Pinnacle Ridge honored with Wine Excellence & Farm Show Awards

Pinnacle Ridge Winery in Kutztown recently shared with their friends and fans the list of awards that their wines have received so far this year. Here are the highlights.

2011 PENNSYLVANIA WINE SOCIETY WINE EXCELLENCE AWARD

On Sunday, January 16, the Pennsylvania Wine Society held its 9th Annual Wine Excellence Award ceremony. Also known as Oscar Night for Pennsylvania wine, the judges sampled 80 wines. They narrow the 80 entries down to 10 wines. Pinnacle Ridge’s 2008 Veritas and 2007 Veritas made the Top 10. The wine judged to be the best of the competition was PINNACLE RIDGE 2007 VERITAS! They also got honorable mention for their 2008 Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc and Chambourcin.

 2011 PENNSYLVANIA FARM SHOW 

•   2007 Veritas – DOUBLE GOLD – BEST VINIFERA
•   2008 Pinot Noir - SILVER
•   2009 Quaff – SILVER
•   2008 Chambourcin - SILVER
•   2009 Chambourcin Rose’ SILVER
•   2009 Traminette – BRONZE
•   2009 Vidal Blanc – BRONZE
•   2008 Chambourcin Reserve – BRONZE
•   2008 Cabernet Franc - BRONZE

ROUTE 737 CLOSED FOR BRIDGE REPAIR

Are you are coming to Pinnacle Ridge from Route 222? Take the Krumsville exit. At the end of the ramp, turn right. Go 0.4 miles and bear right onto Eagle Point Rd. Travel 0.8 miles and turn left onto Gun Club Road. Travel on Gun Club Road for 1.8 miles to Route 737. Turn right onto Route 737 and travel 2.8 miles to the blinking light in Krumsville.  Turn right.  Pinnacle Ridge is 0.9 miles on the left. Travel time and distance are virtually the same. Explore the countryside!  

Valentine's Weekend plans announced by Galen Glen Winery

Sarah and Galen at Galen Glen Winery in Andreas are making their Valentine's plans and inviting all wine lovers to join them. See the details below from their latest e-update.

Celebrate Romance with Wine & Chocolate

Two Weekends:
February 12, 10am - 5 pm & February 13, noon - 5 pm
February 19, 10am - 5 pm & February 20, noon - 5 pm

Taste our Free Pairing of Barrel 29 with Triple Chocolate Cake. Barrel 29 is a sweet port style dessert wine.

Treat your Valentine both Weekends:
Glass of Barrel 29 with a slice of Cake $9. Cakes: Triple Choc, Peanut Butter Choc & German Choc

New Wine Releases!
Erin's Auslese
Grüner Veltliner
Vidal Blanc
Barrel 29 - 375mL, 500mL & 750mL 
Available beginning Friday, February 11

March Madness 2011 food and wine pairings announced!

If you've already purchased your March Madness passport, then you're probably wondering what this year's food and wine pairings will be at each winery each weekend in March. Well, you're in luck. Below is the list of the tastings you can find during your journey along the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail just over a month from now. Read on...

Blue Mountain

March 5&6: Pasta Primavera paired with 2006 Chardonnay Reserve and Wine Poached Pears with our newly released 2010 White Merlot.
March 12 & 13: Chicken, Lime & Tortilla Soup paired with 2009 Vignoles and Passion Wine Cake paired with our Victoria’s Passion
March 19 & 20:  Pasta Fagioli paired with 2004 Chambourcin and Warm Winter Fruit paired with Mountain Frost
March 26 & 27: Sample the newly released spring line of Tastefully Simple products as well as the regular classics! We will offer 2 pairings to feature the new products.

