The DelMarVa Coast's Salted Vines Vineyard & Winery

The DelMarVa coast is not only beaches, boating, and fishing. There are a plethora of craft beverage producers in the area such as Delaware's Salted Vines Vineyard & Winery. The establishment operated for five years on Route 54 as Fenwick Wine Cellars on Route 54. By 2015 they had outgrown that location and found a 26-acre parcel near Frankford that now houses the winery -- rebranded as Salted Vines. The estate vineyard was first planted with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon vines and has slowly expanded with more two additional acres of grape varieties planted each year.

Salted Vines encourages families to visit  as children are allowed in the tasting room and leashed dogs are allowed on the outside grounds. They also host a summer concert series on weekends with popular local bands and food trucks. We've already missed the lower case blues and Love Seed Mama Jump shows - but that demonstrates the caliber of the lineup. 

At the tasting bar, the winery provides fifteen wines -- all included in the $10 tasting fee (that includes keeping the glass). Some of these wines are hold-overs from the Fenwick Wine Cellars brand and they range from dry to semi-dry to sweet. Until their estate is completely utilized, most of the fruit is sourced from various regions particularly for the labrusca based wines of Catawba ($15) Niagara ($15), Steuben ($15), and Concord ($15).  These wines were clean and well made despite their inherent funky and jammy characters.  However, the dry Traminette ($19) and semi-dry Riesling ($19) and Reflections ($17) were my preferences. The first two were very representative of their respective grapes whereas the later was a refreshing summer beach wine. As for dry reds, their Chambourcin ($22) shows off quite nicely.  And if you do prefer a sweeter style, their Fredonia ($15) and Ambrosia ($18) are good choices.  Unfortunately, they do provide the dreaded wine slushies, but I guess these have a market. Besides that, this is an enjoyable stop at the Maryland and Delaware beaches.  Cheers.

Borderless Wine from Harvest Ridge Winery

Straddling the border between Delaware and Maryland along the Mason-Dixon line lies Harvest Ridge Winery. Whereas the winery and a majority of the estate vineyards reside in Delaware, a significant block of estate vines are planted in the Free State. In fact, one of the original Mason-Dixon witness stone and crown markers, number 47, is located on the property. After fifteen years of home winemaking, Chuck Nunan converted his family farm to an estate vineyard by planting a series of vinifera grapes in 2011. After the winery opened in late 2013, he expanded the original planting of Chardonnay, Viognier, Malbec, and Merlot to include both Cabernets, Chambourcin, Vidal, Barbera, and several other grape varieties. He also hired Jason Hopwood, who had experience in Sonoma and the Finger Lakes, as the head winemaker. This growth enables Harvest Ridge to provide over fifteen wines in their tasting room as well as a new cider brand Rebel Seed.

I arrived on a Friday just after noon (Friday - Sunday they open at 12) and several visitors had beaten me to the tasting room. Harvest Ridge offers three different flights of eight wines for $7 (dry, sweet, and the mixed variety). There is also a cider flight at the same price and additional samples can be purchased as well as wine and cider by the glass or bottle. Children and outside food are allowed inside and on the outside courtyard but you will need to keep your dogs leashed outside.

I chose the mixed flight in order to gain an appreciation for the winery's many styles. For dry whites, they offer two styles of Chardonnay ($22), one unoaked, the other barrel fermented. I was more intrigued with the 2016 White Wine No. 47 ($17) - note the marker reference - that is a 90-10 blend of Vidal Blanc and Chardonnay. The wine has depth you normally don't associate with Vidal combined with the characteristic floral and spice profiles. A nice summer-beach wine. Similarly the 2016 Red Wine No. 47 ($17) is light and refreshing. This blend of Chambourcin, Barbera, and Landot Noir can also be served slightly chilled as there are few tannins. And as a single varietal wine, the 2016 Barbera ($25) shows excellent promise. It is, again, light bodied with subtle spice, moderate tannins, and abundant acids. Harvest Ridge offered two rosé wines with the Rosé of Chambourcin Country Bloom ($16) included in the tasting. The grapes macerate on their skins for 48 hours providing a blush like color and this clean wine is targeted more to that style with its 5% residual sugar. Also high in sugar is the 2016 Blue Hen Blue ($16) a blend of blueberries and concord grapes. Because of the berries acidity I was attracted more to this wine than the rosé as the grapey character of the concord was also restrained.

Finally, I was able to sample three dessert wines starting with the Portella ($18) made from a Muscat descendant Aromella -- which was recently bred at Cornell University. The wine possesses a raison-fig profile with a strong floral and spicy aroma. The 2015 Chamfort ($22) is a Chambourcin based ruby port styled wine fortified with neutral grape spirits and exuding chewy blackberries and chocolate. Last up was the 2013 Late Harvest Vidal Blanc ($15) that reminded me of the Tokaji styled dessert wines with the strong apricot flavor combined with smoked almonds. Quite Nice.

The United Grapes of America - Delaware's Nassau Valley Vineyards Indian River Red

StarChefs.com: The United Grapes of America

Our next The United Grapes of America feature moves from this country's newest state to the oldest, Delaware, and Nassau Valley Vineyards, a winery that was listed in the original StarChefs.com post. Nassau Valley will be celebrating their twentieth anniversary next year and proprietor Peg Raley actually drafted the farm winery legislation that allowed wineries to operate in the First State. The estate is located near the popular seashore resorts of Lewes, Rehobeth, and Dewey Beach and receive plenty of tourist traffic. And being near the coast, the vinifera vines - yes vinifera (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot) are planted in very sandy soil. This provides plenty of drainage and the sea breezes cool the grapes at night allowing for a decent diurnal variation. The "perfect" location for a vineyard. The winery produces single varietal wines from these grapes - the Chardonnay is my favorite of these - but their pride is the "Indian River Red" Vintner's Blend. Priced at $30.00, this is a blend of the estate's best fruit and for 2010 the blend consists of 73% Merlot, 17% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine was then aged in French Oak for eight months.  This is a big wine, earthy and leather, but also exuding dark cherry flavors. The tail contains some pepper and plenty of mouth drying tannins.  This is the type of wine that really surprises you - made in a very unlikely area. Yet, if you can swallow the price - a nice example of a local wine.

