Vinotrip

Okay, so the ink’s been dry a while, but still of interest…

Paul Vigna of the Patriot-News writes that Black Ankle, Serpent Ridge, and a number of other Mid-Atlantic wineries are investing in Iberian grapes, particularly the white Albarino. I can personally recommend Serpent Ridge’s Albarino, and I often see it in stores. The Spanish grapes are a nice change from the French grapes we commonly see.

In a separate article, Mr. Vigna reports about Knob Hall’s winning awards for its Chambourcin, another unfamiliar grape.

Speaking of Serpent Ridge, Carlo de Vito of East Coast Wineries notes the winery is profiled in Vineyard and Winery Management.

Mark Cascia Vineyards is expanding with the help of a state grant.

Mr. de Vito also reposts Dave McIntyre’s Best Regional Wines of 2011. I will confess to nearly squealing when I saw Slack’s Montepulciano on the list (Black Ankle’s Slate, the 2011 MD Governor’s Cup winner, is also on there). Montepulciano has always been a favorite, but a guilty pleasure because no one was doing it locally. Then came Slack. (And their Danny Boy Danny. But that’s another post entirely.)

CBS, ABC and WBAL (thank you, Terroirist) note that Maryland wineries are seeing more business now that shipping is allowed. Surprise!

The surprise, though, is that only the Baltimore Business Journal comes out and frankly says Maryland will benefit from the permit fees and extra tax revenue.

Baltimore Business Journal also does a nice write-up of the start of Old Westminster Winery.

I attribute to living in the DC suburbs, but I’m already sick of this year’s election. If you’d like a different take on things, check out Tom Wark’s analysis of how wine-friendly the Republican candidates are (although this came out before the Iowa caucases).

Not Maryland, but W. Blake Gray tries a DIY wine making product.

As always, check out the Maryland Wineries’ Association’s news site for even more items of interest. Maryland’s Office of Tourism also has a Wineries section, with events going on year round.

January 23rd, 2012 Category: Events, Links, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

2011 was quite a year for Maryland wineries – and I’m not just talking about that little direct shipping bill kerfluffle. A whole crop of new wineries – pardon the pun – opened their doors for business (so many that I lost count, of course), among them Royal Rabbit Vineyards in Parkton. Winemaker Roy Albin was kind enough to welcome us in for an appointment on an unseasonably warm Sunday back in December to try their cleverly-branded wines featuring names like “The Duke” and “Il Barone” in line with the regally-themed winery.

The wine selection leans somewhat more towards reds and definitely stays in the dry territory. Roy told us his goal is to emulate the style of wines produced in Rhone and Burgundy, which typically feature blends of several grapes to bring out unique flavors in the final product. Although eastern and central France share some of Maryland’s “continental” climate type marked by warm/hot summers and cool/cold winters, our soil types are pretty different, and in recognition of that you’ll see a familiar set of ingredients in said blends – cabernets, chambourcin, petit verdot, and chardonnay. However, Royal Rabbit is also pushing forward and experimenting with some new varieties for the region, like the white wine grape marsanne.

Overall, I was really impressed by their set of wines, both in terms of the quality and the number (11 in total) for such a new winery. The winemaker does have a number of years’ experience in winemaking, coming up through the ranks of amateur winemakers – the “homebrew” club of the wine world – that give him years of experience in that department. That experience really came out strongly in the professionally-finished feel of these wines. Of course I found myself drawn to the cabernet sauvignon (“The Count”), but would recommend trying any and all of them, including a dry-style rose that sacrifices none of the complexities found in a solid table wine. The chambourcin is also a strong offering in an increasingly crowded space – I still think Knob Hall does the best chambourcin in the state, but Royal Rabbit’s take on the grape is well-balanced and goes easy on the cherry flavors that can be overwhelming in other interpretations.