Amore

March 5 & 6 - Beef, vegetable, wild rice soup paired with Cabernet
March 12 & 13 - Grilled Italian Chicken in a Vodka sauce over cavatelli pasta paired with Gregg's Gregio
March 19 & 20 - Tortellini in sun dried tomato & basil sauce paired with Chambourcin
March 26 & 27 - Chicken medallions and pasta Florentine, roasted red peppers, artichokes and mushrooms in a light garlic wine sauce paired with Chardonnay

Galen Glen

Every Weekend in March, Galen Glen is proud to feature our Aromatic White Wines paired with handmade pork dumplings from Bamboo and Liu’s House. We plan to tease your taste buds to convince you how beautifully our wines match with Asian cuisine.  www.thebamboocuisine.com www.liushouse.com

Big Creek

Will feature "From Russia with Love - Soups of the Steppes:
Week 1  - Roszolnick Soup
Week 2  - Gribovnitsa
Week 3 -  Mushroom solyanka
Week  4 - Chicken Lapsha

Vynecrest 

Vynecrest will again be presenting Lisa Morton (Hereford Country Store) food creations. Weeks 1 & 3 we will be pairing Vynecrest White, our popular semi-sweet all-occasion wine, with your choice of either a vegetarian spinach & cheddar quiche or the Macungie Farm Market favorite, a cheese steak quiche.

Weeks 2 & 4 we will be pairing our Cherry Divyne wine with their red velvet chocolate cake roll, with some of the Cherry Divyne mixed into the creamy cherry-vanilla icing for a German-style heavenly dessert experience.

Pinnacle Ridge

Goes to the MEDITERRANEAN for the month of March. On March 5 & 6 and 19 & 20, Pinnacle Ridge will be serving: Garlic and Lemon marinated Grilled Chicken, Grape Leaves stuffed with Rice, Vegetables and Herbs and Baba Ghanouj- Roasted Eggplant mixed with Tahini, Garlic and Lemon. Scoop it all up with Pita Bread.

On March 12 & 13 and 26 & 27, Pinnacle Ridge will be serving: Mediterranean Gyro- Classic Rotisserie Meat cooked and topped with a Garlic-herb Yogurt Sauce, Arnabit- seasoned Cauliflower served with a garlic sauce and Hummus- Chick Peas blended with Tahini and herbs. Scoop it all up with Pita Bread.

Pinnacle Ridge will be pairing our Mediterranean feast with two different Rosé wines. We will introduce OASIS - our Provence inspired rose’ from the 2009 vintage. We will also pair our Chambourcin Rosé for those who desire a slightly sweet wine. If reds are your thing, try our 2009 Merlot.

Franklin Hill

Week one - Beef Stew made with Chambourcin Wine, the Wine of the Lehigh Valley paired with what else .... Chambourcin Wine and Simply Red.

Week Two - Elaine will be making her famous Baked Ziti on her Birthday Weekend. This fabulous dish will be paired with Evanswood, a Burgundy style red wine made from the DeChaunac grape.

Week Three - Chicken Corn Chowder with Bacon. We love it paired with Vidal or White Jade, a dry Vidal with a hint of oak.

Week four- Desserts, desserts, and more desserts paired with several of our award winning wines.

Sorrenti Cherry Valley

March 5 & 6 - Mary's new Creation "Chicken Florentina" over Rice Pilaf paired with our lovely Chardonnay
March 12 & 13 and 19 & 20 - Tuscan Cream sauce over Ravioli, choice of White wine
March 26 & 27 - Selection of Cheeses of the world & Crustini's, choice of wine
Each weekend we will also have music and other surprises in our Bistro.

Clover Hill

March 5 & 6, and March 12 & 13 - Chef Nathan Grube will be at Clover Hill to prepare a weekend of crepes.  Indulge in a savory veggie crepe paired with the 2008 Merlot and a sweet chocolate s ‘more crepe paired with Vignoles. 

March 19 & 20 and March 26 & 27 - Chef Nathan Grube will be preparing a veggie pizza paired with DeChaunac.  For something a bit different, he will also be preparing a Swiss inspired Raclette (a lovely cheese dish) served with homemade meats and complimented by Clover Hill’s Vidal Blanc. 

