Debbie Morris: Woodhall's superb 'cruise director'

I've mentioned before the name of Debbie Morris, who is about as jack-of-all-trades as one can get at Woodhall Wine Cellars in Parkton, Md., and is one of the nicest people we've had the pleasure of meeting at any of the wineries we've stopped by. The subject of a note in the Woodhall newsletter for October-November, the piece notes that Morris has been part of the Woodhall team for more than eight years and schedules all the winery' special events: private parties, tastings and weddings. Indeed, the blurb adds, "There's practically no part of the Woodhall operation that Debbie hasn't participated in." And, I'll add, done it with a fabulous demeanor.

The newsletter notes that harvest time also is busy at a place such as Woodhall, which is importing all of its grapes these days. The newsletter notes that grapes for its 2009 Barbera will come from Jennie Schmidt's Golden Run Vineyard in Sudlersville, Md. That vineyards provided the grapes for Woodhall's 2008 Barbera, which took a gold medal at this year's Governor's Cup.

They'll also be proceddig Merlot grapes from Wick Dudley on the Eastern Shore and Chardonnay grapes from Galloping Goose Vineyards in Hampstead. Wrapping up the section under HARVEST, the newsletter notes: "Winemaking is indeed a magical trip and you, our loyal friends and patrons, are invited along for the ride."

Va La site gets a new look, but old charm remains

Looks like Va La Vineyards in Avondale, Pa., recently made some improvements to its Web site. The winery is a must-visit if you're anywhere in the mid-Atlantic looking for good wine to sample, as is Chaddsford and Pinnacle Ridge and Allegro in Pennsylvania and Black Ankle in Maryland.

The wines at Va La are superior, using a number of grapes you won't see made into juice at other regional wineries. And it's a comfy atmosphere, either out in front of the main tasting bar downstairs or relaxing at a small table upstairs amid the brights colors and vivid shapes of whichever local artist's work is being featured. And I could listen to owner Anthony Vietri talk baseball for hours (while sipping the Silk or Mahongany or Castana or other unique names that grace his labels).

Why else do I like the place? The sense of humor, found in large doses either in person or on the Web site. To wit, on the page under TO CONTACT:

Your suffering shall be legendary...

Attempting to contact Va La has been likened to attempting to contact the dead.
We can not lie. We are farmers who actively avoid electronic devices. For the latest info on hours, etc, we usually make a telephone recording of our voices for people to listen to. Hopefully, the info on the recording is somewhat accurate. Occasionally, people have been known to leave a message on the offhand chance that one of us accidentally wanders by the answering machine.

610 268 2702

And

We can accommodate groups of six or more persons by reservation only. We regretfully cannot accommodate buses, stretch limousines, wedding parties, professional tour groups, or ocean liners during our regular weekend hours. For reservations, info, pricing, private events, life counseling, root canals, etc, please leave a message for Ms Kelly at 610 742 3981, or by computer device: events@valavineyards.com

Birds helping themselves in NY; state expects to top 300 producers by sometime next year

Saw a few notes in the latest weekly e-letter from the New York Wine & Grape Foundation, courtesy of executive director Jim Trezise, that warrented passing along.

2009 GRAPE HARVEST is slowly getting under way, with both similarities and some differences among the various regions. Every region is late in terms of ripening, but recent decent weather has helped, and flavors seem to be developing well, a key component in wine quality.

Each region has unique challenges, and one of those for Long Island is birds, which migrate annually and feast off the great grapes. Many growers have responded by covering their vineyards with huge nets—but now the birds have figured out how to eat the grapes through the nets!

Keep up with the harvest through Cornell Cooperative Extension’s great “Veraison to Harvest” newsletter at http://grapesandwine.cals.cornell.edu/extension.

NEW WINERIES just keep popping up all over the state, confirming that the wine industry is about the only growth industry in New York State. Today there are 273 fully licensed wine producers, 33 satellite stores (linked to wineries but in other locations), and 15 pending winery licenses, meaning we’ll probably top 300 actual producers next year if not sooner.

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While some of the pending licenses are in traditional wine regions, an increasing number are elsewhere, like The Saratoga Winery (www.thesaratogawinery.com) in that tony horse-racing and spa city north of Albany; and Elfs Farm (www.elfsfarm.com), a combination cider mill, farm stand, and now farm winery in the Lake Champlain region bordering Vermont, which has an increasing number of grape growers and wineries.

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We commissioned the New York State Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to conduct an updated New York Winery Survey using 2008 data (vs. 2003, the last survey), which should appear sometime in October. But even that will be outdated, given the way the industry keeps growing.

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(Vigna note: A story on the winebusiness.com site in February 2009 showed New York with 232 bonded wineries in operation, fourth highest in the country and the most outside the West Coast triumverate of California, Washington and Oregon. Virginia was sixth with 152, Pennsylvania was next with 127, and Maryland was tied with Arizona for 20th with 37).

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RIESLING keeps growing in acreage, according to NASS, which every five years conducts a vineyards survey (different from the winery survey). In 2001, there were 461 bearing acres, and another 30 planned; in 2006 there were 683 bearing with 103 planned; and based on my own anecdotal evidence, I would estimate there are now about 1,000 acres of Riesling, with 90% in the Finger Lakes region.

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.

