Grateful Gourmet: Maryland Surprise-Elk Run Wine

Grateful Gourmet: Maryland Surprise-Elk Run Wine: Recently, we had dinner with my parents and my dad ordered a bottle of Maryland wine from Elk Run Vineyards. www.elkrun.com The b...

The season, It means so many things to so many people.

The season, It means so many things to so many people. Let us suggest if you follow the wine season the meaning of the word season becomes an enjoyable adventure. Up coming is the birth of another new vintage, a new season.

If you garden you wait for the first tomato,  I recently saw a recipe for Tomato soup made with crusty Tuscan bread.  I made it with store bought tomatoes.  So much work and it was lousy. I just need a few more crisp nights and I'll make it with the fresh tomatoes. 

This morning I squeezed the unripe chardonnay we drop to thin the crop and open the canopy to sun and air flow.  It can be a substitute for vinegar in your salads.  It has just a hint of sweetness and quite a bit of acid.  Then I dropped a few cloves of fresh garlic from the garden to complete a tasty marinade.
I know when the tomatoes get ripe it's a sign that the vineyard will be close behind. It is also the beginning of my stomach flutters.  Birds are souring even before ripeness, looking for moisture after this hot dry season. Harvest excitement brings for us some trepidation as we  fear birds and deer munching before we ever get the nets on.

Every day the weather channel goes on and everyday we taste the fruit check the seeds for brown color , another indication of ripeness.

Season planning includes picking, preparing food for pickers, notifying retail stores and restaurants of imminent harvest,. Oh yes, the festivals begin at the same time...   Our Songwriters Harvest Festival in the middle of the vineyard lush with grapes, the Maryland Wine Festival, Fells Point festival and on and on.  Such excitement meeting friends enjoying the bounty of great produce in the fall, pumpkins. the international awards come rolling in...  Showing well with Golds and Silvers, we feel success.  We can continue another season. 

Season, it means different things to different people.  But a wonderful calendar to follow is to follow the Wine, harvest,crush, wine making, fall releases of 2010 wines (best year ever), Champagne release in November preparing of Thanksgiving, and mulled wine announcing the  Holiday Season.

And then... we start the winter season, pruning in the cold and coming in to warm up and taste the wine silently sleeping in the barrels. Winter doldrums are never a problem at the winery, we invite people to come out and join in the sampling.  Take the opportunity to evaluate the wine as it ages.  Elk Run offers classes in the winter on wine tasting.  You ready your taste buds so you're all set to try the new white release in the spring and the opening of Wine Down Friday in May.

The Season, it means so many things to different people. Ttry out our season follow the Wine.

May Day, May Wine, Maiwein

The tradition of May Day celebration has steamed from pagan times through the Roman empire where it was in honor of Flora, the goddess of flowers it was a major holiday for the Druids who felt May day divided the year in half.  In Great Britain it was celebrated with children, flowers,  and maypoles with streamers.  Puritanical ideas dissuaded May Day in America early on because of it's pagan history, but still today May day celebrations seem to pop up with the excitement of warm weather and spring  flowers.

Wine is a beverage of tradition.  Grapes have a season and thus the wine.  The making of the wine takes time, has it's own aging process.  Each spring is the birth of a new vintage and a release of the past.

Elk Run celebrates those traditions.  Each spring we hold our annual Champagne tasting the week before Easter to toast to the new vintage and taste through the newly released whites.

May Day is another tradition that we enjoy because it’s the time of bud break.  The killdeer lay their eggs in the vineyard (this year on row 16) and the smell of wild onions and mowed grass fill us with the anticipation of warmth and the excitement of seeing friends who have been hidden away because of winter cold.

Join us for our Annual May May_Wine Tasting.
May wine, also known as Maitrank, Maiwein, Maibowle and Waldmeisterbowle,  is served  traditionally on the May Day in Germany. The base is made by taking sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum, sometimes called Asperula odorata, known in Germany as Waldmeister), a fragrant creeping herb that grows in the forests and steeping it in a white Riesling. 

Elk Run will be selling Sweet Woodruff plants this weekend.  It’s a great excuse to have a party in May and the plant makes for a delightful ground cover. Come purchase some and make your own. 

Starting a Blog

            

           Hi my name is Julian and I am one of the four people that will be running Elk's blog. We have never before done a blog so it may be rough at first but our hope is to inform and keep our readers up to date on what is happening at Elk Run Vineyards. We will also be posting interested wine articles and fun tips about wine, wine making, vineyards etc. Little background on us:

"Elk Run Vineyards is nestled in the rolling hills of Frederick County surrounded by dairy and horse farms and fields of wheat and corn. The name “Elk Run” was chosen for a stream. The deed name to the property is the “Resurvey of Cold Friday.” It was a land grant from the King of England to Lord Baltimore. The winemaker’s home is circa 1756. Since 1983 Fred and Carol Wilson and Neill Bassford, along with associates, family and friends, have made Elk Run a shining star among American wine producers."

"Using new world research and technology while maintaining the traditions and values of old world practices, Elk Run’s focus is on producing high quality wine from high quality grapes. Soils of schist and shale allow for deep roots and good drainage. Seven to eight hundred foot elevations help keep the vineyard safe from frost danger. Warm days and cool nights preserve the fruity character in the wines. Using grafted Vinifera vines, close spacing and great attention to crop levels allow the wine maker to create wines of character, structure, balance and good color" 

            We grow 10 different variety of grapes and make more then 18 different wines from them. We pride ourselves on making the best wine possible.
            Well I hope this helps you to better understand us and I hope you will continue to read our blog.
Thanks
Visit us at Elkrun.com