Friday, October 30, 2015

Join the Galen Glen Case Club to receive special perks

Did you know members of the Galen Glen annual Case Club receive many benefits, including invitations to special events? Membership is easy, it begins or renews when you purchase a case.

To join:

  • Purchase an eligible case.
  • Cases 1 through 3 receive 10% discount.
  • Cases 4 through end of annual membership receive 15% discount.
  • Membership begins date first case purchased and is good for one year.
  • Membership may be renewed for another year after expiration.

Eligible purchases:

  • Only case or more purchases apply.
  • Custom labeled 750mL bottles apply.
  • Shipped cases apply.

Benefits:

  • Exemption from tasting fee for cardholder and up to 3 guests.
  • Priority notice for winemaker events and limited wine releases via email.
  • Invitation to our Case Club Celebration.
  • Purchase six or more cases during annual membership period and renew the following year for 15% off all case purchases!


Want your favorite wines but live a distance from the winery? We can ship. In Pa. you may order online. Outside of Pa.? We may be able to ship to you. Call during normal business hours for more information: 570-386-3682.

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Fall Flights with Bites this weekend at Clover Hill Winery

Clover Hill Vineyards & Winery 2015 harvest is in the books and we couldn’t be more pleased with the results! This was our earliest harvest on record, beginning in mid August, thanks to the extremely warm and dry season. By the beginning of September, the heat spike had caused many of our grape varieties to ripen at once and our harvesting became fast and furious. All of our fruit was harvested in pristine condition; however some of the superstars from the 2015 harvest are Vignoles, Merlot and Chambourcin.

Owner’s Selection for October 

Turtle Rock Red is discounted 10% at all Clover Hill locations. Receive a 20% discount on Turtle Rock Red when included in a case purchase. Now only $12.15.

Turtle Rock Red is a flagship wine for Clover Hill Winery. It is produced 100% from Chambourcin, the grape of the Lehigh Valley. The deep purple color, fresh berry flavors, a hint of sweetness and a touch of acidity are characteristics of this wine. This wine pairs nicely with grilled salmon & spicy chili.

Recipe of the Month - Wicked Turtle

~2 oz. Turtle Rock Red
~1 oz. Passion-Fruit Rum
~2oz Lemon/Lime Soda

Pour into a chilled glass for a single serving or for a crowd pleaser pour it in your favorite pitcher. The rich decadent color will be sure to tempt any crowd into trying something wicked.

Find more recipes here.

Fall Flights with Bites
October 31, November 1, 2, 3; noon - 5 pm
Tickets required - $10 per Flight
Senior Special - Tuesday, November 3 - $8 per flight

Join us at the Winery in Breinigsville for a flight of wines paired with bites of goodness. Flights will consist of 4 wines paired with 4 bites of autumn goodness. You can select if you want to experience a Sweet Flight or a Dry Flight. For tickets, please call 610-395-2468 or visit the winery in Breinigsville.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Fall at Vynecrest means events, a fundraiser, and the return of two popular wines


Spiced Winter Red and Spiced Winter White are now available. Last year Spiced Winter White sold out in three weeks. We made a little more this year but you better get it early if you want it.

It is just about time to set our sights on the holidays. Christkindlmarkt Bethlehem opens in just a few weeks on November 20.

October is national breast cancer awareness month. Vynecrest is donating $1 for every bottle of First Blush sold to the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition.

October Specials

* Wine of the Month - First Blush, additional 10% off
* 3 Pack of the Month - 3 Spiced Winter White for $35

*at winery only, 3 pack can't be combined with other discounts

Upcoming Events

October 16 - Wine Glass Painting, Vynecrest on Main

Friday from 6-8 pm, join us at Vynecrest on Main in Kutztown for "Painting with Wine."The cost is $15 per person which includes a glass to paint, a glass to drink, and all painting supplies. Appetizers are available for a nominal charge. Reservations required. For reservations 484-641-5149.

October 17 & 18 - Lehigh Valley Wine Trail Chambourcin Weekend

Vynecrest will be partnering with Vince’s Cheesesteaks, a Lehigh Valley tradition. We will be pairing our 2013 Estate-Bottled Chambourcin wine with a taste of “Mini Vinnies” steak sandwich. The meat in these steak sandwiches will be marinated in our Chambourcin wine before they are grilled. The Vince’s Cheesesteak Food Truck will be at Vynecrest all day both Saturday and Sunday with their full menu of chicken and beef cheesesteaks and other items for purchase.

