Berks County Wine Trail

The Berks County Wine Trail is the home of eight diverse wineries with everything from award winning sparkling wines to award winning fruit wines. There is something for everyone along the Berks County Wine Trail.

The eight wineries which comprise the Berks County Wine Trail are Bayshore and Stoudt Winery(specializing in fruit wines), Blair Vineyards and Winery, Calvaresi Winery, Clover Hill Vineyards and Winery, Kog Hill Winery, Long Trout Winery, Manatawny Creek Winery and Pinnacle Ridge Winery (also part of the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail). 

These eight wineries are spread wide across Berks County, so it will probably take you a couple of days to hit them all, but it is well worth the trip.  We enjoy and recommend most of these wineries.  

One of our favorite stops along the wine trail is Blair Vineyards and Winery.  They recently opened a new tasting room outside of Kutztown, PA in the beautiful countryside.  They are now open Monday through Sunday 11-5 (before harvest, they were only open Saturday and Sunday.  We still suggest you call ahead at 610-683-8463).

Another favorite stop is, of course, Manatawny Creek Winery located outside of Douglassville, PA.  They are open Monday through Saturday 10-6 and Sunday from 12-6. 

A fun stop, and one everyone should try at least once, is Long Trout Winery.  It is located outside of Auburn, PA and though a long ride out into the countryside, it is well worth the trip.  They are open Wednesday 6-9 PM, Saturday 1-7 and Sunday 11-5. 

Owned and operated by a pair of self-proclaimed hippies, their tasting room is full of 60's and 70's memorabilia, psychedelic lighting, and odd and unusual wines-everything from unoaked Cabernet Sauvignon to Blackberry Merlot, from Seyval to Chocolate Cherry and other chocolate fruit wines, to veggie wines including hot pepper wine with a hint of garlic.  It's odd, it's different, but it's fun!

There are plenty of other interesting stops along the Berks County Wine Trail where you can sample plenty of delicious wines. Take a ride today and check it out!

UPCOMING EVENTS
(click on the highlighted links)

Berks County Wine Trail
Artisan Cheese & Wine Pairing Event Weekend!" Saturday October 9th & Sunday October 10th

Schuylkill River Festival
Saturday, October 9 
11 AM - 4 PM
Pottstown's Riverfront Park
THIS IS NOT A WINE EVENT but an event we support and sponsor each year. See you there!

MCCC Classes

(see page 11 of brochure)
Wines of PA
Thursday October 14
6:30-9 PM

Wines of the Finger Lakes
Thursday, October 28 6:30-9 PM

Mom's House Benefit Wine Dinner

Saturday, October 23

Five course dinner, each course paired with a different wine.  Kimberton Arts Center  6:30 PM, $75 per person or $525 for a table of 8.

Fun Fact

Benjamin Franklin said "Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance."

Congratulations to Bob and Jacki Folwell, winners of the first quiz.  They choose a free ticket to Mom's House "Wine Tasting Celebration" on October 23.

There will be another quiz someday!

Contact us to schedule an event in your home, at your business, or for your organization.

Lehigh Valley Wine Trail

This wine trail offers a wide variety of excellent wineries, from the south- Clover Hill in Breinigsville, to the north - Big Valley in Kunkletown, from the east - Franklin Hill Vineyards in Bangor, to the west - Galen Glen Vineyards and Winery in Andreas, there is much to choose from and some wonderful scenery along the way.

The Lehigh Valley was designated as an AVA (American Viticultural Area) in 2008.  An AVA designation denotes a unique wine growing region.  For more information, to the the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail link.

The wineries that are part of the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail are: Franklin Hill, Vynecrest, Clover Hill, Pinnacle Ridge, Big Valley, Blue Mountain, Galen Glen, Cherry Valley, and Amore.  At some point in our winery travels we have visited all these wineries and have enjoyed a great many wines. 

One of our favorite and frequent stops is Pinnacle Ridge Winery.  We have written about many of winemaker Brad Knapp's wines, so please look back through our blogs if you are curious.  Below is a picture of a barn near the winery and tasting room.  You can see some vineyard in the background.

