Jeffries, Manatawny Creek menus announced

Wrote a few days ago about the vegetarian food-and-wine-pairing scheduled to take place this Sunday at John J. Jeffries Restaurant, located in the Lancaster Arts Hotel. It's about as good a deal as there is out there for a food-and-wine pairing; the cost is $52 per person, including tax and gratuity.

The restaurant for the first time will be serving the wines of Manatawny Creek, a 90-acre family winery located in Douglassville, Pa. Here's the menu for the evening.

Food -- Wine
Chilled Watercress Soup -- Blanc de Blanc Sparkling Wine
Quinoa Poke Salad -- Vidal
Spinach Ricotta Stuffed Portabella with Grilled Asparagus -- Cabernet Franc
Rhubarb Crisp with Cinnamon Ice Cream -- Port

The meal will begin at 6 p.m. For reservations, call 717.431.3307.

Terrapin, Kreutz Creek both plan vineyard days

Saw where a couple of regional wineries will hold vineyard days in the next couple of weeks. Terrapin Station Winery near Elkton, Md., in Cecil County, will be planting vines on Sunday, May 3. As they noted in their e-letter, the holes are already dug, so they just need to get the vines in the ground plus add stakes and shelters. If you have a desire to "get down and dirty" in the vineyard, send a note to volunteer@terrapinstationwinery.com to let them know if you can come help.

Meanwhile, more than a week earlier, Jim and Carole Kirkpatrick will welcome volunteers to assist in their vineyard day this Saturday, April 25, at Kreutz Creek Winery in West Grove, Pa. They will be planting several rows of Vidal Blanc and Petit Verdot. They're expecting the vines to arrive April 23, so those will have to go in the ground Saturday rain or shine. Fortunately, for them and anyone expecting to drop in to help, the long-range forecast calls for perfect weather to do anything, including planting vines, with sunny skies and temperatures in the mid to high 70s.

Carole said by phone the other day that they've been holding their vineyard days and other related "workdays" since they began; indeed, she said that's how the first vineyard got planted. It's a 9 to 5 day, with a break for lunch as Carol cooks up her famous vineyard burgers. Once they get everything planted later on in the afternoon, everyone can sit and relax and enjoy some wine.

These vines will replace, among other things, the winery's former award-winning Gewurztraminer. "Just every year we lost more and more and more of it, where I think we ended up with [only] eight or 12 cases the last time we made it," Carole said. "So we pulled it out. We’re over it." Take awhile to get over the disappointment, she was asked? "You know, it wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't something that Jim really excelled in making. But there's nothing you can do. You can't keep wasting money trying to spray them and take care of them for a couple of cases."

They've had as many as 35 for vineyard day and the other events they've held on various weekends and holidays, although some openings remain for this weekend's planting. Anyone who attends should dress for the weather and dress to get dirty; there's no hiding from either. Carole said they are planning a bottling day on Memorial Day with the same schedule and enticements (burgers and wine). They are also scheduling "workdays" in June and July, and of course everyone's invited in the fall to assist with harvest.

Carole said she jokes with visitors to the tasting room about the opportunities. "There are wineries in California where people pay to come and work for the weekend. So I always tease people: [You know], other people pay to do this," she said, starting to laugh. "We're letting you do this."

On reviews and Parker and valuable insight

Always hate an interview sitting for more than a couple of days, but this one with Pennsylvania wine grape educator Mark Chien is already beginning to age. We probably talked a week and a half ago. I read his most recent e-letter, which was part rant and part advice:

