At Fiore, Sangiovese making itself at home

Talking to Mike Fiore the other day time-warped me back in my grandparents’ kitchen in south Philly; the thick accent, the joy for everything food and wine, the zest for life.

He’s a native of Italy, a former vineyard owner there, who arrived in the Baltimore area in 1962 and met his wife within the year, according to the Fiore Winery Web site. They bought a small farm in northern Harford County in 1975 and, while he worked his day as a technician at the Baltimore Gas & Electric Company, they slowly let the idea of planting a vineyard ferment. In 1986 they opened the winery, and it has grown from producing 1,500 gallons to more than 35,000 gallons. It makes 21 wines, including Prosecco, an Italian off-dry light sparkling wine that could find itself on your table for more occasions than holidays.

So it didn’t take much prompting for our discussion to wander to the subject of Italy, which I visited for the first time in January and Fiore heads back to annually. “Italy has come a long way when it comes to food,” he said. “I notice that around me the whole world eats Italian food now, even some of our French neighbors. From what I find [they] consume more Italian food than French food. My response is that it took a long time, but you finally got smart. Wait until you get addicted to Italian wine.”

That would include the Sangiovese, the primary grape for the Chianti and Chianti Classico of Tuscany and one that is bringing Fiore much delight. The winery is selling its 2006 Sangiovese now; the grapes from last year’s harvest probably won’t see a bottle until later on next year. “I want to give it a little more time inside those barrels to pick up some more wood,” he said. Not as long as the Chambourcin or Cabernet Sauvignon. “But the style of Sangiovese I want to make, I like a nice, crispy, fruity-style Sangiovese [that] has a lot of Italian flavor in it.”

It’s the first bottle of the varietal that they’ve bottled. In the past, after what Fiore called “exceptional years,” that Sangiovese has found itself as the primary grape in a blend called Caronte that also includes Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. “The last time we made it was 2002,” he said. “We haven’t made it for a while because actually it wasn’t that we didn’t have exceptional years, but I didn’t have enough Sangiovese to do it.”

They grow about 2 acres of the grape, one of the few locations in Maryland that does. “The more we make it in Maryland the more we’ll realize what the Sangiovese is going to be like,” he said, optimistic that others will follow his lead. While admittedly a grape that's finicky and easy to bruise, Fiore said he's encouraged by the strategy adopted the past two years of lightening the bunches to allow the remaining grapes more room to develop. “The ‘06 we didn’t drop too much of it but I thought we needed a little more body to [the wine], so the ‘07 we dropped a little bit more and the 08 we’re dropping it down to a little less than three tons per acre, and you can really see a difference in the structure of those grapes and an improvement in the quality.”

Several days ago I posted a short about how much I liked the Sasyr, a blend of Sangiovese and Syrah. It's not a marriage you'll find at Fiore's winery. And he didn't mind saying so. “Syrah takes over, like a big bully with a weaker kid. However, that’s not what I’m after. Maybe it’s the Italian pride of me that makes me do that . . . I wanted the Sangiovese to stand up on its own two feet.”

Allegro returns happy from Seven Springs

The early returns are giving the annual Wine & Food Festival at Seven Springs Mountain Resort, held this past weekend, a thumbs-up.

Carl Helrich of Allegro Vineyards in The Brogue, Pa., sounded in an e-mail like he was happy he had made the trip."Seven Springs is the second largest festival in PA," he wrote. "It was well attended this year, although I don't know official figures. We had our best year ever. I do think they added on a couple wineries this year."

Helrich was correct about the bump in wineries, from 23 to 25. Spokesperson Melissa Cullin said that they moved a couple things around, allowing for a larger tent and consequently a couple more wineries. Only Pennsylvania wineries are invited, although the crowds for the festival that also includes arts and crafts, live entertainment and gourmet foods generally come in from a four-state area.

Cullen said the Resort does not release attendance figures. She did send a list of the wineries that attended, which follows:

Adams County Winery, Ortanna, www.adamscountywinery.com
Allegro Vineyards, Brogue, www.allegrowines.com
Arrowhead Wine Cellars, North East, www.arrowheadwine.com
Benigna’s Creek Vineyard & Wwinery, Klingerstown, www.bcwinery.com
Blue Mountain Vineyards & Cellars, New Tripoli, www.bluemountainwine.com
Chaddsford Winery, Chadds Ford, www.chaddsford.com
Christian W. Klay Winery, Chalk Hill, www.cwklaywinery.com
Clover Hill Winery, Breinigsville, www.cloverhillwinery.com
Flickerwood Wine Cellars, Kane, www.flickerwood.com
Franklin Hill Winery, Bangor, www.franklinhillwineyards.com
Glades Pike Winery, Somerset, www.gladespikewinery.com
Heritage Wine Cellars, North East, www.heritagewine.biz
Laurel Mountain Winery, Falls Creek, www.laurelwines.com
Long Trout Winery, Auburn, www.longtroutwinery.com
Mazza Vineyards, North East, www.mazzawines.com
Mount Nittany Vineyard & Winery, Centre Hall, www.mtnittanywinery.com
Oak Springs Winery, Altoona, www.oakspringwinery.com
Penn Shore Vineyards, North East, www.pennshore.com
Presque Isle Wine Cellars, North East, www.piwine.com
Raspberry Acres, Blairsville
Sand Castle Winery, Erwinna, www.sandcastlewinery.com
Shade Mountain Winery, Middleburg, www.shademountainwinery.com
Starr Hill Vineyard & Winery, Curwensville, www.starrhillwinery.com
Vynecrest Winery, Breinigsville, www.vynecrest.com
Winery at Wilcox, Wilcox, www.wineryatwilcox.net