Rest, relaxation become a thing of the past for winemakers once harvest season gets started

Sometimes I'll rag on winery owners for not calling me back right away.

Then there's the other side; not posting information for a week or two from winemakers and owners who DO call me back. That's the case with Jason Price at Twin Brook Winery in Gap, Pa., where large crowds are expected these next two weekends as part of the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail's Harvest Festival.

He called me a few weeks ago in response to an e-mail about the harvest, one he noted can begin as early as late August and continue into November. They grow 12 varieties of grapes at Twin Brook; the earliest to come off the vine are the Foche and Cayuga grapes and the latest are the Cabernet Sauvignon.

"Not the case for this wonderful vintage," Price said about the timeliness of the ripening, which has been delayed several weeks by all the rain. "That's not the case everywhere. Southeastern Pennsylvania there seems like there are all these microclimates that have their own thing going on, but we're experiencing some real delay in ripening."

It hasn't quite provided the same number of horror stories as the 2003 vintage, the worst this decade."I wasn't here then," he said, " but I know that was a real challenging year and I think this year is really giving '03 a run for its money."

Price said the days are long during the several months of harvest, up and picking with the sun and then into the cellar to crush and press the grapes and get them into the tanks. "It can be a 16-hour day," he said. "Last week, Tim [Jobe] and I ran 22 hours straight. We were doing Cayuga, some grapes we got in Gettysburg, and by the time we got all the grapes back and cleaned up the press and locked the door, it was 22 hours straight."

But, like accountants during tax season, there's no sense griping about it. "You realize [the hours are going to be long this time of the year]," Price said. "You can't complain about it because you know about [the long hours during harvest] when you went into it."

Logan's View opened throughout weekend for those looking to try out a new winery

A friend brought back a tasters list from Logan's View Winery, which opened recently on the premises of Brown's Orchards and Farm Market in Loganville, Pa., just off I-83 and right off the Susquehanna Trail.

If you're looking to try out some new, locally made wines, the hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Tastings are $3 to sample the five wines they're making available this week (some wine remains from last weekend's tasting and also is being served as a complimentary sixth sample until it runs out). That tasting fee also gets you an complimentary glass and three dollar-off coupons for bottles of Logan's View Wine.

Told my friend loved the apple wine ($12); also for sale among the fruit wines are orchard cherry ($12), blueberry ($14), wild cherry ($18), strawberry ($12) and apple ice ($24).

The remaining 12 wines for sale are all white, ranging in price from $14 (Seyval Blanc, Vidal Blanc, Cayuga and blush) to $16 (including Reisling, Chardonnary, Sauvignon Blanc and Traminette).

No Web site available that I can find that's specific to the winery, although you can find out more by calling 717.741.0300 or going to the Brown's Orchards Web site.

Maryland group pushing change in state's shipment law toasting several recent successes

I've been on the e-letter list for the group called Marylanders for Better Beer & Wine Laws since January, when I had a chance to interview executive director Adam Borden about his fight to change the state law prohibiting wineries from shipping their product to homes around the country.

Despite a crazy few weeks either testifying or simply arguing his case to anyone within earshot, the bill to overturn that law was rejected. Just like always. But Borden vowed that 2010 would be different, and recent developments would give some prescience to that battle cry, although he's far from overconfident.

Chatting by phone Thursday afternoon with him, Borden said there has been a "huge amount of progress" with the push to pass this bill early next year through Maryland's House and Senate. One shove came from a Sept. 7 editorial in the Baltimore Sun that supported his group's agenda. The headline: Our view: If Maryland wants to grow wineries and accommodate consumers, the state's misguided ban on direct shipment of wine must finally be discarded.

Borden said he heard that the editorial reverberated quite loudly in Maryland's capital of Annapolis as well as elsewhere across the state. "That was really exciting," he said, "and for them to come out tis early with such a long endorsement was really great."

Indeed, not a single opponent would show up to argue their side with Borden on Dan Rodricks' Midday NPR show last week. And then came last weekend at the Maryland Wine Festival in Carroll County, when the group added about 5,000 signatures to a membership that already topped 10,000. The original group totaled around 1,700.

You can read more about the group and their initiative at http://www.mbbwl.org, where you also have the opportunity to contribute to this grassroots effort. In the meantime, Borden noted that the group is planning a fund-raiser called "Drink Local: A MD & VA Wine Seminar & Tasting" on Thursday, Oct. 8, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Whittemore House (near Dupont Circle) in Washington D.C. It will feature three Maryland and three Virginia wineries, with each one serving a red and white wine. Virginia viticulturalist Tony Wolf and Association of Maryland Wineries executive director Kevin Atticks will offer a 45-minute seminar on the terroir in the two state. A seminar on the politics of wine in Maryland and Virginia will wrap up the evening.

"It's a great way to profile the industry and let people be able to taste some of the wines," Borden noted.

As for this final push before action on the legislation starts in January, Borden said the key is maintaining the momentum and "making sure the delegates and the senators know that this is going to be an issue that's going to come up for a vote this year [2010] and we want their vote. That's really it.

"They've always been . . . what's been such an easy way to co-sponsor is a bill when you know it's never going to get out of subcommittee. But as soon as it looks like it's going to get out of subcommittee, they say, 'Oh ----, I actually have to do something about it.' Soooo, they better be doing something about it."