Vynecrest winemaker's thoughts on all that goes into making a great red wine

August is a great time of year to come out, taste some wine, and enjoy the view of the vineyard. The grapes are just about ready to go through veraison, where they stop growing and start ripening. The red grapes will turn from green to red and the sugar levels start to rise. This change in color is also a signal for the birds the grapes are about ready to eat.

Just a reminder, the Vyneskeller is open seven days a week. So after you are done tasting you can grab a glass of wine and relax downstairs.

August Specials:
* Wine of the Month - Vynecrest Red - additional 10% off
* 3 Pack of the Month - 3 Bear Naked Chardonnay for $35

*available at the winery only

Aug 30 - Vineyard & Winery Tour, and Jazz Sunday

Vineyard and winery tour begins at noon. $5 per person. Tour should wrap up just in time to enjoy some live Jazz music in the Vyneskeller from 1 - 4 pm.

Glass Half Empty
by Malachi Duffy (left, pictured with Sam Landis)

When I have a glass of Lemberger I think about what went into making the wine that is in that bottle. Arguments over what to plant 4, 5, 6 years or more earlier. Remembering in 2008 we seriously considered ripping all of it out and not making it any more (thank goodness we didn’t follow through with that idea!). Wondering if the vines were going to make it through the sub-zero temps of the winter. Watching bud break and deciding how many clusters to keep. The awesome crew of guys in the vineyard who handle pruning, hedging, picking and everything in between. Prior to harvest, putting together the order for what yeast to use, enzyme and tannin additions, whether to cold soak or not. Tasting Lemberger on the vine when it gets close to harvest time. Arguing (again) over when to pick each lot of Lemberger. Finally picking and fermenting it.

Sam Landis and I having sand wedge contests over who can chip a golf ball into the fermenting red wine (the loser had to punch the caps). Sam punching the caps. Pressing the almost-dry wine and tasting the wine that runs out of the press as it is being crushed. Letting the wine sit for a few months before we put it on oak. Inevitably thinking that I have completely screwed up this vintage and I should have stuck with what I did last year. The following day retasting and not being so scared.

Oak additions to the wine a couple of months later: Some went to oak barrels, some went to Flex Tanks with oak staves and some with oak chips. At the end of the day (sometimes in the middle of the day) pulling samples and making sure everything is “progressing as it should.” That wonderful day when we have to come up with the final blend for Lemberger. Hopefully bottling before the current year runs out so we don’t have empty shelves. Grabbing a bottle as I head out the door to enjoy during dinner with the family.

It’s awesome to have a story about the drink you have in front of you. I am lucky enough to be involved in the process of producing that bottle. But hopefully you also have a story about Vynecrest wine. Maybe you had a great time in the Vyneskeller with friends and family, or you had Vynecrest wine at someone’s wedding. That’s the great thing about local wine, you don’t just go pick it up at the store, there is an experience associated with it. The wines are great by themselves (hopefully) but you can’t buy the moments off the shelf. The moments are what make that wine taste even better.

So, cheers to all the moments!

Vynecrest plans for Mother's Day, Wine in Bloom and Jazz Sunday in May

The vineyard is starting to come back to life after the harsh winter. The vines are pruned and buds are starting to open up. We planted an additional 500 vines last week (Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon). Hopefully the cold weather didn't claim too many vines.

The Vyneskeller is now open seven days a week from 1 - 5 pm. Monday through Friday it is self serve - you can buy everything you need upstairs in the tasting room (wine, cheese, crackers) and take it with you downstairs, on  the patio or out to the picnic tables. Saturday and Sunday it is business as usual with our full staff.





May Specials 


* Wine of the Month - Naked Chardonnay, 10% off 

* 3 Pack of the Month - 3 Vynecrest White for $25.

*available at winery only, 3 pack cannot be combined with other offers

Upcoming Events

May 10 - Mother's Day
We will have live guitar music in our Vyneskeller Wine Bar from 1 - 4pm, and will feature our Blueberry Pomegranate cocktail, made with Vynecrest Pinot Noir and Blueberry wines. We will also offer samples of Sugar 'n Spice Black Raspberry Dip with bite-size graham cookies. A great day out for Mom.

May 17 & 18 - Wine in Bloom along the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail
In addition to the beautiful potted petunias from Amore Greenhouses for the first 25 customers each day, Vynecrest will be doing Winemaker Tours of the vineyard and wine cellar free of charge for the public at noon both Saturday and Sunday.

