Franklin Hill launches Holiday Happy Hour Cocktail Contest

HOLIDAY HAPPY HOUR COCKTAIL CONTEST

For the month of November we will be accepting your holiday cocktail recipes for a chance to host your own Holiday Happy Hour at one of our locations. That's right; we're turning Happy Hour over to you!

How to enter:
• Stop in any of our four locations and pick up an index card (or use your own).
• On one side write down your creative holiday-themed cocktail recipe using at least one of our wines.
• On the other side provide us your name and contact information (phone number and email address).
• Then cross your fingers and hope we pick your recipe!

What's in it for you?
• You'll be behind the counter creating your own cocktail for Happy Hour.
• Invite your friends and you'll all receive a 10% discount on purchases made during happy hour.
• FREE FHV t-shirt to wear while on duty.
• Bragging rights for being a FHV team member for a day.

On December 1 we will pick one winner per store. On Friday, December 12 you will be our featured bartender and hostess or host at the store location at which you submitted your entry.

Harvest Dinner
November 13 at 6 p.m.

Franklin Hill Vineyards is proud to partner with the Widow's Tavern in Stockertown for this delicious event. Tables are limited and reservations are required. $50 per person plus tax and gratuity. Please call 610-365-8890 to reserve your table. (Dinner will be served at the Widow's Tavern.) Read the menu online here.

Holiday Cocktail Trail
November 22 from 1- 5 p.m.

Kick off your holiday shopping with a fun filled afternoon in beautiful Downtown Bethlehem. While at participating businesses you'll enjoy samples of holiday cocktails and mocktails. Don't forget to swing by Franklin Hill Vineyards for a taste of our Cocktail Creation using FHV wine. Passports go on sale November 11. Get more details here.

Wine Sale
2012 Chardonnay on sale for $9.98 a bottle at all FHV locations, while supplies last.

Clover Hill welcomes the holidays with its annual coat drive and open house events

2012 Grape Harvest Update -

Each year we get another opportunity to grow better grapes and, in turn, make a better wine. The 2012 grape harvest was our 36th opportunity as grape growers and we were blessed with a relatively easy harvest. Clover Hill had the earliest grape harvest start date of August 20, and completed our picking on October 10. The early spring, followed by a warm summer, really paid off as we approached August. We were fortunate and surprised to find such high sugar levels and well-developed flavors so early in the season. Winemaker, John Skrip III, kept reminding us that we need to pick by the numbers and flavors and not by the date we traditionally pick.

We got to work and harvested more than 80 acres of grapes by hand. We managed to complete our harvest prior to the frosts and heavy rains of late October. John is now in the winery working with the wines from the harvest. He has a smile on his face because the fruit is so delicious! Good things will be coming from this grape harvest.

Owner's Selection - Cabernet Sauvignon 

The king of our red wines! Big, flavorful and ready to knock your socks off. Rich oak flavors of vanilla and spice mingle with ripe fruit flavors of raspberry, blackberry, and cherry. This is a big flavored, dry, toasty oaked, red wine that pairs perfectly with a hearty grilled steak or winter stews.

Enjoy a 10% discount on Cabernet Sauvignon the entire month of November. Receive an additional 10% discount on the Owner's Selection when included in a case purchase. View great recipes using our Cabernet.

Upcoming Events -

Annual Coat Drive for The Caring Place
December 3-9 from 10 a.m. -5 p.m.

For the third year in a row Clover Hill Vineyards and Winery will be collecting gently used coats of any size to donate to The Caring Place in Allentown. The Caring Place is a youth development center that reaches out to youth of the Lehigh Valley who may be facing adversity. Throughout this week of giving your donation of a coat will be rewarded with a 10% discount on your wine purchase (20% on case purchases). Thank you for your generosity!

Holiday Open House
December 8 from noon - 5 p.m.

Be sure to save the date for our annual Holiday Open House. As always, there will be plenty of fun to be had so be sure to check back closer to the date for details as they unfold. Happy Holidays!

Clover Hill Vineyards celebrates the completion of harvest season

The 2011 grape harvest at Clover Hill’s six vineyards is complete and what a year it has been. This harvest we battled the rain, wind, birds, bees and some days we battled each other, but we did survive!

The growing season was going picture perfect. We had dry, warm heat with brilliant sunshine day after day in mid to late summer. Then Mother Nature changed her tune and gave us wet, humid conditions day after day. We worked exceptionally hard to continue to ripen our fruit and keep it clean and clear of any disease. We finally made the decision to continue picking as quickly as possible in order to harvest the fruit intact. On September 30 we picked the last grape from our vineyards and celebrated the end of a difficult season with a glass of Sparkling Pinot Noir! Right now we are going to now catch our breathe from harvest, but we promise to write a detailed summary of the 2011 grape harvest and post it to our website in the very near future. 

The fall feeling is in the air and it is the perfect time of year to enjoy Spiced Apple warmed!  We also have posted some delicious fall recipes for you to enjoy.  Let us know on our Facebook page what your favorite fall wine is – we will email you a present for sharing! 

Enjoy the season and we would like to thank you for your support and choosing to drink locally grown and produced wines!  We look forward to your next visit.

Owner's Selection
Catawba lets you sip on the sweet, grapey, and candied flavors of this wine. Don't forget to sniff first to best enjoy the sweet aromas of grapes in the glass.

Enjoy a 10% discount on Catawba the entire month of October. Receive a 20% discount on the Owner's Selection when included in a case purchase.

Chambourcin Weekend
At the winery in Breinigsville, PA
Saturday, October 15 and Sunday, October 16 from noon - 5 p.m.

Cheers to the Chambourcin grape! Chambourcin is known as the grape of the Lehigh Valley and if you’ve ever tasted it you will agree it makes a wonderful glass of wine. Chef Nathan Grube will make a return appearance to do cooking demonstrations to be paired with our 2009 Chambourcin and Turtle Rock Red (made with 100% Chambourcin grape). Cooking demonstrations will take place at 1, 2, 3, and 4 p.m. both days.