David Falchek, Times Shamrock Writer
Pennsylvania's wine landscape has a new feature - the Lehigh Valley - which became an official American Viticultural Area, or AVA, in early April.
After five years of work, vintners in the Lehigh Valley earned recognition from the federal Alcohol Taxation and Trade Bureau for the region, which allows them to use "Lehigh Valley" on the label as the place of origin of their wine.
In the United States, government regulators have to recognize places such as Napa Valley or Finger Lakes before producers can use them on labels. That's an important distinction when you consider how much better a wine from "Napa Valley" sounds than one from "California" at-large.
The nine wineries in Lehigh Valley want to cultivate a cachet around their wines, which they feel are distinct because of the unique soils and climate.
The application was spearheaded by John Skrip III of Clover Hill Vineyards & Winery. He always knew wines from the rolling hills along the Lehigh Valley were distinctive. But it wasn't until he and a committee of producers began working on the application that he realized exactly what made the region unique.
"We all felt we were sitting on something special with the soil, the climate, and the way the grapes work," he said. "The AVA is a good identifier for that."
The practice allows wine producers to develop the unique characteristic of their land. In the U.S., at least 85 percent of the grapes used to make the wine must come from the region used on the label. Wineries need to be in AVAs in order to use the term "estate winery" on the bottle, which means they grow the grapes and process the wines on site.
"All of us are family-owned and growing what we put in the bottle," said Vynecrest co-owner Jan Landis. "Having an appellation and identifying ourselves as an estate gives us credibility and legitimacy."
The Lehigh Valley group decided to make the robust red wine chambourcin its signature variety. That was a good choice. Here's a look at some wines now labeled as "Pennsylvania" but in future years to be labeled "Lehigh Valley."
The warm and dry 2005 vintage delivered Clover Hill Chambourcin with a deep color smell of exotic spices and rich flavors of dark cherries. This wine is aged in Pennsylvania oak barrels to give it the all-Keystone State effect. $15. Four stars.
Blue Mountain 2006 Riesling offers white pepper, white grapefruit and slately smells. The wine is weighty, with lime and apricot flavors. A tad of sweetness brings out fruitiness and a bit of tang at the end. $13. Three and half stars.
Vynecrest 2006 Chambourcin has black pepper and warm raspberry flavors and a dash of oak spice. This medium-bodied wine finishes soft with a pleasant, if short, ripe finish. The wine includes about 15 percent of the newly developed grape variety Noiret, created as a dark rich option for Eastern winemakers. Not available in state stores. $12. Three and a half stars.
Pennsylvania has other AVAs, such as Lancaster Valley and Lake Erie, which stretches from Ohio through New York, for example. More will likely follow as the state's industry grows. Pennsylvania has more than 120 wineries. For more information about the Lehigh wineries, visit
www.lehighvalleywinetrail.com.
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