October 24 - Lehigh Valley Cider & Wine Festival at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown

The Lehigh Valley Cider and Wine Festival – an on-field event featuring hard cider and wine tastings from local and regional cideries and wineries – makes its debut on Sat., Oct. 24 from noon to 5 p.m. at Coca-Cola Park. Attendees each receive a collector’s stemless glass to enjoy their cider and wine tastings and can also purchase a variety of food and crafts from local food trucks, vendors and artisans. The festival – which takes place during Pennsylvania Wine Month -- also includes live entertainment, panel discussions describing the process of making both cider and wine, the ability to purchase wine by the glass, bottle or case and other fun activities such as an apple launch competition.

October 25 - Jazz Sunday, Live Music in the Vyneskeller, 1-4 pm

Glass Half Empty by Jan Landis

Everyone knows what my three partners do at Vynecrest. Don’t get me wrong, in a small business such as ours we all do a little of everything, including cleaning toilets and changing light bulbs. But mainly Malachi is the winemaker, John oversees the vineyard, and Sam’s the boss. Boss sounds good, doesn’t it? But in the small print that means the buck stops with Sam and that’s a tough job. He has to be on top of everything.

So me, what do I do? I do the books, write the checks, do payroll, the nerdy stuff, which actually I love doing. On weekends, I’m the kitchen wench, doing cheese plates and pretzel bowls, helping in the Vyneskeller. However, my new fun job is Engagement Facilitator. Yes, a new job description to add to my resume!

We’ve had a flurry of marriage proposals over the past few years and setting the scene for the Popping of the Question has been a hoot. With the help of Dana we’ve managed to successfully cement a number of romantic relationships. And the scenario has been different for them all! Mostly the gentleman comes up with a rough idea of how he’d like to propose and we simply provide the ways and means to make it happen.

There have been a couple of rough spots, like the young man who when he came in with his intended turned to me and said: “Hi Jan.” I froze and didn’t acknowledge his greeting; after all, he was supposed to be a complete stranger! Luckily, the lovely young lady remained clueless, or so she said. One time we were asked to freeze an engagement ring in an ice cube tray since the lady in question liked ice cubes in her wine. We were petrified that the ring (which they crazily entrusted to us) would get damaged or that once frozen she would somehow swallow it, but we managed to make it through that engagement without incident.

I never used to think that wine was particular romantic; after all my earlier jobs in building up this business mainly consisted of pruning vines, picking grapes, and bottling the wine. But now that I’ve been elevated to Engagement Facilitator, yes, wine is very romantic!

Friday, October 9, 2015

This weekend's winery events along our wine trail

Scott Marshall Live at Pinnacle Ridge 
Saturday, October 10 from 2 - 5 pm

A road where America rock, county, Blues and Bluegrass travel, and diverse audiences everywhere enjoy the ride. Led by Award winning singer/songwriter and recording artist Scott Marshall, whose faith, family, country life, laugh, and love motto surrounding the music has earned himself quite a reputation as an entertainer.

We are proud but sad to mention that due to a high volume of demand, the wines listed below will be temporarily out of stock. We do have avery limited number of cases left, so stock up today!
-Riesling
-Blanc De Blanc
- 2013 Cabernet Franc

We will have our 2014 wines available for purchase soon:
-Merlot
-Cabernet Franc
-Pinot Noir

Sunday Blues at Blue Mountain Vineyards
10/11 featuring Connie Edinger from 2-5pm

Enjoy live entertainment on our outdoor or glass enclosed deck with commanding views of the mountains and our vineyards. Gourmet cheeses, fresh baked bread, dips, pretzels/chips, and pitchers of fruit and ice for Sangria are available for purchase or bring your own snacks.

Reserve a table for our Sunday Blues, 2-5pm, with award-winning musicians, bring a picnic lunch, do a wine tasting, and enjoy!

Taste the Grape, Taste the Wine at Galen Glen
Have you ever wondered about the grape varieties that make your favorite wine?  This weekend you will have the opportunity to taste hand harvested Gruner Veltliner grapes and the wine made from this grape and enjoy a tasting experience like none other.

Final Tours of the Season - Saturday & Sunday at 3 pm
Enjoy an enlightening tour of the vineyard and wine cellar.  Learn how your wine gets from the vine to the glass.  This is a walking tour so please wear sturdy foot gear.  The tour lasts approximately one hour and is about a one-mile walk.  Tours are complimentary and given weather permitting. No reservations are required.

Sunday, October 11 from noon to 4 pm
We welcome the return visit of Buy the Farm & Easton Salsa Co.  They will be here selling their delicious locally-made cheese plates and hummus plates to enjoy with your wine. Also, you may purchase hummus, srirachas and salsas to enjoy here and take home.  Our staff favorites are the smoked Sriracha hummus as well as the pineapple tomatillo salsa. They even sell gift boxes for you to get a jump start on holiday gift giving.