Due to limited production capacity, Royal Rabbit will be very limited in terms of festival attendance during 2012, so your best bet is to make the trek up 83 to Parkton, which is just south of the MD-PA border in Baltimore County (on of the Piedmont Wine Trail, if you’re keeping score at home – although they’re considering a switch to the multi-state Mason-Dixon wine trail given the vineyard’s proximity to PA). And although the holidays delayed my writing this post by a few weeks, the timing does allow me to include a mention of their upcoming “Woodwinds and Wine” event on January 28, featuring a variety of chamber music performances. Not sure any of the Vinotrip staff will make it out to that, so please let us know in the comments if you get up there!

January 19th, 2012 Category: Maryland, Wineries | Leave a comment

Numerous sources are reporting, as part of a plan to help the United States Postal Service start earning money instead of hemorrhaging it, an initiative to let the Postal Service ship alcohol, as opposed to just letting FedEx and UPS do it. (Note: only licensed industry folks can ship alcohol through FedEx and UPS; as a private citizen, I couldn’t bubble wrap my favorite Maryland vintage and ship it to a friend out of state.) Right now, you can’t even go green and re-use a box with alcohol logos to ship items, unless you cover up all the alcohol logos.

You can read the entire bill and its amendments here on Congress’ official site. (all documents are PDFs). The amendments don’t address alcohol shipments, but they’re interesting to see from a procedural point of view. S.1789 seems to set up USPS alcohol shipments much the same way Maryland now regulates shipments: deliveries must be initiated by a licensed industry entity who work out a contract with the Post Office, and individuals taking deliveries must present photo identification.

Open Congress confirms that the bill has only been introduced; beyond proposed amendments listed on the website above, no legislative action has been taken.

What would happen if we were able to get as strong a voice behind S.1789 as we had behind Maryland’s shipping law? (In fact, if you go to Open Congress’ site above, you can send your legislator a letter for or against the bill.) While Congress is notorious for not getting anything practical done, distributors themselves would be able to ship through USPS, and increasing state approval of wine shipping sets precedents (Massachusetts and New Jersey are considering legislation similar to Maryland’s in 2012). So I’m not sure S.1789 would face the same obstacles that our Maryland law faced.

Where do you stand on this bill?

January 16th, 2012 Category: D.C., Uncategorized, Wine shipping | Leave a comment

I always joked that I lived in a rut – going to work and rehearsals on weekdays, social events and church on weekends, and sleeping in between – until someone pointed out that “a rut is just a grave with two ends.”

With that cheerful image in your minds, I present a couple new things I’ll be trying in 2012 to break myself from my rut:

Sparkling Wine from Great Shoals: The Spencerville Red Apple got rave reviews in Colesville Patch this past fall, and I tasted some really nice sparkling wines at Eat Drink Go Local in Silver Spring last November. I usually don’t care for sparkling wines, so a trip down to Great Shoals is in order.

Sparkling Cabernet from Serpent’s Ridge: Thanks to Paul Vigna for alerting me to this one. I’m not huge on sparkling wines, as I said above, but if it’s from Serpent’s Ridge, it’s worth a try.

Oaked Chambourcin from Layton’s Chance: Layton’s Chance announced this in October, but I haven’t gotten down to see them yet and taste it. I’ll admit, though, that since I do like oaked wines (!), this isn’t really taking me out of my comfort zone.

The Mason-Dixon Wine Trail: Paul Vigna detailed this in September, but I haven’t been able to get up there. While I’ve been to Boordy and Fiore, I haven’t been to many Pennsylvania wineries, and I’d like that to change.

Aliceanna Winery: One of Maryland’s newest, it’s in Baltimore City. But because regulations prevent tastings on site, this is one I’ll be looking for at festivals.

New Maryland Wineries: Detour (western Carroll County),

January 9th, 2012 Category: Maryland, Top lists, Uncategorized, Wineries | Leave a comment

Honestly, I didn’t even know that some Americans do this until I took a trip for several days out of state. Some college friends and I swung by the local grocer to avoid constantly eating out, and there, beyond the meats and cheeses and baked goods, was beer and wine. I was shocked. Apparently this is totally normal beyond the Mason Dixon and the Potomac. Tom Wark of Fermentation even recommends wine in grocery stores as the number one way to make wine less alien to consumers.