Today we will highlight Pinnacle Ridge Chambourcin.   This 2008 vintage is a full-bodied rich dry red wine with bright fruit aromas, flavors of ripe red raspberries and a long, satisfying finish.  It is aged for 10 months in Pennsylvania oak barrels.  Good to drink now, it will only get better as it bottle ages.  Great with rich, savory foods.   Available only at the winery for $14 a bottle.

Another favorite stop in the Lehigh Valley is Vynecrest Vineyards and Winery.  We have highlighted a few of Vynecrest's wines in past blogs.  Please look back through the archives it you are curious. This one view of their vineyards.

This time we are highlighting Vynecrest's Pinot Noir.  This 2009 vintage is a pleasant surprise after last year's very wet season. Bright ruby red in color it displays fresh fruit aromas with a flavors of red fruits and earthy overtones. Available only at the winery for $14.99 a bottle.  Great with grilled portabella mushrooms. 

UPCOMING EVENTS
(click on the links)

TODAY
(Saturday September 18)
Manatawny Creek's Last Festival of the Summer

 
Berks County Wine Trail
Artisan Cheese & Wine Pairing Event Weekend!" Saturday October 9th & Sunday October 10th

Schuylkill River Festival
Saturday, October 9
Pottstown's Riverfront Park
THIS IS NOT A WINE EVENT but an event we support and sponsor each year. See you there!

MCCC Classes
Wines of PA
Thursday October 14
6:30-9 PM

Wines of the Finger Lakes
Thursday, October 28 6:30-9 PM
 
Mom's House Benefit Wine Dinner

Saturday, October 23

Five course dinner, each course paired with a different wine.  Kimberton Arts Center  6:30 PM, $75 per person or $525 for a table of 8.

Fun Fact

 The chambourcin grape has become known as the “Lehigh Valley wine grape”.

Contact us to schedule an event in your home, at your business, or for your organization.

Georgia Wine Highway "There's Wine in them thar Hills"

We have family in the Atlanta area, so once every few years we take an alternate way home and visit some North Georgia wineries.  There are some surprisingly excellent wines, including dry reds and dry whites, hidden in these mountains.  Many of the wineries are new and hold spectacular views.

The mountains of North Georgia are well suited to growing many grape varieties, and the wineries there are making some really good wines.

The mountains of North Georgia are well suited to growing many grape varieties, and the wineries there are making some really good wines.  We only have space to write about a couple.  Visit the Winegrowers' Association of Georgia website for great information and map, then visit winery websites and plan a visit the next time you head South.

Listed here are just two of our favorites and what wine we liked best from each. 


Yonah Mountain Vineyards
Located near Sautee, GA.  We arrived just 15 minutes before closing.  The woman at the wine bar was more than happy to stay open longer than closing time for us and gave us a very nice leisurely tasting.  We liked the chardonnay the best.  This rich buttery chardonnay was a pleasant surprise.  Full of fruit and very smooth despite the 14.6% alcohol by volume.  It was aged for 9 months in oak giving it a rich buttery, toasty flavor with hints of lime and tangerine.   Available at the winery for $32.  They provide an on-line order form but we doubt they can ship to Pennsylvania.

Three Sisters Vineyard
Located outside of Dahlonega, GA.  This is a beautiful spot.  We were treated to an excellent tasting at their beautiful tasting bar.  We brought home their 2006 Cynthiana.  This delicious deep red wine is also known as Norton.  It was Georgia’s premier grape back during Thomas Jefferson’s time.  Once again, vineyards are growing this grape.  It has flavors of butterscotch and black cherries.  Available only at the winery for $28.
 

UPCOMING EVENTS
(click on the highlighted links)

Blues in the Barn
at Pinnacle Ridge
Saturday and Sunday September 11 and 12


Vynecrest Vineyards and Winery

Harvest Weekend

Saturday and Sunday September 11 and 12
Other events most Saturdays   

Manatawny Creek's Last Festival of the Summer
Saturday, September 18 

Calvaresi Winery
Fall Festival
Saturday, September 11
7-11 PM


MCCC Classes
Wines of PA
Thursday October 14
6:30-9 PM

Wines of the Finger Lakes
Thursday, October 28 
6:30-9 PM

Mom's House Benefit Wine Dinner

Saturday, October 23

Five course dinner, each course paired with a different wine.  Kimberton Arts Center  6:30 PM, $75 per person or $525 for a table of 8.