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

REGION’S LESSER-KNOWN CHAMBOURCIN WINE GRAPE IS THE STAR OF THIS MONTH’S LEHIGH VALLEY WINE TRAIL EVENT

Wine drinkers know Chardonnay, Merlot and Pinot Grigio, but Chambourcin? The Lehigh Valley’s official wine grape may be lesser known amongst the more popular varieties, but it grows so well in the climate and soil of this region that it has become the only wine grape grown by all nine wineries of the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail.

Local wine lovers can become familiar with it during the Chambourcin Weekend event on Saturday, October 17 and Sunday, October 18. Each winery will feature its own activities such as wine tastings, live entertainment, vineyard tours, or food and wine pairings (see detailed list below). Event hours at all of the wineries are Saturday from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon – 5 p.m. (Chambourcin Weekend is a free event, however some wineries charge for wine tastings, tours and/or entertainment.)

In the greater Lehigh Valley, there are more than 40 acres of Chambourcin that ferments into approximately 150,000 bottles of wine. Chambourcin is very versatile and the wineries craft it into several styles of wine including nouveau, rosé, semi- sweet, sweet, dry barrel aged, sparkling and port.

The Lehigh Valley Wine Trail is a non-profit organization of wineries whose mission is to promote agri-tourism and to create a premiere wine destination and grape growing region while promoting Pennsylvania wines from the region. All of the member wineries have won numerous awards at state, national and international levels. For more information on the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail visit www.LehighValleyWineTrail.com.


CHAMBOURCIN WEEKEND WINERY HIGHLIGHTS

Amore - will feature four styles of Chambourcin paired with rigatoni in red sauce.

Big Creek - will have its Regent (a European offspring of Chambourcin) ready to pair with treats from MMM Cookies.

Blue Mountain - On Saturday at noon there will be a chili contest where customers can sample chilis and judge which one is the best. They are also welcome to enter their chili into the contest. There will also be live music with Adam Motto from 1-4 pm (no reservations required).
On Sunday from noon – 5 pm is the Northampton County Open Gate Farm Tour, which will feature crafts available for children, and guided tours with the winemaker every half hour on the hour. From 2-5 pm is Sunday Blues with live music featuring the Octavia Blues Band. Advance reservations are required. $5 per person, includes wine tasting.

Clover Hill - will offer samples of two different Chambourcin wines - Turtle Rock Red and 2013 Chambourcin. In addition they will have samples and sales of freshly pressed Chambourcin grape juice (while supplies last).

Franklin Hill - will have a mulled wine bar with three varieties of mulled wine to sample and to purchase by the mug. Chef Phil from Social Still will be making his award-winning chili, which will also be available for purchase. They’ll have McCollians local honey for sale and Kendra’s Buttercup Bakery will be onsite with sweet treats as well as several other local vendors. Tours of our facility will be given at noon and 2 pm. Tastings of all of their wines, including the new Potion X Pumpkin Spice wine, will be available all day inside or outside under the new pavilion.

Galen Glen - will offer a complimentary pairing of their 2015 Chili Competition Winner, Brian Eager's Beef & Brisket Chili (recipe available) with a taste of Chambourcin or Cellar Red. Foodies who think they have what it takes to be the next celebrated chili champion can request an application to enter the third annual Chambourcin chili cook-off on January 16, 2016.

Pinnacle Ridge - will feature Windy Acres BBQ sauce made with the winery’s Chambourcin Wine drizzled over pulled pork and baked beans, paired with a choice of either the medal-winning Chambourcin Reserve or the Chambourcin Rose.

Tolino - will offer 2012 Chambourcin paired with vanilla bean bread pudding by Trixie’s Treats, whose food truck will be on site from noon – 4 pm for additional food purchases. Enjoy live music by Blue Hearts Revelry from 1-4 pm and wagon tours of the vineyard at 2 pm and 4 pm. On Sunday, Tolino will offer 2012 Chambourcin paired with Italian ring bologna and cheese from Communale’s Italian Market in Mt. Bethel.  Erin McClelland will perform live music from 1-4 pm and wagon tours will be at 2 pm and 4 pm.

Vynecrest - will partner with Vince’s Cheesesteaks, a Lehigh Valley tradition. They will pair their 2013 Estate-Bottled Chambourcin wine with a taste of “Mini Vinnies” steak sandwich. The meat in the steak sandwiches will be marinated in Chambourcin before they are grilled. The Vince’s Cheesesteak food truck will be at Vynecrest all day Saturday and Sunday with its full menu of chicken and beef cheesesteaks and other items for purchase.