. cab sauv was picked on wed and that emptiedthe vineyard. the frost sunday into monday turned all the leaves brown and that pretty much means pick what remains. luckily cab franc was ripe andready, so we got all the franc off on monday. we would have wanted to leave sauv on a bit longer, but nature dictated the schedule. fortunately the sauv fruit was acceptable and with some fastidious winemaking we will be ableto produce an excellent sauv for 2008. we looked ahead and did a green harvest in august, so that helped. also, with bleeding and other tricks we should get the hearty sauv we all love to drink. overall, 2008 was challenging. a lot of rain meant worrisome sleep and extended hours. the early cold forced us to pick the cabs a little early. but believe it or not, I am more excited about the 2008 wines than the 2007. there is a little more challenge, but so far the fruit has produced some awesome early wines. i just racked the 08 vignoles the other day and the whole place smelled of tropical fruits. good enough for me."

A few notes from Sand Castle Winery

Let me post these entries from the newsletter of Sand Castle Winery in Erwinna, Pa., a member of the Bucks County Wine Trail.

* Pinot Noir was harvested after foggy mornings and dry sunny days and it is showing its superior quality in the freshly made wine. Chardonnay harvest was like a dream. The grapes falling off the stems with minimum shaking during the harvest with the mechanical harvester. Riesling held its own until October and we will have great Late Harvest. We will finish harvest of Cabernet Sauvignon this week and the vineyards will start a new season with pruning, tying, hedging, cultivating etc.

* We just finished harvest. Come and help yourself. You are welcome to pick grapes which are left in vineyard and make yourself the Late Late Harvest wine.

* Sand Castle will have a kiosk this holiday season at Montgomery Mall in North Wales, PA . We will be centrally located on the first floor. Look for the Sand Castle Banner. Stop by and taste our famous hot Alpine Spice Wine.

* Route 32 River Road will be open Friday, Oct. 25 and FINALLY you can go from the
winery north on Rt. 32 to Rt. 611 and vise versa!

* What wine should you serve with Thanksgiving dinner? This is a popular question this time of the year. Let’s break down what makes up a typical Thanksgiving Dinner: some appetizers before dinner, turkey both white and dark meat, gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, bread stuffing, squash, and dessert.

Before dinner to accompany appetizers two wines work very well Sand Castle Classic Chardonnay, for the dry wine lovers and Sand Castle Cuvee Blush, for the semi-sweet wine drinkers. Both wines do not over power appetizers and will stimulate the taste buds. Also both wines are medium in body; the last thing that is needed is a big red, with such a filling dinner planned.

The perfect wine for dinner would be Sand Castle Pinot Noir, most wines do not have the ability to accompany such a variation of flavors presented at a Thanksgiving dinner. The wine must be
able to pair with turkey that is not overly powerful, gravy that is rich and fatty, dressing that is powerful with loads of herbs, cranberry sauce that is sharp tangy. Pinot Noir does all that and
remember when your drink wine with food the wine does not taste as dry as when you drink wine without food.

Sand Castle Late Harvest Johannisburg Riesling is the wine to complete the perfect meal. It pairs wonderfully with sweet desserts be it pumpkin pie, rich chocolate or cream covered
dishes. We hope your holiday is a wonderful and thankful event.

Pa. sets sites for Beaujolais tastings Nov. 20

One of my favorite times of the wine calendar, the middle of November when the first wine of the new season is released, is celebrated in a number of ways across the region. Beaujolais Nouveau Day officially comes around the third Thursday in November and it's a chance to see and taste what was ust on the vine five or six weeks ago.

Several wineries and trails, such as the Bucks County Wine Trail, celebrate a Nouveau Release, just in time for the holiodays. Personally, there's nothing that adds as much to the Thanksgiving table than a few bottles of Beaujolais . . . oh, except maybe for that apple pie that follows two hours later.

The folks who run the state stores in Pennsylvania have also gotten on board, and who can blame them. Among the first of the French Boujolias tastings, free to the public, will occur on Nov. 20 in three locations:

* in Harrisburg, at the Harrisburg Hilton, One North Second St., from 5 to 7 p.m.