LEHIGH VALLEY WINE TRAIL ANNOUNCES SCHEDULE OF 2011 EVENTS

The nine family-owned wineries of the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail have announced their 2011 schedule of special events.

• March Madness – weekends only in March – Customers purchase a March Madness passport for access to different wine and food pairings at each of the nine wineries each weekend. Passports are stamped during each visit and can then be entered into a drawing for over 20 prizes. Customers also receive a LVWT collectible tile as this year’s gift. (Please note: A limited number of passports remain for sale.)

• Wine in Bloom – May 21 & 22 – This first-time event replaces last year’s AVA Weekend. It takes place mid-Spring as bud break occurs on the vines. It still celebrates the importance that terroir (soil) plays in the development of the grapes, their flavor and the resulting taste of the wine, and stresses the importance of the A.V.A. designation in further legitimizing the area for wine making.

• Wine on the Mountain – July 23 & 24 - Held at Penn’s Peak in Jim Thorpe, this event includes wine samplings, local artisans displaying their arts and crafts, light fare available for purchase, and live entertainment. Tickets are required for this event and can be purchased at each winery as well as at the door.

• Harvest Weekend – The Butcher, The Baker and The Winemaker – September 10 & 11 –The wineries proudly promote the state’s “Pennsylvania Preferred” program by partnering with manufacturers of other Pennsylvania products to showcase their high level of quality. Wine pairings, vineyard tours, food, music and other special activities are featured.

• Chambourcin Weekend – October 15 & 16 - Taking place after the harvest is over, this event celebrates the “official wine grape of the Lehigh Valley,” the Chambourcin.

• Nouveau Weekend – November 19 & 20 - This is the earliest chance to sample the first vintages of the new harvest. It’s also a great opportunity to purchase wines for the upcoming holiday season to give as gifts or to drink at dinner. March Madness passports also go on sale this weekend.

All events are free except for Wine on the Mountain at Penn’s Peak and March Madness, which requires the purchase of an event passport. Event hours are Saturdays from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon – 5 p.m.

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.

Members include:

• Amoré Vineyards & Winery, Nazareth
• Big Creek Vineyard and Winery, Kresgeville
• Blue Mountain Vineyards, New Tripoli
• Clover Hill Vineyards & Winery, Breinigsville
• Franklin Hills Vineyards, Bangor
• Galen Glen Vineyard & Winery, Andreas
• Pinnacle Ridge, Kutztown
• Sorrenti Cherry Valley Vineyards, Saylorsburg
• Vynecrest Winery, Breinigsville

The Lehigh Valley region is an official American Viticultural Area as designated by the Federal Alcohol Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau in April 2008. The Lehigh Valley AVA includes portions of Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Schuylkill, Carbon and Monroe counties in Pennsylvania. In order to receive the designation a least 75% of the grapes used to make local wines must be grown within the region. Wineries in the region are permitted to list “Lehigh Valley” as the growing region on their labels.

News from Vynecrest Winery

Here is the latest from the owners for Vynecrest Winery in Breinigsville as taken from their most recent e-newsletter.

After a short break following the new year, Vynecrest is open for business. Our winter hours are Thursday through Sunday 11 am to 5 pm.

All of us at Vynecrest would like to thank you for your support in 2010, another banner year. As many of you are aware, we are currently out of a few of our most popular wines but we are working hard to get the 2010 vintage on the shelves. We are continuing to grow this year. We are planting one acre of vines and two additional acres will be able to be picked this year.

The results of the PA Farm Show wine competition are out and Vynecrest took home 9 medals, 4 silver and 5 bronze. Cherry DiVyne, Pinot Noir, Riesling, and Lemberger took silver while Late Harvest Vidal, Pinot Grigio, Blueberry, Cabernet Franc and Chambourcin took home bronze medals.