So imagine my pleasant surprise when I hear that Harris Teeter, opening a store in McHenry Row in Baltimore in December, might also be selling wine. Matt and I really like the Harris Teeter in our neighborhood; it’s clean and well stocked, without being too pricey. It has a lot of the international or organic foods you might expect at a specialty store, but also has your basic bread and butter. But wine?

The first person to answer my emails was Adam Borden, the president of Marylanders for Better Beer and Wine Laws, who commented on the original article linked above. He clarified that Harris Teeter would manage the Cellars, which is the wine shop in question, but the shop would be a separate space with its own entrance. That’s pretty much the information posted in this update.

I contacted Harris Teeter’s corporate office and was referred to Mark Sapperstein, who owns the Cellars. This is Sapperstein’s first store, so he wasn’t sure how common this set up was. However, Sapperstein would own the shop and take care of licensing and running the shop, while Harris Teeter would manage it. He said that there wouldn’t be much partnership between the two shops, but rather that the shops would merely be next to each other, much like most grocery store and liquor store relationships.

Harris Teeter seems to have a decent amount of information about wine on its website, with an established wine club and a showcased wine of the week. It may not sound like much, but it’s more than what our local liquor shop has. And it’s better than “wine product” (thanks to David White of Fermentation for that link).

There is a sampling event on Tuesday, December 6th at 5:30 pm at the new Harris Teeter, located at 1700 whetstone way, Baltimore, Maryland 21230. It sounds like I’ll get more of a feel for the set up that evening.

Anyone else hear about this new shop opening up? What wines would you want to see in your local grocery shop?

December 5th, 2011 Category: Events, Uncategorized, Wine shops | Leave a comment

Kyle McNichols of Palate Press sees the silver lining in accidents. This might get me into my local wine shop more, since I don’t have a whole lot of reason to go in.

Honestly, I’ve had a very mixed experience with the clearance aisle. Our local wine and liquor shop will coordinate wine tastings on Friday and Saturday nights, but Matt and I have found it’s usually the cheap wine they’ve put on sale and are trying to move. We usually don’t take a bottle. In fact, until we stopped going altogether, it was usually an exercise in not spitting out bad wine.

But I’ve heard some great success stories. My mom’s liquor shop routinely has folks order a case and then decide against it, so the store owners crack open the case and sell it at a discount. I’ve seen wineries discount prior vintages to make room for newer bottles, and brought home some rather lovely wines as a result.

There is a fair amount of buzz (bad pun, sorry) about inexpensive wine on the blogsphere; the Frugal Wine Snob and The Wine Curmudgeon’s $10 Wine Hall of Fame come to mind.

But I haven’t seen much about discounted wine or fortuitous accidents. What have you found? Winemakers, have you had experiences like the ones Mr. McNichols describes?

November 16th, 2011 Category: Uncategorized, Wine shops | Comments (1)

Do you prefer you wine red, white, or… crowdsourced? Yes, it seems the latest trend in winemaking is throwing in the towel and asking your customers for advice.

For anyone uninitiated in the art of crowd sourcing, it is a practice made possible by the rise of connected media and the culture of sharing driven by social networks. The premise is that an organization or company asks their fans and followers to generate assets on their behalf, from content for journalists to logo design. Logic states that the wisdom of the crowd outweighs (or at least, is cheaper than) the wisdom of the few. I’m pretty sure Mr. Spock even said something like that once.

So, what is the connection with wine? Well, over the years I’ve heard that a number of wineries invite case club members to events that let them create custom blends, sometimes even releasing the better ones for sale. And there are at least a couple places in the region that invite amateurs to make their own wine under the guidance of experts. But I admit even I was surprised to receive this email from a California winery a few days ago:

With people from all of the world participating and two winemaking decisions already made, it’s now time for your next decisions as winemaker in [redacted] Vineyards’ Crowd-Made Wine Project!

• At what level should we set the rollers for crush?

• What yeast strain should we use in fermentation?

• What fermentation tannin should we use?