"Robert M Parker Jr and Us - I often use the phrase "wine growing" which is growing grapes specifically for wine. It can apply to any wine from sweet Concord to the driest red vinifera. The goal is to grow a high quality grape that will make the best wine of its type. It is easy to get isolated and locked into a particular set of ideas or practices in the vineyard. Ultimately, the wine is meant for someone to drink. Whether it is a quaffing wine or a cult wine, it is probably a good idea to be aware and informed of those who will pass judgment on your end product, certainly a wine consumer but possibly a wine critic. Like it or not, wine criticism, like wine competitions, is part of the landscape of the commercial wine business. It's useful, sometimes even instructive, to know what the pooh-bahs are thinking and saying about wine. I encourage all wine growers to taste benchmarks of the wines they make with no exceptions. The range is from 2 Buck Chuck to $50 reds. Someone out there is judging what you do relative to the competition and it only makes good business sense to know where you stand relative to others in the same type and class. Robert M Parker Jr is the most influential wine critic in the world. I rarely agree with what he says and cannot bear his bombastic, overbearing and confrontational style of prose, but like it or not, his opinion matters to all of us in the wine biz, even the smallest winery in the woods. Not that every customer reads Parker but the range of his experience and knowledge can help us to become better wine growers. His recently released 7th edition of the Wine Buyers Guide is good for a door stop but doubles as a very informative guide into the qualitative variables that produce the best wines in the best wine regions. I skip the individual winery notes and go right into the regional guides that describe some production practices that might offer a few tidbits of useful information to a dedicated wine grower in Pennsylvania. It is well worth reading for that information."

The few e-letters from Chien that I’ve had the chance to read have been a blend of information and opinion. He said the latter can often be a problem because people will read it and think it’s the official stance of his department or the state or Penn State, when it’s simply the perspective coming from someone who’s passionate about wine and wine-making and likes to share those opinions. It would be a shame if that part of Chien's contribution to these e-letters ever disappeared.

Talking more specifically about Parker and his guide, Chien told me that the information one can glean if they read around the personal commentary can be quite valuable.

“For anyone who’s really trying to make good wine,” he said, “the thing about Parker is that over the years . . . he has absorbed a tremendous amount about how the best winemakers are making wine, and if you read his words carefully you can learn an awful lot about it.

“I’m not saying that he’s a viticulturist or an enologist by any stretch, but . . . in a way his view is very useful because he’s not formally trained as many people in this industry are not, and he takes that information and he tries to connect dots based on his experience. . . . as much as maybe like myself doesn’t like Parker or even agree with him . . . you have to understand him because so much of the wine-consuming world considers him so important. From that standpoint, whether you like him or not, he’s an important part of your business if you’re trying to service that end of the wine spectrum.”

We talked about how so few people are reviewing wines in this region at the present; Chien was talking specifically about Pennsylvania but you could say the same about Maryland wines as well. He noted that in general the country’s primary wine reviewers wouldn’t even know where to go to taste wines in Pennsylvania. “If they just took a dart board of the wine map of Pennsylvania and threw darts at it and went around and tasted those wines, chances are they’d come away with a very bad experience,” Chien said. “But, you know, the same thing would happen if they did that for Burgundy. So they know who to cherry-pick in Burgundy and Australia and California, but they don’t know who to cherry-pick in our area, and unless they’re willing to make the effort to try and find out, chances are they are going to get a lot of 70 and 80 wines instead of high 80s and low 90s wines, which is what all of us want them to find.

"It’s a learning experience for al of us. We have to take the time to educate them and at the same time while we’re sort of educating ourselves and making better wines.”

Sugarloaf architecture to appear in display

Looping in these notes from Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyards, located on the border of Montgomery and Frederick counties.

The SMV Winery architecture will be featured in the exhibition “Pitch Perfect: Design Excellence in the Region” to be held at the Virginia Center for Architecture in Richmond, Va. The exhibition is sponsored by the VA Society of the American Institute of Architects and will feature winners of the regional 2008 Awards for Excellence in Architecture. Between 2007 and 2008, five separate awards from AIA’s area chapters have been bestowed on SMV’s winery and its architects, Cunningham and Quill PLLC. The awards include two 2008 Awards of Excellence. The exhibit opens April 30, 2009 and will be on display through the summer. For information about the Virginia Center for Architecture, visit www.virginiaarchitecture.org.

