AN ADVENTURE IN THE PENNSYLVANIA WINE COUNTRY--
AWS SOMERSET CHAPTER VISITS LAKE ERIE WINERIES

by Rich and Marie Ulsh

Ten members of the Somerset Chapter spent the weekend of October 8-10 experiencing the delights of several wineries located near Erie and Westfield, NY. The trip was organized by Maggie and Jerry Rosborough, and joined by Kristin DeAngeles, Dean Naccarato, Liz and Ken Gates, Jackie and Wayne Bogovich, and Marie and Rich Ulsh. Most of the group stayed both Friday and Saturday nights at the Best Western Motel on Rt. 90, outside Erie.

On Saturday, we visited the wineries in a 25-mile loop, starting with Presque Isle Wine Cellars, Penn Shore Vineyards, and Mazza Vineyards, on to Westfield, NY with Johnson Estates and Schloss Doepken, then returning to Pennsylvania to visit Arrowhead Wine Cellars and Blueberry Sky Farm. We rendezvoused at Heritage Winery for dinner, followed by a complete tour of their cellar operations. Three couples stopped at Conneaut Cellars on the way down Rt. 79.

The following represent some of the group's favorite wines.

Penn Shore had some aromatic and flavorful hybrids for under $7: the Seyval had a sassafras nose, and the Vidal came through with an orange blossom/honey taste.

The Cabernet Franc at Mazza tasted of red/black berries with medium body, and the Chambourcin displayed good red fruits.

At Presque Isle Wine Cellar the Chancellor was a deep ruby with round tannins and balanced taste. The ’96 Cabernet Franc with an oaky, fruity nose came closest to the Bordeaux style. Their ’98 Chardonnay had a creamy smoothness from M/L fermentation, and a great fruitiness. The Lemberger, an Austrian grape known there as Blaufrankisch, is being developed as the local answer to Pinot Noir. Possibly our favorite was a ’98 Petite Syrah with deep garnet color, firm tannins and peppery taste. Unfortunately, none of these wines are available in the PA State Stores, because of the low volumes involved.

Johnson Estate had an impressive couple of Chancellor vintages, one of which was served in the AWS National Conference banquet in ’98. (Chancellor was the most widely planted French-American hybrid in France until the 1940’s.) Johnson is the oldest exclusively estate ("farm") winery in New York State. They also had the most informative labels we’ve seen in some time.

The tasting room at Mazza was probably the most impressive and was set up to easily do large groups. Presque Isle has an extensive book section covering everything from grape varieties to wine chemistry. The Ulsh's spent more on books than wine.

The group seemed to enjoy the cast of winemakers and managers as much as the wines. At Penn Shore we enjoyed the comments of the store manager, one Denise. We dubbed her the "Jesse Ventura" of Erie wines for her pithy and perceptive comments on the wineries of the area. Mark Lancaster, Johnson Estates’ winemaker, is in the wine-judge training program with Rich. Kristin’s favorite may have been our wildly entertaining host at Blueberry Sky Farms. Their garlic and jalapeno cooking wines were an unusual find. At Presque Isle Doug Moorhead and Ed Mostoller gave us an excellent tour of the wine cellars during which we had an opportunity to compare wines from both American and French oak barrels. During the barrel tasting at Presque Isle Ken and Liz were especially impressed with a special Gewurztraminer, an impressive Chardonnay, and some exquisite reds. Almost everyone enjoyed the stern lecture by the owner/winemaker at Schloss Doepken on the "no dumping" house rule, after Rich was caught dumping his Gewurtztraminer into an empty coffee cup.

In addition to sampling wines, a few of us were interested in tasting the fresh pressed grape must and fruit juices. Three wineries sell juice: Presque Isle, Mazza and Arrowhead. Mazza had a good variety of fresh grape juices for the home winemaker for $3.75-12.00 per gallon. Wayne's favorites were the Diamond and Steuben juices. Arrowhead Wine Cellars is a winery to watch for in the future. They have grown grapes for years in their own vineyard and just recently entered the wine making business with their two sons acting as winemaker and running the vineyards. The winery is adjacent to the family fruit stand featuring a variety of fresh, delicious refrigerated juices. Their Steuben, Delaware, and Fredonia were especially good.

Presque Isle Wine Cellars had an impressive quantity of stainless steel vats scattered around under the trees surrounding the cellars. Due to the plentiful crop this year, their system was strained to keep up with the supply.

It’s important to begin fermentation within a few days after pressing and the Riesling that Rich purchased was 5 days old and underwent significant activity on the bumpy ride home! The Seyval Blanc juice he bought for a breakfast drink developed in a different direction by the time it hit our refrigerator. A suggestion for anyone driving a long distance to pick up must is to bring your own potassium metabisulfite to inhibit fermentation until you can add your own yeast; not to mention avoiding a catastrophe in the back seat of the car!

Considering the wines purchased by the group, the traditional European vinifera types and French-American hybrids were equally popular. Within the vinifera class the most popular wines were Chardonnay, Cabarnet Franc and Petite Syrah. Among the hybrids most popular were Vidal, Vignoles, and Seyval among the whites; and Chambourcin and Fredonia among the reds. We discovered a new native variety called the Buffalo grape that made a good blush in combination with Steuben. It was only available at Arrowood.

Judging by bottles purchased, the most popular winery was Presque Isle, followed by Johnson Estates, Arrowhead and Penn Shore. As a side note, the Lake Erie Quality Wine Alliance (www.lakeeriewine.com) was formed to raise and maintain the quality of the product produced. Presque Isle and Penn Shore belong to this group and we’re not sure about the other wineries we visited.

The most popular couple with the wineries had to be the Rosboroughs, with their 21-bottle count floating the local economy to new heights.

Overall, we had a wonderful time! Kristin and Dean said they can’t wait until next year’s trip. They’re thinking that a spring trip might be in order as well! We agree.