January Specials:
3 pack of the month - 3 Autumn Gold for $25
Wine of the month - Chambourcin, 10% off

Upcoming Events

• January 29 - Music in the Vyneskeller 1 to 4:30pm, Arianne Rox
• February 5 - Chili Bowl Saturday
• Vynecrest will be sampling two different types of chili, vote for your favorite. There will also be a $100 Vynecrest gift card given to the person who picks the correct total score of Super Bowl XLV.
• February 12 - Music in the Vyneskeller 1 to 4:30pm, Rob & Marty
• February 26 - Music in the Vyneskeller 1 to 4:30pm, Connie Edinger

In The Cellar

Lemberger - 04/20/10

We have begun bottling many of the 2010 white wines. The reds need a little while longer before they are ready to be prepared for bottling.

In the vineyard, we will soon begin to prune the vines (as soon as we can get rid of the snow).

Lehigh Valley Wine Trail wins big at 2011 PA Farm Show!

The Pennsylvania Farm Show is taking place in Harrisburg and the wine competition happened this past weekend. We wanted to say a big CONGRATULATIONS to our wineries that won the following awards:

Best of:

Best American:
Franklin Hill 2009 Sir Walter’s Red

Best Vinifera:
Pinnacle Ridge 2007 Veritas



Cherry Valley Vineyard
Gold: Raspberry
Silver: Cranberry Blush, Pink Catawba
Bronze: Merlot Blackberry, Proprietor’s Red

Clover Hill Winery
Gold: Vignoles, Catawba, Strawberry Pear
Silver: 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon
Bronze: Riesling, 2007 Merlot, Clover Hill Rose

Franklin Hill Winery
Double Gold: 2009 Sir Walter’s Red
Silver: 2009 Kiss, 2009 Catawba
Bronze: 2009 Harvest Berry, 2010 Seyval Blanc, 2008 Chardonnay, 2009 Fainting Goat, 2009 White Jade

Pinnacle Ridge Winery
Double Gold: 2007 Veritas
Silver: 2008 Pinot Noir, 2009 Quaff, 2008 Chambourcin, 2009 Chambourcin Rose, 2009 Traminette, 2009 Vidal Blanc, 2008 Chambourcin Reserve, 2008 Cabernet Franc

Vynecrest
Silver: 2009 Cherry Divyne, 2009 Pinot Noir, 2009 Riesling, 2009 Lemberger
Bronze: 2009 Late Harvest Vidal, 2009 Pinot Grigio, 2009 Blueberry, 2009 Cabernet Franc, 2009 Chambourcin

Lehigh Valley Restaurant Walking Tours to feature two of our wineries

The Lehigh Valley's PBS station, WLVT, has launched a new fundraising initiative that two of our Lehigh Valley Wine Trail wineries are participating in. The Lehigh Valley Restaurant Walking Tours take place in April with one happening in each of our three cities.

Franklin Hill Winery will participate in the Bethlehem walking tour since they have a store location in downtown Bethlehem inside the Main Street Commons building. And Sorrenti Cherry Valley Vineyards will participate in the Easton walking tour since they have a store location in downtown Easton on Third Street.

Each tour is self guided and goes from 1 - 4 p.m.  Participants visit each restaurant or cafe on the tour at their own pace to enjoy sample-sized tastings of food and/or beverages. For a list of participating restaurants, see the lists on the PBS web site.

The Easton tour takes place on Sunday, April 3, followed by the Bethlehem tour on Sunday, April 10 and finally the Allentown tour on Saturday, April 30.

Tickets to the Walking Tours are $25 per tour in advance. If tickets remain the day of a tour, they are $30 each. Or you can purchase tickets to all three walking tours in all three cities for $70.

Please help us support WLVT PBS, a fellow non-profit organization, in making these three Restaurant Walking Tours a success.

