'Rock vs. World' among Black Ankle events

A shot of the tasting room at Black Ankle Vineyards.

Spotted a couple of events coming up this weekend on Black Ankle Vineyard's site that I wanted to mention. The Mt. Airy winery won the Maryland Governor's Cup for its 2006 Crumbling Rock, a red Bordeaux blend, even while just opening for business. That award distinguishes the wine as the best in the state.

So this Sunday, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the winery, guests can participate in a competition called Crumbling Rock vs. the World. According to the winery's Web site, they've asked "some of the finest wine retailers in the state to recommend their best $35 to $50 Bordeaux-style wines, and we'll taste five of them blind to see how they stack up against our home town favorite. An array of appetizers and discussion of the wines, their regions, similarities and differences will round out the afternoon."

The cost is $50 per person. For more information and reservations call Tracy at 301.788.1412, or e-mail tracy@blackankle.com.

The next day, March 30, chef Ken Lurie of Bud's on Silver Run will prepare a seven-course meal and pair each course with a Black Ankle wine. It will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a mix of hors d’ouevres, including Hot Oysters with Sautéed Bok Choy, Mini Crab Crostini and Cider Poached Foie Gras on Grilled Ciabatta, served with Black Ankle's 2007 Viognier. Dinner will be served starting at 7. The cost is $125/person.

If you haven't gotten over to Black Ankle yet, it's worth the visit. Some already are calling it among the finest wineries on the East Coast; others simply say this one will set the bar for the wineries to come. No question that those from central Pennsyl;vania, for instance, might be aghast at the prices of the wine, which peaked at $40 when the winery opened. But for a winery in its first year of business, the wines are uncharacterically superb. The winery, by the way, is a member of the Frederick Wine Trail and one of several located within only a few miles of one another.

Wine shop owner asks: Couldn't I sell cheese?

Wanted to share this op-ed that appeared in last Wednesday's edition of the New York Times. With a proposal to allow New York grocery stores to begin selling wine, an owner of a wine shop asks why he can't sell cheese.

By MARCO PASANELLA
Published: March 19, 2009

“DIO mio!” exclaimed my father, Giovanni, over the phone. I had just informed him of Gov. David Paterson’s proposal to allow New York grocery stores to sell wine. And I could practically see him reaching for the Chianti when, as the owner of a small wine shop in downtown Manhattan, I told him I thought it could actually be a good thing.

Thirty-five states already permit wine sales in grocery stores, and those states still have independent retailers. But the common wisdom persists that such a move will crush me, the little guy. Big-box retailers will use their superior buying muscle to force me and my fellow independents out of business.

This is definitely a fear, especially in a slowing economy. Much of our daily sales are moderately priced bottles, a category likely to be offered in grocery stores as well. And smaller suburban retailers may indeed have it tougher as shoppers opt for the convenience of having one fewer place to drive.

But I also see these proposed changes as a huge opportunity to serve our customers better while redressing outdated, irrational and inequitable laws.

New York’s Alcoholic Beverage Control code, which has governed the sale of wine, beer and liquor since Prohibition was repealed in 1933, sometimes seems like a charmingly genteel relic of a bygone era, when buying wine for Sunday supper was regarded as the Devil’s work. We still can’t open before noon on the Sabbath.

I’m not bemoaning the loss of the Sunday breakfast crowd. But these proposals will bring increased competition, and it’s only fair that there should be commensurate opportunities to expand our small businesses. If supermarkets can have multiple locations, why are we prohibited (pardon the pun) from operating more than one store? Or from keeping the same hours?

If grocery stores can sell a Côtes du Rhône, then why shouldn’t we be able to sell baguettes and cheese? How about artisan beer? Or just reusable shopping bags? (A Rochester store was recently fined a whopping $10,000 for doing this.) What goes for the grocery stores should go for us too.

If the laws were truly fair, we independent retailers will have our own advantages. Big chains will have to buy big. And while your local supermarket pushes those same familiar bottles, independent stores will still provide substantially more selection and be better able to seek out smaller, even very limited producers, like the guy who makes just 40 cases a year of really good lambrusco.

Wine, after all, has always been more than just a floor-stacked commodity. A pleasure to be savored, a conduit for culture and the fastest way to bring people together that I know of, it’s also hard to buy without trusted help. Come to us with a recipe for gnocchi with Gorgonzola, for example, and we will help you pair it with the perfect wine — a nebbiolo from Italy’s Langhe region, in this case. And we will know you by name. Try getting that from the teenager with the name tag and the vest.

Marco Pasanella owns a wine store.

