Off and running in 2010 . . . chilling at Woodhall

Sorry about the delay in posting. Blame it on the holiday, on work, on getting out of the routine. So, with the Farm Show under way it's time to roll this out daily again, with plans to add social media to the mix as this year ages.

Would prefer to start where this all started, down at Woodhall Wine Cellars in Parkton, Md., on Sunday, where several dozen visitors gathering to watch the Ravens in the tasting room. Others paraded through on the second part of a weekend library tasting, a rare commodity in this region. An annual event at Woodhall, the winery has blocked off a couple hours on a Saturday and Sunday in December and allowed case club members to saunter down the path to the winery and storage building, essentially down into the cellar. This year it was the second weekend in January, where they served a few wines with virtually no inventory (including a 1994 Vidal) and another dozen where the winery had perhaps a case or several left.

They went as far back as a 1991 Cabernet Sauvignon, a 1993 Meritage and that Vidal that I mentioned. You probably don't want to keep your whites more than several years, but there are always exceptions. One was a 2001 Chardonnay they produced for Corks Restaurant in Baltimore. It still tasted good several years ago when I had bought a half case, and little had changed in the last couple of bottles remaining that were pulled out on Sunday. Same with the Vidal, which still held up its end even thought it's 16 years old. Took home two of the last five bottles left in storage, and we'll wait for a suitable occasion this year to open them.

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Winemaker Chris Kent and former co-owner Al Kopp served as the guides at the tasting. Kopp noted that they would always put a case aside of every wine they would produce. But these tastings over the last few years have pretty much wiped out the cellar, so there's a good chance several years could pass before the next one. Not sure why some of the older wineries do not hold a similar tasting; but it's a question I want to ask as I catch up to the proprietors of wineries in Pennsylvania and Maryland that are 15 years or older.

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Most of the bottles at Woodhall sold in the mid-teens up to 20 dollars; several of the Copernica Reserve Cabs (2002, 2005) were selling for $30. The most expensive was a Jubilee Reserve Merlot from 2007, acknowledged as a best vintage of the decade. That was going for $35.

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This event done, the winery prepares for its annual wine and soup pairing starting next weekend and continuing into February. This has become a staple event there, as has the Valentine's chocolates and barrel tasting that will commence Feb. 13 and likely continue into March.

A toast to 2010

Happy New Year, all. Will get at it again in the new year.

Paul

Waltz extends its hours over next two weeks

Expect to start to see various wineries extending their hours, partly because of the business lost during this weekend and partly because of the proximity to the holidays.

Saw Waltz Vineyards in Manheim, Pa., did a shout-out overnight via e-mail to its customers on the extra hours it plans to be open the next two weeks. The schedule includes 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday through Wednesday of this weekend and next week, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. both Saturday.

Closed obviously on Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

Jeferies unique but not alone in terms of regional eateries wanting to serve regional wines

Had no luck Friday finding out when John J. Jeffries Restaurant in Lancaster, Pa., is scheduling its next food and wine pairing dinner. But there's no question that the restaurant located in the Lancaster Arts Hotel will be having more, featuring foodstuffs from local providers and regional wineries such as Chaddsford and Pinnacle Ridge. The pairings are a bargain, featuring multiple courses matched up with either local wines or beers at an agreeable cost. And someone from the featured winery or brewery will be represented to offer insight into how each wine was made.

This all leads into a subject the Pennsylvania Winery Association president Sam Landis and I had several months ago about the difficulty regional wineries have had getting their product into area restaurants. Indeed, he mentioned some local research that was being completed on the subject, something I need to try and obtain.

Landis noted that the PWA (and he could just as well had been talking about the winery run by his folks, Vyncrest Vineyards & Winery in Breinigsville, Pa.,) has put that initiative on hold for certainly the near term. Some eateries, such as Jeffries, don't need to be sold on carrying local wines. But those are the exceptions rather than the rule. Landis called it an uphill battle. "The only restaurants we've had success with are the ones that have actually solicited us and wanted to have a local presence," he said. "But to go the other directions, to try and convince restaurants to carry your wine espeically now with the economy. They're going to pick 7 or 8 dollar bottles of wine and sell them for 30 [dollars]. and they're going to go for name recognation. It's something we've consciously put on the back burner here. If it happens, it happens."

Chaddsford has probably had more success than any other winery in the region in placing its wines in local eateries. Co-owner Lee Miller said in a recent phone conversation that they have in a sense gotten out of the business of trying to push their wines into restaurants.