Celebrate the New Year with local sparkling wines

New Year's Eve is almost here and we'd love to be part of your celebration. Several of our wineries offer sparkling varieties that would be perfect at your party or dining room table. So ring in the New Year with a local wine.  Here are some suggestions from a few of our Lehigh Valley wineries. Hope you have a great 2011!

• Blue Mountain suggests making a Sparkling Peach drink. Add a few fresh peach slices to enhance the flavor or orange slices for a “Fuzzy Navel” type drink.
• Clover Hill Winery encourages you to celebrate New Year’s with one of their handcrafted Sparkling wines - Brut, Cuvee, Sparkling Pinot Noir or Blackberry Sparkler. 
• Cherry Valley suggests you try their Blackberry Spumante and White Spumante this year.
• Franklin Hill is promoting their Harvest Berry, an effervescent Rasberry wine.
• Galen Glen recommends toasting the arrival of 2011 with their limited release, 2010 Winter Mountain White. Newly bottled and spritzy, its flavors mimic a semi-sweet sparkling wine. 

Sparkling wines and champagne 101

Our friends at Clover Hill Winery in Breinigsville recently sent out an e-newsletter to remind its loyal customers to pick up their sparkling wines for their New Year's Eve celebrations. It included an overview on sparkling wines and champagne that we thought we be of interest to the readers of our blog. So we are borrowing the information below from Clover Hill. Many thanks to Kari Skrip for sharing it with us!

Sparkling Wine Vs. Champagne

Many of you have probably wondered what is the difference between a sparkling wine and a Champagne. The difference lies in the geography. “Champagne” is a sparkling wine that is produced in the champagne region of France according to strict government regulations. That same carbonated beverage if produced in the USA is properly termed “Sparkling Wine” (it is often nicknamed by wine makers as a “Sparkler”). Somewhere along the way Americans started calling some of their sparkling wines “Champagne”, using the word Champagne in a generic sense. Sparkling wine is made in the USA and Champagne comes from the Champagne region of France.

What is Methode Champenoise?

All true Champagnes and most premium quality sparkling wines, (including Clover Hill Vineyards & Winery Sparkling Wine, of course), are made in the traditional method known as “Methode Champenoise”. According to Methode Champenoise, the wine goes through a second fermentation in the same bottle in which it is sold. With the secondary fermentation in the bottle, the wine becomes more complex, different flavors develop, and each bottle becomes slightly different than the others. Each bottle takes on a personality of its own. The end result is a light delicate wine that produces elegant columns of small tingly bubbles. There are other methods of producing sparkling wines but they are not quite the same, so look for the saying “Methode Champenoise” or “fermented in this bottle” on the label, or even better, just look for Clover Hill’s Sparkling Wine!

Sweet Vs. Dry

Sparkling wine labels can often be very confusing and not very user friendly. Usually American wine labels contain a variety of French terms on the label, for instance, Methode Champenoise, which was discussed earlier. Also the level of sweetness is defined using traditional French terms. These French terms are listed below from driest to sweetest.

Brut Natural – 0%-0.5% Sugar – Bone dry
Brut – 0.5% - 1.5% sugar - No perceivable sweetness
Extra Dry – 1.2%-2% sugar - Slight sweetness
Sec - 1.7%-3.5% sugar - Noticeable sweetness
Demi-Sec – 3.3%-5% sugar – Very sweet
Doux – 5.0% plus – Extremely sweet

Vynecrest Holiday Open House is this weekend

Vynecrest Winery Christmas Open House
December 11 & 12 from 11 am - 5 pm

Enjoy holiday cheer, food, special discounts and live music.

This weekend there will be free samples of Goot Essa cheese and Jose Madrid Salsa, both available for purchase. Spiced cookies served with warm Spiced Winter Red wine and gift baskets made to order for all your gift-giving needs.

In the Vyneskeller from 1 - 4:30 pm, there will be live music by Arianne Rox on Saturday and Rob & Marty on Sunday.