Lake Erie Meets the Delaware Shore

 While driving along Rt54 into Fenwick Island Delaware, I noticed a parcel of vines planted in very sandy soils about 3 miles from the ocean. Looking around I saw a sign for Fenwick Wine Cellars across the street in a small shopping center. Could this be Delaware's third winery? Yes and no. Yes, the proprietors have planted Concord, Niagara, and Reliance on their farm; but no, the heavy work occurs in the family winery in Lake Erie, PA - Arrowhead Wine Cellars.

Adrian Mobilia was raised on a 200-acre farm growing grapes, apples, cherries, and peaches. After graduating from Penn State with a degree in Horticulture he helped his father Nick plant vinifera grapes and launch to accompany their existing labrusca and hybrid vineyards and launch Arrowhead Wine Cellars. He eventually met an Ocean City native and he and Shannon decided to replicate the family business on the Delmarva coast. They planted the estate vineyard in 2010 and will soon be able to determine if the fruit will tolerate the salt laden sandy soil. In the meanwhile the current Arrowhead wines are getting a makeover with Fenwick Wine Cellars labels. And that's quite a range of wines.

There is a wine for every taste from sweet to dry; red to white to blush, fruit wines, and even slushies. Yea, that's a product I'm really not a fan of - but evidently the tourists that flock to the seashore have other thoughts. I really enjoyed tasting through their entire portfolio - not a bad deal either - $5 to sample 23 wines. And that included plenty of labrusca and hybrids like the aforementioned Concord and Niagara plus Steuben, Catawba, Fredonia, and Vignoles. Each of these wines were exactly what you would expect from that grape and brought back many memories of Pennsylvania wine festivals. My favorite reds where the Chambourcin and Reilly's Red (Lemberger) - right on again with these grapes. For whites, the Riesling was made in a very drinkable semi-dry style; but I couldn't resist the Reflections of Fenwick (Vidal-Chardonnay) housed in the Italian made commemorative lighthouse shaped bottle. That's the Fenwick Island Light, built in 1859.  Yet the most fascinating wine is the High Tide/Port - produced exclusively from Concord (double fermented). First, you would never guess Concord was involved. No jammy grape flavors at all. Then, there is absolutely no burn because there was no fortification with grape brandy or grain spirits. Instead it has all the characteristics of a port - silky with plum flavors with a nutty finish. This wine alone is reason to return. Cheers.

Wine at the Eastern Shore: Nassau Valley Vineyards

While attending the Dewey Beach Music Conference we visited one of the local tourist attractions, Nassau Valley Vineyards. Peg Raley and her father, Bob Raley planted vines near the seashore over two decades ago and since Delaware prohibited farm wineries, Ms. Raley had to actually draft the legislation in order to permit wineries to legally operate in the state. Her draft legislation became law in 1991, and the winery opened two years later.

Nassau Valley Vineyards grow strictly viniferia grapes on their estate: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot. Initially, we had expected that the vineyard grew hybrids, thinking the climate was too hot for old world grapes. However, Ms. Raley informed us that the sandy soil provides excellent drainage and is very similar to the soil situated near the river banks in Bordeaux. As for the climate, Delaware's coastal region resembles that of New Jersey and Long Island as opposed to the hot, humid conditions further south. And even during the hot summer months, the grapes cool adequately in the evening.

The winery produces vintage wines and proprietary blends with these estate grown fruit. These wines are made dry and are their flagship products. These are the wines we tasted this day. Their 207 Chardonnay is fermented in steel, and then aged in French Oak for 9 months. It has the nice chardonnay flavor accompanied by appropriate texture at the finish - not too oaky and buttery - just enough to sense the oak. And priced at $16, is very reasonable. We tried two difference Cabernet Sauvignon wines, the 2005 and 2006 Vineyard Select. Not surprisingly the latter was far superior - more full bodied, stronger nose - a nice wine. The 2005, was too weak for our tastes. The 2006 Merlot "Adrift" is decent, dry with full cherry flavor - but we sort of lost interest after trying their Indian River Red "Vintner's Blend" - a proprietary blend of their Cabernet and Merlot grapes. This is the wine we took home with us - it is a classic Bordeaux wine - dry, full bodied - but extremely smooth - even with existing tannins. We plan to age this wine a little and compare with similar California versions.

In addition to the above wines, Nassau Valley Vineyards produces a range of semi-dry to sweet red and white wines from grapes sourced from the Finger Lakes region in New York. These are the hybrid grapes, Chambourcin, Delaware, Vidal Blanc, and Seyval Blanc. These wines are made in order to satisfy the demands of most of the visitors that were in the tasting room during our visit: tourists, vacationing at the beach - who prefer sweeter wines. Laurel's Red, a semi dry Chambourcin wine was a big seller as was the House White - a blend of Vidal Blanc and Seyval Blanc. Another example of why wineries produce sweeter wines; they sell.

On a final note, we encourage people to visit the winery in order to tour their wine museum. This facility describes the history of wine making and includes several artifacts of wines vessels, cork screws, and such. It is a nice addition to our visit.