Press Archive

Roger Morris | The News Journal | September 2006

For local wineries, '06 is looking like a banner year

If growing grapes were like playing baseball, Brandywine Valley winemakers would be looking forward to the playoffs in this vintage year 2006, with reasonable hopes of reaching the World Series. But, as team managers know, there's still time left in September for a streak of luck, good or bad.

For local wine drinkers, September is a good time to enjoy the local harvest festivals, the new bottles from vintage 2005, and the fun of visiting wineries when the smell of fermenting grapes is in the air.

Most of these local harvest celebrations are being held by the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail, which represents almost all area wineries, including Twin Brook, Chaddsford, Va La, Paradocx, Folly Hill and Kreutz Creek.

The Trail's Annual Harvest Festival will be Sept. 23 and 24. Each winery will have its own tastings and activities, and all wineries can be visited with a $22 passport purchased at any one of them. The passport is good through year's end, should you think it wise not to fully sample six wineries in two days.

The biggest harvest event, however, is the 2006 Vintners Dinner, which went upscale last year and sold out. It goes even more upscale this year, moving to Longwood Gardens' East Conservancy and adjacent ballroom. For the price of a ticket — $125 — guests can visit the gardens, talk with all six winemakers at a reception, enjoy a gourmet dinner with wines included, and dance to the music of the Double Nickel Jazz Band. More information for both events is at www.bvwinetrail.com. Reservations for the dinner can be made by calling Twin Brook winery at (717) 442-4915.

According to Eric Miller, of Chaddsford, this season started quickly with early flowering last spring, followed by lots of rain, and then baking sun. "We now have a vintage that could rate from an 8 to a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10," he says. But there has been some hail damage, Miller points out, and birds have been a problem of Hitchcockian magnitude this year.

Glen Sowers, of Folly Hill, agrees. "The birds are giving us a fit," he says. "But that's a good indication of high sugars. Things are looking good at this point. I think we are going to have some good wine!"

Anthony Vietri, of Va La, loved the warm days, cool nights and no rains of August, which helped mature the grapes. "My theory is dead grass on people's lawns equals great grapes," he says. "I couldn't expect anything better with the vintage right now."

Barring more hail and tornadoes or long, heavy rains during the hurricane season, local winemakers and local wine drinkers will have a lot to celebrate this fall.

Return to Press Archive