Vynecrest White, a semi-dry dinner wine is specially priced at three bottles for $25 for your holiday feasts, and 10% discount on First Blush, the wine of the month.

Holiday Hours:
Dec 24: 10 am - 2 pm
Dec 25 & 26: Closed
Dec 27: 30: 11 am - 5 pm
Dec 31: 10 am - 2 pm
Jan 1 - 12: Closed

What's going on this holiday season at Galen Glen

Here's the latest from Sarah and Galen at Galen Glen Winery in Andreas. 

Thanksgiving Greetings!
This weekend, try our Riesling with authentic Pennsylvania German Potato Filling and Gravy.
Hours: Saturday, November 20 from 10 am -5 pm and Sunday, November 21 from noon - 5 pm.

Let our winery family help you select the perfect wine for your Thanksgiving Meal!

Black Friday Sale!
November 26 from 10 am - 5 pm.
Once a year, we put the winery on sale. 15% off case sales only. Custom label orders and shipped orders are not included. All wine must be purchased at the Winery day of sale. ONE DAY ONLY. NO EXCEPTIONS.

Winery hours for the Holiday Season:

• Open every day beginning Friday, November 19 through January 2, 2011
• Sunday through Friday noon - 5 pm and Saturday 10 am -5 pm
• Closed: Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day
• Special Exceptions: Christmas Eve and New Years Eve - 10 am -3 pm

Happenings at Galen Glen Winery

Holiday weekends are a great time to visit the wineries of the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail!

Galen Glen Winery in Andreas has the following hours for this weekend:

Labor Day Holiday Hours:
Sat. Sept. 4 - 10am - 5 pm
Sun. Sept. 5 - Noon - 5 pm
Mon. Sept. 6 - 10 am - 4 pm

And here's what's coming up next weekend at Galen Glen during Harvest Weekend:

Pizza & Tours - Sat. Sept. 11 and Sun. Sept. 12

Tractor and Wagon tours depart at 1, 2, 3, & 4 p.m. (FREE)

We are so excited to offer Gourmet Neapolitan Pizzas from an authentic wood fired oven to enjoy with our wines. Beatrice's Inferno has received rave reviews in the greater Philly area and now they will be at Galen Glen! Jason and his staff will offer a variety of spectacular pizzas to purchase. www.beatricesinferno.com

Bring a blanket, grab some cold wine and relax while gazing at our panoramic view of Pennsylvania's natural beauty.

Be part of history with The Great Pennsylvania Wine Toast

Want to be part of a history-making event right here in the Lehigh Valley? Then mark your calendars for Saturday, August 14 and plan to attend the "The Great Pennsylvania Wine Toast!" Coordinated by the Pennsylvania Winery Association, this first-time event will attempt to set a world record for the largest wine toast in history. Wineries across the state have been invited to participate and several of our own wineries here in the Valley will be taking part.

But first and foremost, the Winery Association needs a toast to be recited at the big event. They're holding a competition for the best toast,which is no longer than 100 words, on their web site. All entries must be received by Tuesday, July 6, just two weeks away! Then on July 7, the Winery Association will choose the five best toasts and a public poll will be used to determine the Ultimate Pennsylvania Wine Toast.

Each finalist will receive a passport to a wine trail of their choice or a free ticket to a winery event if that wine trail doesn’t have a passport program in place. Each finalist will also receive a PWA t-shirt, corkscrew and wine bag. The Grand Prize will be a 2-night stay in a wine region of choice, dinner with a winemaker and private tour of a winery. This prize will be for two people – the winner and his/her guest. (The grand prize does not include travel costs.)

During the big celebration on August 14, the winning toast will be read by lifelong Pennsylvanian, winery owner, and auto racing legend Mario Andretti, and aired simultaneously at wineries across the Commonwealth!


So if you decide to enter a toast into the contest, please let us know by posting a reply comment on this blog post or on our Facebook fan page.