She said during the time period when they were focused on that aspect of their business, they "hired a sales manager and several salesmen, we put them out on the road and . . . knocked down doors and they sold a lot of wine. But the problem for us was that it was very expensive to have four people on the payroll, with cars and expense accounts, since they are traveling all over selling wines. And then the second part, there's such turnover. Restaurants change constantly. The managers change, the sommeliers change, the beverage manager changes and we found that we were placing things and then two months later they'd change and they'd want something different."

Plus they would require plenty of support such as printing menus and providing small wine glasses and training the wait staff. In other words, lots of promotional materials. "It was a very expensive proposition," she said, "and on a business level, we said, you know what, this isn't getting us anywhere. We have hundreds of thousands of dollars in staffing costs and we dont have that much wine and we're running out of things ,so we just decided we weren't going to pursue it on that level.

"It's not that we weren't successful at it. If you do it right, and this is what these other wineries don't realize, you have to do it RIGHT. Big wineries have staffs and they go out and sell. When you're a one-man show . . . you can't expect to do it, because that's a service industry, so you've got to be out there every week, and most wineries right now don't have the staff to do it. If you have it, you know, we were very successful at doing it. We had every restaurant in Philadelphia using our wines, but they have come to expect because most restaurants buy from wholesalers who have a staff who is out there every week because those salespeople are living on commission. So they're in there, they're taking samples, they're having dinner, they're talking, they're sitting at the bar, and most small wineries don't have the have the staff to do that."

Instead, she said, they're quite content to work with restaurants such as Jeffries and nearby Brandywine Prime and the White Dog in Philly that WANT their product. "And they come to you and they say, 'I really want to use local products,' and then you work out a program with them. And we're happier to do that, because Eric and I can do that. So right now we're concentrating on people who want the wine, who want to work with us, who know that we're different . . . we decided we like it better that way. So I'm not disappointed. I think there are a lot of restaurants that are realizing that local is good and that are adding some local wines to their menus. But right now we have maybe 50 wine accounts where at one time we used to have 400 all across the state."

Crossing Vineyards list two Riedel workshops, wine and chocolate pairing

Crossing Vineyards & Winery in Washington Crossing, Pa., will toast the holidays with a tasting workshop Dec. 27 (and Jan. 24), featuring four of its premium wines served in Riedel Crystal specifically designed for each varietal. It also will offer a wine and chocolate pairing workshop Jan. 3. Included below some specifics, and you can learn more about other Crossing events and its wines at this link.

Sunday, Dec. 27, 2009, and Jan. 24, 2010

Riedel Crystal Wine-Tasting Workshop, In 90-minute class, sample premium wines in Riedel Vinum glasses, analyzing taste difference using various shapes and sizes of stemware. 2 p.m. starting time both days. Crossing Vineyards & Winery, 1853 Wrightstown Road, Washington Crossing, PA. Cost: $99, includes Riedel sampling kit with four glasses. Anyone purchasing Riedel stemware will receive 50 percent off a second item. Information and reservations: 215-493-6500, ext. 19 or www.crossingvineyards.com.

Sunday, Jan. 3

How Sweet It Is: Pairing Wine & Chocolate, Tips on enjoying wine and chocolate together, presented by Eric Cavatore, sommelier at Crossing Vineyards and Winery; 2 p.m., Jan. 3, Crossing Vineyards and Winery, 1853 Wrightstown Road, Washington Crossing, Pa. Cost: $35, includes samples, learning materials and the Lindt Chocolate bar of the participant’s choice. Information and reservations: 215-493-6500, ext. 19 or www.crossingvineyards.com.

Call ahead before you made any winery visits throughout the region this weekend

Based on my conversations with some wineries around the region, if you can get out and are tending to visit one later this afternoon or tomorrow, call ahead. Some never opened, others opened and then closed early. Saw where Fiore Winery in Pylesville, Md., closed on what was its Customer Appreciation Weekend and wasn't exactly sure if it would reopen on Sunday. Check the Web site. Once it does reopen, it will extend its 21 percent off sale through Christmas Eve. The winery is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Fiore's Customer Appreciation Weekend still a go

Customer Appreciation Weekend is still on at Fiore Winery in Pylesville, Md. Just got off the phone with them, one of a number of calls they're received today about the event, which is scheduled to run Saturday and Sunday.

Should the predicted storm for the winery to close, then expect to find that information on the winery Web site and on its Facebook page. Also expect Fiore, as well as many of the other regional wineries, to probably extend their sales past the present deadlines.

Admission to Fiore is free, where the winery will serve light refreshments and Rose Fiore's fresh-baked Italian cookies. All cases of Fiore wine, solid or mixed, will be 21 percent off . The winery will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and noon to 5 on Sunday.