Our popular Pinot Grigio has been released and is available now at our tasting room. A favorite of our customers, the '08 Pinot Grigio has a bouquet of melon and apple with hints of tropical fruit. The flavor is of citrus and honey and the finish is crisp with hints of lemon and blossom. The Pinot Grigio pairs well with summer salads, roasted chicken and light cheeses or can be enjoyed on its own. It is $18/bottle.

SMV has completed its '09 spring bottling. Over 4,000 cases of SMV wine were bottled at the winery this spring. During the third week of April, Circe, Comus Reserve, Cabernet Franc Reserve and Cabernet Sauvignon were bottled. Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard expects to release the wines later this summer. Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay and Stomp were bottled in mid-March; as noted above, the Pinot Grigio is now available and the Chardonnay and Stomp will be released in May.

(Editor's note: You'll find this invitation on a number of Web site of Maryland wineries as festival season approaches) Join the SMV Festival Team! We welcome you to become part of the Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard Festival Team, a smart, attractive and fun group to work with! Our volunteers receive free admission and tastings of wine, a free wine glass and a complimentary bottle of SMV wine. Training is provided. For more information, contact lisa@smvwinery.com.

Blair, Berks wineries cooking up big weekend

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Blair Vineyards in Mertztown, Pa., yesterday distributed a shout-out to those on its e-letter list about next week's second annual Berks Country Wine Trail's Taste of Spring. All eight members of the trail will pair up with culinary arts students from Reading Area Community College to produce tasty treats using local ingredients. You can find those pairings on the wine trail's Web site. Blair Vineyards will be featuring its Enlightenment with mushroom caviar and its 2007 Pinot Gris with spring vegetable dip. The event is free and, as is similar with all the wineries on the trail, there are no tasting fees. You just need to be 21 to attend. For more info, contact the winery at 610.682.0075 or Missy Blair at missy@blairvineyards.com.

Lot of rattlin' going on at Maryland winery

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Inside and outside the tasting room at Serpent Ridge, including a shot of Karen and Greg on day one of their new winery.
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It's rare that I actually get to visit a winery on "Opening Day," but had a chance yesteday to take the gorgeous drive through the farmland of southern Pennsylvania and northern Maryland and head to Serpent Ridge Vineyards, located south of Westminster not far from Route 97.

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Considering that owners Karen and Greg Lambrecht leaned on word of mouth, they had a good crowd milling around in the comfy tasting room and outside under the umbrellas at the picnic tables during the hour or more that we stayed and tasted.

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You can't ask for a prettier setting, with the tasting room sitting at the back end of a wooded lot, the 2 acres of grapes stretching up the hill to the top of the incline. All of Greg's white grapes are outsourced, with his vineyard yielding red grapes only.

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You never quite know what to expect with a new winery, but these wines all exhibited character and care. Could have taken any of them home, but wound up having a Grenache Rose and a bottle of Albarino popped into one of the reusable bags that they were sending home with customers who made any purchases. Sharp. Considering that a couple of weeks ago I lost a bottle that slipped through a tear in a plastic bag and splintered all over the garage surface, I was delighted to walk out with two bottles that would make it safely into our wine refrigerator.

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Tastings are $5 apiece for the five wines: the Rose ($14); Albarino ($22), a crisp, delightful white that I make time for amid a "red heavy diet" of wine; Seyval Blanc ($16); Basilisk ($26), a 60 percent Cab Franc-40 percent Cabernet Sauvignon that showed beautifully; and a Vintner's Cabernet ($34), essentially reversing the blend on the Basilisk. Greg said he gives both some extra brawn with a small percentage of Norton grapes. Greg, if I heard that wrong, drop me a line and I'll get it fixed pronto.

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All in all, it was a delightful afternoon amid what seemed to be a mix of strangers and many friends who came to see the tasting room and offer their congrats . . . and taste the goods. Greg said he still has work to do on a third building that will give some elbow room to the operation, but that work surely won't get done on weekends based on what we saw yesterday. Visiting hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays.

NY pitches Beverage Trail by Hall of Fame

Couple of notes off the New York Wine & Grape Foundation's e-letter. Have to spend some time reporting whether any other state does one with more frequency or more infromation. The author is executive director Jim Trezise.