We have a new PA Preferred Partner - September Farm Cheese from Honey Brook, PA - and we'll be offering samples of many of their delicious cheese in our tasting room along with complimentary wine tastings.

May 25 - Jazz Sunday and Vineyard Tours
In conjunction with Jazz Sunday, featuring live jazz music the last Sunday of every month in our Vyneskeller wine bar, our Winemaker Vineyard & Wine Cellar Tours will be held May 25, June 29, July 27, August 31, and September 28 at noon for $5 per person. Come tour the backlot of Vynecrest where the wine is grown and made, and then taste the finished product.

Glass Half Empty
by Sam Landis

Well we had quite a day yesterday as we christened our new screw cap bottling line. After a thorough five hour tutorial on Tuesday, Malachi and I were confident and primed to dominate 1,000 gallons of Blueberry Wine.

Ten minutes in I was holding five bottles of uncapped wine while the machine was spitting out capsules like a machine gun all over the floor. Suffice to say, we eventually figured it out and like most things around here, three months from now it will feel like it's always been there.

But it got me thinking how far this business has come. Growing up we used to bottle where the current Vyneskellar is. I used to have to recruit friends of mine to help alongside my parents and their friends. I believe we had two bottle washers, three manual hand corkers, two people using hair dryers to melt the caps, three hand labelers with glue, and two people putting away final cases. All told, it took 12 people all day to bottle 100 gallons of wine that looked like it was produced by a third grader.

So there we were yesterday, just Malachi and I, bottling 100 gallons every 25 minutes and it got me thinking: you can upgrade all you want but you can never replace the good old days.

Vynecrest releases 2012 Chardonnay and plants new vineyard

The buds are out and the new vines are planted. We planted more Chambourcin and Chardonnay this week, but we need to wait three years before we get any fruit from these vines.

On May 1, we released the 2012 Chardonnay - our first-ever release of a 100% Oaked Chardonnay. Fresh off a nice six-month nap in French oak, this wine comes right after you with intense aromas and notes of butterscotch and vanilla while finishing with a rich, soft creaminess. Great pairing for rich buttery foods, or even better, as an end-of-the-day thank you to yourself!

The Vyneskeller is now open seven days a week from 1 - 5 p.m. Monday through Friday it is self service -  you can buy everything you need upstairs in the tasting room (wine, cheese, crackers) and take it with you downstairs to the patio or out to the picnic tables. Saturday and Sunday is business as usual with our full staff.

May Specials 
* Wine of the Month - Chardonnay - additional 10% off
* 3-Pack of the Month - 3 DiVyne Red for $25.00
*available at winery only, 3-pack cannot be combined with other offers

May 18 and 19 - Lehigh Valley Wine Trail Wine in Bloom Weekend
We have complimentary winemaker tours both days at 1 p.m. First 25 customers each day gets a potted flower from Amore Greenhouse. We're celebrating the 5th anniversary of the region's A.V.A. designation.

May 25 and 26 (Memorial Day Weekend)
To kick off the summer season we will crank up our sangria maker and begin serving sangria in the Vyneskeller for $4 a glass, complete with straw and umbrella! We will also be introducing a new appetizer for the summer to be enjoyed with our sangria and our sweeter wines. It's a black raspberry fruit dip served with grapes and honey graham sticks. May 26 is also Jazz Sunday with live piano and guitar music for your listening pleasure.

Glass Half Empty 
by Sam Landis

I get asked all the time do I ever drink any other wine than Vynecrest and my answer is always the same... "yes, and as much as I possibly can." Now this is not a negative thing for how we make wine and what we do, but just like any other business out there the worst thing you can do is bury your head in your own day-to-day operations. The most challenging thing I have experienced in being involved in this business is being so insulated that you get comfortable in your own procedures and wines, and because it works, there is no need for change.

I recently took a trip to another Pa. winery and they were more than willing to talk about their processes and procedures on wine making (spoiler alert: Hauser Estate Winery in Getttysburg). I was given a two-hour tour into everything in their cellar concluding with a tasting of every wine in their tanks. Could you imagine Applebee's doing the same for TGI Fridays?

Hauser Estate makes great wines and do some things very similar to us and some things very different. And while the rest of the evening got a little hazy it made me appreciate what we do as an industry. I left with such a level of excitement of where we are with Pa. winemaking and where we can go as an industry that is only 45 years old. The people are what drive our industry and the mission to collectively raise the bar statewide was my major takeaway.