Tour de Tanks show 50-plus % attendance hike

Leroy 'Buck' Mortorff talks about the importance of using virgin oak barrels for Chardonnay wine during a tour Sunday at Four Springs Winery in Seven Valleys that was part of UnCork York Wine Trail's 2009 Tour de Tanks. (Daily Record/Sunday News - Paul Kuehnel)

Participating wineries are reporting more than a 50 percent increase in attendance for Tour de Tanks this year as compared to last. In addition, the Uncork York! trail has reaped the benefit of some generous coverage by the local media, including several regional TV stations and newspapers. The latest to publish something about the event was the York Daily Record, which ran a front-page story this weekend on Four Springs Winery in Seven Valleys, Pa.

According to the piece by Greg Gross, more than 5,500 people have taken part in the first three weekends of the tour, an increase of more than 50 percent compared with the same time last year "This is the biggest year yet," co-owner Lloyd "Junior" Mortorff Jr. was quoted as saying on Saturday. To read the article, click on this link.

Study: Amost 300,000 visited Md. wineries

In the wake of the disappointing news last week that the bid to allow direct wine shipping in Maryland had been denied once again, the Maryland Wine Association on Monday made public the results of an economic impact study.

The report is a product of the Jacob France Institute of the University of Baltimore (JFI), and analyzes the economic importance—and the potential for barriers to growth—of Maryland wineries.

“This type of analysis is critical to understanding the relative importance of Maryland’s wine industry to the state’s rural economy,” Ray Brasfield, owner of Cygnus Wine Cellars and president of the Maryland Wineries Association.

This analysis was based on data provided by the Maryland Wineries Association, from a survey of all Maryland wineries, as well as data from the State of Maryland Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Bureau.

The economic impact estimates were generated using the IMPLAN model. The key findings of this analysis are as follows:

* Maryland wineries generate $40.4 million in economic activity in the State of Maryland, support 348 jobs earning $10.9 million in salaries, and generate $3.3 million in State and local tax revenues.

* Maryland wineries had direct revenues from winemaking and associated activities of $12.7 million. Based on the survey results, Maryland wineries employed an estimated 195 employees (including seasonal labor). The IMPLAN model estimates that Maryland wineries have regular (non-seasonal) employment of 37 full and part time workers.

* An estimated 293,390 persons visited Maryland wineries or wine festivals and 63,861 (22%) of these visitors are from out of state. All visitors to Maryland wineries and wine festivals spend an estimated $20 million in Maryland, and out-of-State tourists attending Maryland wine festivals or visiting Maryland wineries account for 38 percent or $7.5 million of visitor spending; and

* The sale of Maryland wines generates $7.4 million in distributor, retail, and restaurant business activity.

The full study can be downloaded online:
http://www.marylandwine.com/mwa/media/stories/economicstudy.shtml

Franklin Hill adds new links to site

Looks like Franklin Hill Vineyards, with its winery in Bangor, Pa., and three other retail locations, has upgraded its Web site. Looks like they are rotating out four or five photos in the header on the home page, and the winery has added an events link they the owners have started to add some details on scheduled events.

Franklin Hill Vineyards is family-owned and has been in business since 1982. It is a member of the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail. According to its Web site, Franklin Hill is a small, secluded winery located in the foothills of the Pocono Mountains. Its vineyard offers panoramic views of the Delaware River Valley.

Also included on the site are the seven restaurants that carry its wines, ranging from Allentown Brew Works in Allentown to the Apollo Grille in Bethlehem to Big Woody’s in Easton and the Broadway Pub in Bangor.

This is a winery that offers a free organized tour Wednesdays at noon. It's also open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays through Saturdays and noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays.

Four Springs cooking up tasty wine sauces

When you make your way into Four Springs Winery in Seven Valleys, Pa., one of these next two weekends for Tour de Tanks, make sure you try the meatballs in wine sauce. It could be a white sauce or red sauce; they've made both for an event that drew more than 300 ticketholders the first week and 450 each the past two weekends.

The white sauce has been made with Four Springs Chardonnay and Rothchild Farms raspberry honey mustard pretzel dip. That creates a yellow sauce that's a perfect dipping agent for the meatballs. When they temporarily ran out of the raspberry honey mustard, they switched to a red sauce that featured Four Springs Chambourcin and some Aunt Mae smoked sweet chipolte oven and grilling sauce. Both of those companion items are available for purchase at the winery.

In either case, lay the meatballs in the bottom of the crock and let them simmer. Then go open some wine and snack.

Two quick intros to new friends

Received two notes from folks who found the blog and wanted to get tied in for different reasons. One came from Brian Kirby, who writes The Other 46, focusing on wineries in states outside the Big 4: California, Oregon, Washington and New York. You can find his blog among my links.

I also heard from Kevin Durland at Nimble Hill Vineyard and Winery in Tuckhannock, which opened in 2007. It's located, he said, 25 miles west of Scranton. Nimble Hill and surrounding wineries have created the Great Escape Endless Mountain Wine Trail. I've linked you to the best reference I found to that wine trail, on the site of my winetrailtraveler.com buds, who visited Pickering Winery in Bradford County.