WINE BOOK has a new meaning with the simultaneous release of a book and a wine, in this case commemorating the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s journey up the river that now bears his name. The Hudson River Valley Reader, edited by Edward Goodman and published by Cider Mill Press, is the perfect read with a glass of Hudson River Valley Red 2008, produced by the award-winning Hudson-Chatham Winery. This is the first time a wine has been licensed from a book, which combines the river’s history with excerpts from regional authors like Washington Irving and John Burroughs. The medium-bodied dry red wine is made from DeChaunac, Seyval Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes grown in the Hudson River Region. The book cover and wine label both feature the famous “Hudson River Scene” painting by John Bunyon Bristol, courtesy of the Hudson River Museum. Hudson-Chatham Winery, located in Ghent, is Columbia County’s first winery, nestled between the Catskill and Berkshire mountains. Owners Carlo and Dominique DeVito produce several different wines as well as natural maple syrups under their Sugarmaker’s Reserve label. Commemorative bood-and-wine sets are available for $30 from the winery (518-392-2598, email info@hudsonchathamwinery.com.)

COOPERSTOWN BEVERAGE TRAIL is open for business, with a winery, a cidery and two breweries within 20 minutes of the Baseball Hall of Fame. An offshoot of wine trails created by legislation from Assembly Agriculture Committee Chair Bill Magee, the Cooperstown Beverage Trail has just released its new magazine (titled “Quench”) and rack card complementing a nice web site (www.cooperstownbeveragetrail.com). The trail includes Bear Pond Winery, Fly Creek Cider Mill, Cooperstown Brewing Company, and Brewery Ommegang. Recently, “Mallow Wine” from Fly Creek Cider Mill got a lot of publicity on Utica TV and many NBC affiliate stations including the Morning Show in New York City. On its opening day for 2009 celebrating the mill’s 153rd season, they harvested the soft white crop from mallow trees, transferred part of it into fermenters for mallow ice wine and the rest into small oak barrels for toasted mallow wine. The TV program provided live proof that marshmallows do grow on trees, but can only be harvested on April 1.

DIRECT WINE SALES to consumers grew 7% to over $3 billion in 2008, according to a survey just released by VinterActive (www.vinteractive.com), reflecting a mixture of positive and negative trends and a clear message that adapting to a changing market will be the key to survival. The survey involved more than 275 wineries from 36 states, and also showed some interesting variation in regional strengths and weaknesses. Within the overall 7% increase were 1% declines in both tasting room and winery event sales, 2% growth in phone orders, and major growth in other categories: direct mail 24%, online 26%, and wine club 28%. In other words, last year there was a noticeable shift from the face-to-face transactions at wineries to remote sales through the internet and other means. While this may very well have been attributable to record gas prices and the dismal economic outlook as the year went on, it’s also likely to become a long-term trend. The good news about tasting rooms last year is that while visitor counts declined, increased sales per visitor softened the negative impact. Of the wineries surveyed, average direct sales varied greatly from $99,000 for the smallest producers to over $7 million for the largest, with the relative importance of direct sales clearly linked to size: without them, smaller producers would not survive. While the economy was the major negative factor affecting tasting room sales, complex government regulations are by far still the major impediment to increased interstate shipment. (In other words, the strong growth is occurring despite burdensome government regulations, and could be increased by simplification—bringing the government more excise and sales taxes. You’d think that would be an incentive during this era of budget woes.) Over the years, an increasing number of wineries have come to use the internet for sales, with 92% having a web site, 70% a secure online store, 72% email marketing, 53% online wine club enrollment, and 14% with a computer kiosk in their tasting room. Direct sales to consumers represent only 10% of total U.S. wine sales (as opposed to those through the three-tier system), but is the most widely used sales method at wineries—with 99% selling directly, the average winery selling $1 million directly (55% of total case volume), and 59% expecting direct sales to be the fastest growth area this year. And despite lingering concerns about the economy, most wineries project continuing growth of 5% or more in direct sales.