Pa. wines are becoming really good...trust me! And Pa.'s reputation is only going to get better as we all get better. Yes, I drink a lot of other wines and you should too; that's that point of wine, it's about exploring and finding new things. That being said, if you love one of our wines, feel free to buy all you want of it... we'll make more.

Celebrate Christmas in July at Vynecrest, July 19 - 22

Christmas in July

It is that time of year again at Vynecrest! July 19 through July 22 mention this promotion, and get 25% off 12 or more bottles. For our customers who can't make it to the winery, we are offering free shipping on 6 or more bottles during the same time period, July 19 through 22. No discount code needed at checkout, you just need to have six or more bottles in your cart. This discount applies to online orders only; phone-in orders will be subject to normal shipping prices.

July Specials

Wine of the Month - Chardonnay - additional 10% off
3 Pack of the Month - 3 Vynecrest Red for $25.00
(specials available at winery only)

In The Vineyard

The 2012 vintage started for Vynecrest with our annual delivery of Montmorency sour cherries from Peter's Orchard in Carlisle, Pa. The cherries are fermenting in the cellar now.

In the vineyard, we are busy removing excess leaves and shoots from the vines. Soon we will have to start hedging and dropping some of the fruit from the vines.

Upcoming events

• July 19 - Macungie Farmer's Market, Memorial Park, 4 - 7 pm
• July 21 - Live music in the Vyneskeller, Billy Bauer, 1:30-4:30 pm
• July 26 - Macungie Farmer's Market, Memorial Park, 4pm - 7 pm
• July 28 & 29 - Wine on the Mountain, Penn's Peak
• July 28 - Live music in the Vyneskeller, Gary Reed, 1:30-4:30 pm
• July 29 - Jazz Sunday - Live Jazz music in the Vyneskeller with Andy & Dan, 12:30-3:30pm; Vineyard & Winery Tour with the winemaker, 1 pm, $5 per person
• August 2 - Macungie Farmer's Market, Memorial Park, 4 pm - 7 pm
• August 4 - Live music in the Vyneskeller, Billy Bauer, 1:30-4:30 pm

Glass Half Empty

Starting this month, our newsletter will feature a quirky inside look at the wine business from one of the the four partners. We sometimes get so bogged down in the day-to-day duties that we forget to mention some of the most interesting things that go on around here. Some of these things are insightful, some are depressing and some are just downright funny. So here is the first installment of "Glass Half Empty" which is aptly titled since our best ideas usually occur at the end of the day after a glass or three...


By Sam Landis

We were just at the Split Rock Wine Festival in the Poconos a few weeks ago and I am always shocked at not only the outfits I see (or lack there of), but the wide range of consumer preferences of wine. Red, white, sweet, dry, blah blah blah... but as we get into the dog days of summer and the thermostat starts rising, wine temperature has always intrigued me.

We try to serve our white wines and sweeter reds as cold as possible for obvious reasons during the summer. I even know of some people (actually a lot) who put ice cubes in their wine. Some would scoff at this idea, but from my point of view if that's your preference, go for it. Who cares what people think? It's YOUR wine.

I wanted to share a little tidbit I have with one wine in particular, Chardonnay. I was in the wine cellar a few weeks ago talking with Malachi and we both got into how, for whatever reason, we enjoy drinking our Chardonnay and other Chardonnays room temperature. Because of the fact that most Chardonnays go through Malolactic fermentation and are usually aged on oak, when they are chilled down they get stripped of a lot of these unique characteristics.

So give it a shot next time you're at a barbeque or having friends over. Try some Chardonnay head-to-head - one chilled and one room temp - and see what you think. It might just be something that you're missing out on....or you might just go grab some ice cubes immediately! Either way who cares? It's YOUR wine!

Live music, new releases and wine specials from Blue Mountain Vineyards

New releases

2011 Vidal Blanc
There are hints of green apple on the nose before giving way to a rich burst of pineapple.

2011 Chardonnay
This unoaked fruit forward wine exhibits flavor of pear, citrus and green apple, leaving a lasting palette impression.

April specials

$1 off 2004 Chambourcin
$1 off Mountain Spice

Sunday Blues schedule

04/15 ~ Scott Marshall & The Hillbilly Souls
04/22 ~ Wow Brothers (Come wish Davey a Happy Birthday!)
04/29 ~ Jake Kaligis & Mike Rauscher's Dynamic Duo

Please call or email for reservations. $5 admission includes a wine tasting. If reservations are made, we ask that you arrive no later than 2:15 p.m.    