* in Philly, at the Sofitel Philadelphia, 107 S. 17th St., from 5 to 7 p.m.

* and in Pittsburgh, at the Renaissance Hotel, 107 Sixth St., from 5 to 7 p.m.

Serendipity, indeed, at Loew Vineyards

Based on the number of wineries in the vicinity of Mt. Airy, Md., you might think that you’re somewhere in the middle of Napa instead of eastern Frederick County.

There are four located to the north and south of Maryland Route 26, all members of the Frederick Wine Trail and all within a 10- or 15-minute drive from each other. One is Loew Vineyards, owned by Bill and wife Lois, who bought their 37-acre farm and planted their first vines in 1982. By 1986, they were bottling their first wine.

In all, they produce 17 wines, a combination of appealing to varied palates and Bill’s candidly admitting that “whenever I come up with a new wine my wife wouldn’t let me terminate any other wines.” They offer types that most would recognize: a Caernet, Riesling and Chardonnay. And others called Celebration, Twilight and Classic Red that virtually no one would recognize without a bit of an introduction. But Bill said last night that he doesn’t think unfamiliarity is such a bad thing. “You know, people do like something different to taste and to take home rather than the stuff they recognize,” he said. “So we have different wines.” One is called Country Classic that, he said, “is a very nice red wine blended with blackberries. It’s a delightful drink. I came up with that wine five or six years ago, and it has been very successful.”

So have what he calls his two signature wines, one called Serendipity and the other called Raspberry in Grape. Serendipity is made out of a grape called Reliance, which is seedless and pink when fully mature. Released in Arkansas in 1982, Bill Loew said he was communicating with the grape’s developer the following year. “You know, I got maybe like 30 vines at that time and I planted it and, I tell you, after three years we had really nice grapes. That grapes was so wonderful by itself that I just had to make some wine out of it. Since that time I’ve planted more than an acre of that grape . . . it really has a lovely taste . . . a grapefruit aftertone and maybe some melon. Very nice, very palatable. Just nice sipping wine.”

That’s what he also calls the Raspberry in Grape, which blends Vidal Blanc with raspberries into a sweet and tasty mix.”

Meanwhile, what was a “count-em-on-one-hand group” of wineries for many years has turned blossomed into a list in the mid 30s across Maryland. Yet it doesn’t seem to be crimping business. A ride down to Black Ankle Winery a couple Saturdays ago, for instance, took us past Elk Run Vineyards, which at a glance appeared quite crowded. A couple miles away, the same was the case as just-opened Black Ankle.

“I attend two wine festivals,” Bill said, “and of course when we started we had like seven or eight wineries. All of a sudden [that has] mushroomed to 22 wineries at one wine festival. So, yes, we do have more competition and I suppose things will kind of adjust itself as it goes along. I cannot tell you with any prediction how things will end, but so far it’s working pretty well.”

Black Walnut plowing toward opening

Posted a story last month on Black Walnut Winery in Sadburyville, Chester County, a hop, skip and a jump off Route 30 as it heads east onto the bypass toward Coatesville and Downingtown.

Co-owner Lance Castle talked then about opening in a month or so. Well, that month flew by in a blur, as it usually does for anyone trying to tie all the final loose ends and open the doors. Castle said earlier today that the opening “probably is going to be closer to mid- to late December than late November, which is what I was hoping for.”

Castle said he just received approval on all of his labels and brought them to the printer last Friday. Meanwhile, the last bit of work continues on his 198-year-old bank barn that will serve as the tasting room. “We put in an underfloor,” Castle said, “to support it up. It was an antique shop and a residence, so they wanted us to bring the grade of the building up . . . so we had to rip out the old floor and put in a new sub-floor. And I have to put in the new tongue and groove floor and get it sanded and finished. But the ceilings are done, the walls are done … the fireplace is almost all stripped and ready to go. So I’ve made a lot of progress.”

Once it open, the winery will become the seventh member of the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail, which recently completed its Harvest Fest Celebration and now turns its attention toward the annual Vintners’ Dinner Celebration on Saturday night, Nov. 8, at Longwood Gardens.