Yes, current marketing theory also suggests that brands who engage their most loyal fans in these participatory efforts, they’ll maintain brand loyalty and possibly help promote the brand through word of mouth, aka earned media. But do you really want a wine developed at this level of detail by a popular vote instead of the authoritarian hand of a master winemaker? I think you’ll agree that sometimes what you need most is a strong hand to cut through the noise and skip the compromises – a Captain Kirk figure, if you will, to extend my earlier metaphor.

How interested are you, as a consumer, in playing the role of armchair winemaker? Or in tasting the results? Is this a sign of things to come, or just a marketing gimmick?

October 31st, 2011 Category: I thought that was obvious, Wineries | Leave a comment

Once in a while, I find a number of stories that are interesting enough to pass on to you, dear reader, but speak so well for themselves I don’t have much to add. Enjoy!

Events

Regional Wine Week wraps up, and Jeff Siegel finds a skeptic with a pretty good point.

David White of the Terroirist asks you to Uncork for a better cause than your own thirst.

News

Evan Dawson of the New York Cork Report describes this vintage’s challenges. Maybe the world is ending?

The Vineyard Wife creates the red badge of locapours. Courage optional.

Kyle McNichols of Palate Press sees the silver lining in accidents. This might get me into my local wine shop more, since I don’t have a whole lot of reason to go in.

Not local, at least for Marylanders, but Lettie Teague writes in the Wall Street Journal about what Bordeaux is. A helpful article for anyone as mystified by French wine as I am. (It’s from France, right?)

I never thought I’d say this, but even the wineries are getting a head start on Christmas. I’ll be lucky to swing by the grocery store next Monday to get candy on the way home.

And, if sometimes you just need a cold one, try Distillery Lane Ciderworks.

October 28th, 2011 Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Ahh, fall. So far, it’s been pretty warm (and occasionally even sunny!). But with leaves turning and falling all around us, Matt and I are turning our thoughts towards fall. I get cold easily, so firewood, slow cooked food, and throw blankets are a must.

Somewhere in the last month, with cold rain coming through town, we got it in our heads to try mulling some wine. We’ve mulled mead before, and had mulled wine at fall tastings, but hadn’t tried it on our own.

We’ve seen folks use a pot on the stove top or packaged mulling spices; most wineries seem to leave the wine in the bottle and stand the bottle in some water in the slow cooker. We just poured our wine into our slow cooker, added some spices if the wine wasn’t already spiced, turned the slow cooker on to low, and waited for the aromas of mulling wine to permeate the house.

We first tried Linganore Winecellars‘ Steeple Chase. It’s marketed as a semi-sweet red, good with chocolate, but Matt added whole cloves, a cinnamon stick, and a little nutmeg. It was almost dessert in and of itself – sweet and fruity.

We liked it so much we next tried their Spicy Regatta, on the advice of Lucia Simmons, Director of Marketing at Linganore, although only with a stick of cinnamon, since it’s already spiced. This is the wine Linganore suggests for mulling. This had more subtle flavors than the mulled Steeple Chase and a smoother finish; Matt, who likes drier wines, seemed to like this more than the Steeple Chase.

Our next endeavor was Boordy‘s Spiced Wassail. Like the Spicy Regatta, it was already spiced, so we only added a cinnamon stick. It was similar to the Regatta, pretty smooth on the tongue, with a deeper finish.

Given our success with the Steeple Chase, I wondered what other sweet reds might be good for mulling. At the Maryland Wine Festival with friends, I tasted Running Hare Winery’s Jack Rabbit Red, and bought a bottle to bring home and mull. Even more than the Steeple Chase, it was obviously not created for mulling, but rather as a table wine. However, the unabashed fruitiness meant it went well with spices, and it was almost like a party version of a mulled wine.

So I’m now curious to try various meads and compare them, especially with the spiced meads coming out of Orchid Cellars. Given our success with the table reds, I’m curious to try other blends and even dessert wines.

What wines have you mulled in the past? Is it a custom for you, or a special event for the holidays? Has anyone mulled dessert wines?

October 17th, 2011 Category: Tasting notes, Uncategorized | Comments (1)