Pennsylvania Winery Thrives With Torture Garden, Pinot: Review
Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The mission statement at Chaddsford Winery in Pennsylvania's historic Brandywine Valley sounds like the opening of a ``Star Trek'' episode: ``Chaddsford Winery began as a dream. To go where no one else on the East Coast had gone.''
Which is not to say Chaddsford is the first to make wine in Pennsylvania. William Penn himself brought vine cuttings from Europe to plant near Philadelphia in 1683, and vineyards flourished up until Prohibition. Still, with repeal in 1933, the newly created Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board discouraged new wineries. Even so, there are now about 130 throughout the state, most very small.
What Chaddsford's owners, Eric Miller and his wife, Lee, have done since starting up in 1982 has been to expand the possibilities of what a winery can do to thrive in the state. At any given time, Chaddsford produces 20 different wines, ranging from a self-proclaimed Super Tuscan blend called Rubino to fancifully named seasonal selections like Sangri-La Sangria, Spiced Apple Wine and Holiday Spirit.
Then there's the ``torture garden,'' a small plot on the Millers' estate an hour outside of Philadelphia, where Eric Miller experiments with new varietals to see if they can survive Pennsylvania's weather and humidity. In recent plantings, barbera did; nebbiolo did not.
The Millers will do anything to promote their business -- tours, tastings, wine classes, vintner's dinners, festivals, concerts like the Brandywine Big Bang BBQ, a corporate open house, catering off and on premises, and designing custom labels for weddings and birthdays.
Retail, Not Wholesale
``Distributors are not interested in taking on small wineries,'' says Lee Miller, 60. ``In Bordeaux, they are in the wholesale business, but we are in the retail business. So the reason we make so many different kinds and styles of wines is because, when people visit us, they want to taste a variety to see what kind they like. We are not some college professor with two acres who makes wine as a hobby in his garage. This is our livelihood and our passion.''
The Millers live on the estate in a 200-year-old house not far from the Brandywine River Museum. (The vineyards are some 40 minutes away.) The estate's visitor center sells half of the winery's total production of 25,000 cases. The state Liquor Control Board buys about 4,000 for its retail outlets; the rest is sold in two winery-owned stores and distributed to Maryland and Delaware.
Brandywine Valley
Eric Miller, 59, was born in San Bernardino, California, lived as a child in Burgundy and later made wine with his late father, Mark Miller, at Benmarl Vineyards in New York's Hudson Valley. The son believed the terroir in the Brandywine Valley would be ideal for Burgundy varietals like chardonnay and pinot noir, which have done well. But in order to appeal to as many tastes as possible, Chaddsford makes wines from more than a dozen varietals.
After tasting several, I could sense the seriousness of purpose behind the Millers' designs. The 2005 pinot noir ($34.99) -- which Eric Miller calls on the label ``Oh Heartbreak Grape'' because of the varietal's difficult reputation -- clearly and cleanly expresses its ripe, cherry-like flavor, but without the barnyard odor of so many poorly made pinots. A perfect autumn in 2005 provided intensity, and the alcohol was ideal -- 13.9 percent -- to give it body without heaviness.
The chardonnay is pleasantly not oaky, retaining the flavor of the grape. The syrah ($17.99) and chambourcin ($25.99) were pleasant if not distinctive. The Due Rossi -- ``two reds'' -- made from an unconventional blend of sangiovese and barbera ($24.99) is a good food wine with a balance of minerality and soft fruitiness.
State Monopoly
The Millers still battle with the monopolistic Liquor Control Board on a regular basis.
``We have trouble getting wines on the state's list,'' Eric Miller says. ``We complicate their lives. They're used to dealing with wineries whose owners are either in it for fun and games or just don't know anything about the business.''
Still, he believes the future is rosy for Pennsylvania wines.
``There are a lot of people with money who are serious about opening new wineries and making the best wines they can,'' he says. ``And the locals are very supportive. I find I spend a lot more time trying to get a handle on the terroir out here and less in the wine cellar.''
Surprised by the success of his Spiced Apple Wine ($12.99), he scratches his beard and says, ``It's good to make money -- we were pretty poor when Lee and I started Chaddsford -- but I'm not sure if I want to be the manager of a successful product rather than refining all we've tried to achieve out here.'' ( writes on wine for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)