Fun Fact

As of this writing, all 50 states have at least 1 winery.  The USA is the 4th largest wine producer in the world.

Congratulations to Bob and Jacki Folwell, winners of the first quiz.  They choose a free ticket to Mom's House "Wine Tasting Celebration" on October 23.

There will be another quiz someday!

Thanks to Everyone who submitted answers to our 
Quiz of Fun Facts.

Congratulations to the winner, Bob and Jacki Folwell.

As we said as we published the quiz, some answers are debatable (different sources cite different information) but the “correct” answers for this quiz are those provided in the Fun Facts of our blog.  Numbers 3 and 4 are the two answers that vary based on the source.  The answers below are directly from the Fun Facts of our blog.  Notations about different answers (but not those in our Fun Facts) are provided in italics.  These alternate answers were not considered "correct" for the quiz.

1. The pressure in a bottle of Champagne is about 90 pounds per square inch.  That’s about three times the pressure in car tires.

2. It takes an average of 600 grapes to make one bottle of wine.

3. Chardonnay is one of the most planted grapes in the world with over 400,000 acres world-wide.  It is also planted in more wine regions than any other grape (wikipedia).

Another cite in Wikipedia says that Airen is the most widely planted wine grape (mostly in Spain) based on number of hectares or acres planted.  It cites 760,000 acres being planted of Airen (as of 2006), although it also said many vines were being pulled and replaced with other grapes such as Tempranillo.  Since Airen is not planted as densely as Chardonnay and many other wine grapes, it probably does not hold the record for the most vines in the world.  Today, it is generally acknowledged that Chardonnay is the most “widely” planted grape in the world when you consider the number of vines and different locations where it is grown. Cabernet Sauvignon comes close too, but Chardonnay grows better than Cabernet in a wider variety of climates and geographies, that is in “more wine regions” than any other wine grape.

4. The current "Guinness Book of World Records" record wine toast is held by the UK where 17,429 people toasted at over 400 pubs.

We found this number in an article published in PA Wine News on August 6th.  On August 14th, PA Wine News published another article citing 17,450 as the record.  A search today of Guinness records indicates that this record was broken on January 5, 2010 with 26,564 people simultaneously toasting at a concert in Albufeira, Portugal.

5. There are an estimated 49 million bubbles in a bottle of champagne.  Bubbles were viewed by early winemakers as an undesirable defect.  

6. Cabernet Franc is one of the parent grapes of Cabernet Sauvignon, having been bred with Sauvignon Blanc to create Cabernet Sauvignon. 

7. The largest cork tree in the world (on record) is in Portugal.  It averages over 1 ton of raw cork per harvest, enough to cork 100,000 bottles of wine.

8.   Claret is another name (usually) for a red Bordeaux Blend.  In the 14th century, when France began exporting red Bordeaux to England, the English called it Claret because it was lighter and more clear than the deep, dark red Spanish wines they were used to.  At that time, the red grape skins were removed quickly when making Bordeaux, leaving a much lighter, clearer rose color than we are used to today

9. Many countries and appellations, including most in the USA, allow up to 25% of a different wine to be blended into a varietal without indicating so on the label.  Often, you can find this information in a specific wine's technical data on the winery's website, but not always.

10. The corkscrew was invented when wine was just starting to be stored in bottles rather than terra cotta amphoras and then oak barrels.  Once a narrow-necked bottle was created, wine could finally be safely stored for longer periods with the help of a cork.  The earliest known patent for the corkscrew was in England in 1795.  (From “History of the Corkscrew” by Mary Bellis).

UPDATED List of Silent Auction Items for the USA vs France Blind Wine Tasting, September 18.

 NOTE: We can only accept cash or checks for silent auction items and for registration.

For information about this event, see our previous blogs.
To check on availability of seats, call us at 610.469.6164 or email us at vintageconnections@comcast.net

EVEN NEWER SILENT AUCTION ITEMS!

"Rose: Solo Harp Music for Reflection and Relaxation" CD by Betsy Chapman
Betsy will be playing at the event. Click on the link to her website above.
Value - $10
Donated by Betsy Chapman

3 Month Membership, Lady of America Fitness Center (Royersford)
Value - TBD
Donated by Lady of America Fitness Center

NEW ITEMS!