Wycombe seeking pickers for harvest

Wycombe Vineyards in Furlong, Pa., just north of Philly, is looking for grape pickers for three weekends in the fall, beginning with Sept. 6-7. Many of the details are covered at this spot on their site.

As someone who has picked at Basignani Winery in Maryland for the past four years, I'd recommend trying to work any of the regional wineries during this year's harvest and see how you like it. Not all wineries use volunteers, but more do than you probably realize. It can be hard work, especially on a warm autumn day, but there's an element of fellowship nd plenty of exercise that comes out of it, and the morning or early afternoon usually is capped with one of the world's best sights: a picnic spread and uncorked bottles of wine. You go home a little giddy frankly.

Wineries generally have the tools if you don't, but most will tell you to bring along garden shears, kitchen scissors and/or gloves if you have them.

Fairmount Ensemble to end Crossing series

Performing with the Fairmount Chamber Ensemble are, clockwise, from upper right: Jean Luise Shook, violinist; Dane Anderson, cellist; Beth Dzwil, violist; and Taia Harlos, violinist.

I'd like to get to the point where this site not only introduces you to the winermakes and acquaints you with the region's wines, but is a go-to spot for all events related to wine. That said, here's new on the final summer concert series event at Crossing Vineyards & Winery:

Crossing Vineyards and Winery in Washington Crossing, Pa. will wrap up its fifth “Summer Under the Stars” concert series on Friday, Sept. 12, with a Latin sound, courtesy of the Fairmount Chamber Ensemble.

The 7 p.m. concert will be held rain or shine on the grounds of the 200-year-old estate at 1853 Wrightstown Road.

Fairmount, which formed in 1994 in response to requests for a large ensemble to accompany Philadelphia- area choirs, has performed works such as Handel’s “Messiah,” Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” and Mozart’s “Requiem.” The group, featuring cellist Dane Anderson, violist Beth Dzwil, and violinists Taia Harlos and Jean Luise Shook, will switch it up with a program of Latin music, beginning with the classical melodies of Latin composers and ending with the some Latin dance fun.

Along with the music, Crossing offers concert-goers its award winning wines by the bottle or glass and cheese, plus picnic suppers. The carte du jour will be open-faced toasted French bread with marinated sliced steak, roasted garlic spread, crumbled blue cheese and balsamic caramelized red onions. Also, baby arugula salad with toasted pine nuts, grated parmesan cheese and lemon vinaigrette. Dessert is homemade dark chocolate éclairs, served with coffee or tea.

Sponsored by Haldeman Auto Dealerships, tickets are $10; picnic suppers are $30, plus tax and gratuity, and reservations must be made in advance. No outside beverages are permitted. Guests are asked to bring lawn chairs. Seating is provided for those purchasing picnic suppers. Tickets and picnic suppers may be ordered by calling 215.493.6500, ext. 19 or purchased online at the Web site. You can also find directions to the winery there.

School bells' ringing at Crossing Vineyards

So we’ve written a lot about the grapes that are picked and the wine that’s made and the events that make a winery feel like home. But some also have turned their farm into a campus, offering classes on a variety of subjects related to wine.

Owner Chris Carroll of Crossing Vineyards & Winery in Washington Crossing, Pa., sent out the list for fall the other day. Temple U, where I teach as an adjunct, would be impressed.

And, like Temple, the winery has a satellite campus; it recently opened that in East Falls. Classes run the gamut, from the basic 101s that introduce students to all things wine to a few upper-level courses. All are taught by an experienced staff that deep roots in Philly’s wine and food community.

Carroll wrote in an e-mail that the makeup of the attendees is as diverse as the classes offered.

“The people who sign up for our classes represent a real mix of ages,” she wrote. “Some Sundays at Dummies, we'll have lots of ‘Millenials’ and ‘Boomers.’ We're a little light on the ‘Gen-Xers,’ who are probably too committed with family and don't have much free time. We see a pretty even mix of men and women. Couples often take classes together.”