Festival season is here!

April 14 & 15 ~ Bear Creek Food & Wine Festival (Macungie)
April 21 ~ Flavor Festival (Phoenixville)
April 27 ~ ARCH Annual Wine Tasting & Auction (at the Winery)
May 5 ~ Wings & Wine Fest (Tunkhannock)

An update from Pinnacle Ridge Winery

March Madness Passports
Just a reminder that we still have passports available for the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail’s March Madness event. The Passports are $35 each and we can mail them to you for a $1 mailing fee. You can go to www.lehighvalleywinetrail.com for more information on the event. 
  
Mushroom Event
On January 14 and 15 we will be offering a pairing of mushroom tapas with wines. We haven’t finalized the menu yet but we will have several different tapas each paired with a different wine. This is a new event and should be a lot of fun. The event will run from noon until 5 p.m. on both days.

Great review for our 2010 Chardonnay
Vino Vic is a wine guy who has been making an effort to review Pennsylvania wines. Check out this link to see his review of our 2010 Chardonnay.  

2011 Vintage Update
It was a strange year: extreme heat in July (105 degrees!) and extreme rain in August and September. One thing I’ve learned over the last 19 vintages is that there is no such thing as “normal.” The white wines have finished fermenting and are now settling down in tank and barrel. We can begin to see the results of our efforts with these young wines. Overall they are very balanced wines with moderate acidity. Usually in wet years we end up with high acids that result in very crisp white wines.

One of the unusual aspects of 2011 is that it was very, very warm. Even during the wet periods the temperatures were still above normal. The warm weather helps to promote the reduction of acid in the fruit resulting in balanced fruit and, consequently, balanced wines. The wines are not as intense as their 2010 counterparts but they do have fruit-driven aromas with flavors that follow. These whites will be delicious, young drinkers.

Do you prefer to go naked?

This post is written by guest blogger and wine aficionado Jim Hutchings.

At Vynecrest Winery’s first Chardonnay Weekend event last weekend, they had two versions of their new Chardonnay: oaked and un-oaked (also called naked Chardonnay). Events like this showcase the versatility of grapes and how such different results can come from a single grape.

The winemakers at each winery craft their wine in different fashions, leaving more residual sugar in the final product or letting it ferment more fully to create a drier wine. We see this with Riesling, Vidal, and Chambourcin at many of the wineries.

A difference in sugar levels makes wildly different wines from the same grape, but so does the introduction of oak to the wine-making process. The addition of oak to a white wine makes a completely different wine.

Personally, I prefer an oaked Chardonnay because of the toasty, buttery taste. This is in stark contrast to the crisp, more fruit-forward unoaked Chardonnay. Naked Chardonnay is still delicious, but with unoaked dry Riesling, Vidal, Seyval, Grüner Veltliner, and Pinot Gris wines on the trail, I particularly enjoy how an oaked Chardonnay stands out from the pack.

What are your tastes?

Join Vynecrest for its first Chardonnay Weekend event

Vynecrest Winery in Breinigsville recently released their first vintage of oaked Chardonnay. They've also just released a very limited amount of unoaked or "naked" Chardonnay.

To celebrate, they've created Chardonnay Weekend on Saturday, June 5 & Sunday, June 6 from 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. There will be tastings of both Chardonnays along with a food pairing of Lemon-Chardonnay Goat Cheese from StoneCroft Farms in Macungie. Both the oaked and naked Chardonnays will be available for purchase all weekend. Wine lovers can vote on which one they like best and be entered into to a raffle to win a free night's stay at the Hyatt Place Bethlehem.

StoneCroft Farms is a local producer of goat cheese and a fellow member of the Buy Fresh Buy Local initiative. Their cheese is sold locally in only a few choice restaurants and markets. So be sure to drop in to Vynecrest for samples and the opportunity to buy some Lemon-Chardonnay, Dill and Garlic-Chive StoneCroft Farms cheese and the two Vynecrest Chardonnay wines.

There will also be live music in the Vyneskeller Wine Bar from 1:30 - 4:30 p.m. both days. On Saturday is Arianne Rox and on Sunday is Art Tartara.

Chardonnay Weekend is free to attend and open to the public. For directions and more information, visit www.vynecrest.com or call 610-398-7525.