Napa Valley Wine Basket 

including

2002 Vincent Arroyo Winery, Petite Sirah

2002 Summers Winery, Cabernet Sauvignon

2005 Ledson Winery, Chardonnay

2006 Raymond Vineyard, Sauvignon Blanc

Value - $129 (minimum bid $50)
Donated by Lori Law

Brasserie 73 (Roadhouse) Gift Certificate (Skippack)

Value - $25

Donated by Brasserie 73

Gift Certificate 1/2 hour Massage at Touch Message Therapy (Schwenksville)

Value - $35

Donated by In Touch Massage

Items Previously Posted


Manatawny Creek Winery Basket of Wine, etc.
Value - $50
Donated by the Winery

Pinnacle Ridge Winery Basket of Wine and Goodies
Value - $50
Donated by the Winery

Vynecrest Winery Basket of Wine, etc.
Value - $50
Donated by the Winery

Wine Gift Basket
Value - $100 (minimum bid may apply)
Donated by Vintage Connections (Dean and Lisa Foster)

"Getaway Weekend" in Wine Country.  A weekend at a beautiful cottage in the Hudson Valley near the Shawangunk Wine Trail.
Date restrictions apply and winner must provide own transportation.We suggest choosing a weekend during the Wreath Fineries at the Wineries (winners must purchase own tickets)
Value - $450 (minimum bid $100)
Donated by Kim and Drew Wallace

Three Wine Books
Value - $100
"What to Drink with What you Eat"
"Cheese and Wine Book"
"Wine, Food & Friends"
Donated by John and Carol Conboy

One Week Condo Rental, Perdido Key FLA
Date restrictions apply and winner must provide own transportation.
Value - $600 (minimum bid $100)
Donated by Joe and Cecelia Sapira

One Week Condo Rental, Vermont
Date restrictions apply and winner must provide own transportation.
Value - $700 (minimum bid $100)
Donated by Vern and Jacki Hunsberger

Gift Certificate for 4 people for a 2-hour baking or cake decorating class at Churchill's Baker and Chocolatier (Pottstown)
Value - $400 (minimum bid may apply)
Donated by Churchill's Baker and Chocolatier

Schuylkill River Heritage Area Basket of Books, Maps, Mug, etc.
Value - $200
Donated by the Heritage Area

Two, one-hour clinical massages at Academy of Massage and Body Works (Pottstown)
Value $60 ($30 per hour)
Donated by Academy of Massage and Body Works

Original Photograph
Value - $100 (minimum bid TBD)
Donated by Fairyland Photography (Lisa Foster)

"Bottle Shock" Movie Night Gift Basket
Value - $50
Donated by John and Denise Nase

Framed and matted sailing print, Balangier item # 411778
Value - $250 (minimum bid TBD)
Donated by Chris and Frank Giesa

Wine Bottle cheese dish (melted wine bottle) and cheese knife
Value - $25
Donated by Walt and Mary Koser

Gift Certificate for art class at Gallery School of Pottstown
Value - $180
Donated by the Gallery School of Pottstown

Gift Certificate (maximum $25) towards a non-credit course at Montgomery County Community College
Value - $25
Donated by Montgomery County Community College Lifelong and Continuing Education

Awesome MCCC logo Sports Bag including mugs, poster, etc.
Value - $50
Donated by Montgomery County Community College Foundation

Gift Basket including MCCC logo gifts, bird feeders, gardening trinkets, and more
Value - $100
Donated by Montgomery County Community College Admissions

Two tickets to "Wait Until Dark" on Thursday, September 30, 7:30 PM at the Tri-County Performing Arts Center (Pottstown)
(note date restriction)
Value - $34
Donated by Tri-County Performing Arts Center

Gift Certificate to Positively Pasta Plus (Pottstown)
Value - $20
Donated by Positively Pasta Plus

Three piece Hurricane Tea light set
Value - TBD
Donated by Carol and John Conboy

Neoprene Double Wine Tote
Value - $20
Donated by Carol and John Conboy

Gift Certificate to Piazza Presto (Limerick)
Value - $40
Donated by Piazzo Presto

Glass Vase
Value TBD
Donated by Bob Carman