Classes start soon after Labor Day at East Falls and at the winery, in what’s called The Wine Institute. One series returning is called Wine 101, which is broken down into six topics and held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. every Monday starting on Sept. 8. These include an introduction to wine and the types of wine, instruction on storing, serving and tasting red and white wines, and then pairing wine with food. In this case, classes can be taken individually for $30 or as a complete course for $150.

Others back in the Institute’s curriculum are Wine Tasting for Dummies once a month on a Sunday afternoon, a one-hour workshop in November called the Wine List Survival Guide, and a wine and wellness class entitled Eat Drink and Be Healthy that’s also set for November. Wine Tasting: Old World vs. New World is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 2. Marika Vida-Arnold, sommelier at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Philadelphia, is planning what the winery’s release is calling “a fun, fast-paced hour of information on classic European wines and their casual New World counterparts. She will emphasize their differences in taste and style and explain how to pair them with food.” And, the best news as far as I’m concerned, I can still get into work in time to handle all assignments for the Eagles at Seattle game, which begins at 4:15. Hey, that’s for anyone out there not paying attention.

As you might expect, Crossing Vineyards wines are used in every class and there’s an emphasis on acquainting students with what’s around here rather than on the Left Coast. “We deliberately don't offer courses on California,” Carroll wrote. “Most people are more familiar with California than any other wine region. They think wine is synonymous with California, even more so than France or Italy. We want to do new and different classes, wines they might not get elsewhere. We feature CVW wine in every class we give; so we are educating on East Coast wines all the time and illustrating through our quality product that award winning wines can be produced in Pennsylvania.”

All suggestions for new classes are considered, she added. And, in fact, two are making their debut on Crossing Vineyard’s “main campus.” One is a wine and chocolate pairing course – Pairing Wine and Chocolate: How Sweet It Is -- featuring Lindt of Switzerland. Crossing Vineyards’ sommelier Eric Cavatore and Stacey Glynn-Brady, Manager of Lindt of Switzerland at Palmer Square in Princeton, N.J., will explain how both chocolate and wine are made and will offer advice on how to enjoy them together. This one costs $30 to attend.

The other is a French Wine for Beginners course that will target the varietals and appellations of Burgundy.

“We have an Italian Wine for Beginners class on the fire,” Carroll wrote, responding to a question about what else is planned, “[and] a Wine and Cheese Pairing Class, as we have recently opened a Wine and Cheese Shop in the Mohegan Sun Casino at Pocono Downs.”

Joining regulars Cavatore, Wine for Dummies instructor Tom Carroll Sr. and Vida-Arnold are Collin Flatt, wine writer for Phoodie.com, a Philadelphia-centric food magazine/blog. Flatt holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Temple, has trained at the Wine School of Philadelphia and then broadened that education with extensive wine travel and study in Italy.

He’ll teach three courses at The Marketplace at East Falls, 3747 Ridge Ave. They include:

Wine Tasting for Dummies, $25, Sunday, Sept. 14, 2 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 26, 2 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 9, 2 p.m.
The ABCs of Wine Tasting, $20, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2 p.m.
Wine List Survival Guide, $20, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2 p.m.

Uncle Matt uncovers a few bargains

As someone who likes to provide a bit of content per day, I feel like I've been struggling the past few weeks. Sigh. The real job always gets in the way. While I put together a local story to post in about an hour, here's a column from author Matt Kramer, a Portland, Ore., wine critic who contributes to the Oregonian. It ran earlier this month.

In it, Kramer offers his suggestions on some reds and whites to buy that provide a lot of BANG for the buck.

'G' fits Galen Glen's needs to a 'T'

If you follow these postings you read that the Traminette has been the best seller in the early going for Terrapin Station Winery in extreme northeastern Maryland, near the town of Elkton. Seeing Traminette on the list at Galen Glen Vineyard & Winery prompted me to ask proprietor Sarah Troxell how that wine is rolling off the shelf there. It’s rolling, all right, down the hill and out of sight.

“Our Traminette sells very well, but there’s good news and bad news about that,” she said the other day. “The good news is that we planted Gewurztraminer as a replacement and will have our first commercial harvest [with it] this fall. The bad news is that the grower we were purchasing the Traminette from sold his property and the new owner is putting a tremendous house on it, ripped out vineyards. It’s a 6,000 square-foot house, so a lot of vineyard came out.

“We were very uncertain as to what would happen with the Traminette, so [that] will fall off our wine list as we sell out of this vintage and be replaced with Gewurztraminer, grown right here. We had a small amount last year and we blended that into the Traminette, just a couple percent, but we’re really excited. It’s going to be a beautiful crop, and we’re hoping to a real true Germanic Gewurztraminer coming next year.”

Troxell called Traminette the “easier-to-grow version of Gewurztraminer.” But that’s only if you have the grapes. They weren’t sure what they’d have once that house went up and the vines came down. “We just decided to take the bull by the horns and try the harder-to-grow one,” she said. “It seems to be doing well here. They’re four-year-old vines this year and we should get close to a commercial harvest. So, we’re really excited; looking forward to it.”