Crossing Vineyards, New Hope, PA

I finally made the trek out to New Hope to Crossing Vineyards for one of their weekend events. This weekend was the Presidents' Day tasting event, so the tasting room is open from noon until 6:00 Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Tastings are $5 per couple for the basic, and $10 per couple for the extended. We did the extended tasting, and my brief reflections are below. In general, I was pretty impressed by the quality of the wine (all grapes being grown on the Crossing property except the pinot noir and the riesling, which are both grown in western PA), especially the whites. All are 2006 unless noted.

Cabernet Sauvignon ($22): Light and food friendly for a Cab, very fruity (but not jammy) with notes of cherries and strawberries. High acidity, the anti-Napa. I bought a bottle.

Cabernet Franc ($21): Cranberry and strawberry notes, nice sour note, very light. High acidity.

Cabernet-Merlot ($21): All wood on the nose. Wood and strawberry on the palate. I didn't like it that much.

Pinot Noir ($18): Very herbal--I felt like I was drinking alcoholic strawberry herbal tea. Definitely needs time in the bottle to integrate the strong wood notes.

Merlot ($20): Liquified wood...yuck.

Chardonnay ($17): Light golden color in the glass. Notes of canned pineapples and wet stone. I like it. As a side note, this bottling has won quite a few gold medals at various events.

Viognier ($17): Smooth and fruity, with notes of citrus and a bit of apple. Nice acidity, really great balance. I bought a bottle.

Riesling ($16): These grapes are not actually grown on the Crossings land, but are grown in Western PA. The wine is sweet, sweet, sweet. Not sure what the RS is, but it has to be pretty high. Notes of pear and citrus.

Blanc de blancs ($22): Very dry with notes of pear and apple. Not much in the way of bread or yeasty tones, but very good.

Chambourcin Reserve ($18): Cranberry and strawberry. Nice light wood that improves the wine. Good acidity.

Vintner's Select Red (NV) ($16) (blend of Merlot and Cab): Wood and cherry...hmm...not a wine to my liking, but a good theme for Presidents' Day with those descriptors! (Cherry tree and all)

Vintner's Select White (NV) ($15) (blend of chardonnay, viognier, and a splash of riesling): sweeter than the viognier and chardonnay and less acidity, notes of apples and pears, a bit of spice lingering

Wild Berry wine ($15): Made from raspberries and blueberries imported from NJ. Tastes like blueberries in late summer, when they start getting a little squishy. The person pouring (who was great and very knowledgeable about PA wines, by the way) gave us some dark chocolate after the first sip of this wine, and had us retaste. Wow...the wine comes together, with a nice balance of blackberry and blueberry. Not really my thing, but I can definitely see why this one goes over really well with non-wine drinkers.

Apple wine ($12): Served blind. Pear, pear, and more pear (the red pears, not the green or bosc ones). Never would have guessed this was apple wine. Definitely sweet, but nice crisp acidity. Very surprising.

Spiced apple wine ($13): Cinnamon and cloves. Probably pretty good right before Christmas.

Le Nouveau (2007) ($13): Made from early harvest Chambourcin grapes. Very light, almost rose in the glass. Liquid strawberry on the palate. Much better than Beaujolais Nouveau! I can see this being a good red to sip in the spring or Indian summer sitting on my balcony.

Blush ($12): This wine brought back memories of the apples we used to "liberate" from people's backyards when we took shortcuts during high school cross country practice. Sour crab apple.

Last Harvest Vidal Blanc ($40/375ml): The grapes that go into this wine are botrytized. Wow...I'm not usually a sweet wine fan, but this is good. Notes of pear, a bit of sweet apple. This wine is not flabby at all...the sweetness is really well balanced by the acidity.

Unfortunately, the winery was sold out of the Vidal Blanc, so I did not get to taste this. I recommend doing a tasting here if you are in the area. The people working here were all knowledgeable and all seemed to love their jobs. I did not get to meet the vintner, but he apparently did quite a few internships at wineries in Napa and Sonoma. Maybe that explains the, IMO, overuse of wood in some of the reds? Anyways, a nice way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon!

Interesting.

Out of curiosity, does the order of your notes reflect the order of the tasting?

I.E. with the wild berry wine and the dark chocolate in the middle?

Mostly, yes. The late harvest Vidal was somewhere in the middle as well. It was a little strange having some of the whites after reds, and then more dry wine after the dessert wine.

was on my way to new hope last sept when i saw their signs - i wish the state of MI provided such great signage for wineries. very attractive place - like many wineries they rely on events to sell wine. i personally thought that was a good strategy as the wines probably would not sell themselves. can't find my actual notes; but..... do i remember that the son is the winemaker? great location and a lot of potential.

[James Roscoe]

I greww up about 40 minutes south of New Hope, PA and my parents still live there. I will be headed up to the Phily area next weekend to visit family. Maybe I can talk my wife into going up to this winery!

I think you will be able to do so! It's a beautiful and historic building. And there's always the bribe of a quick side trip into the town to do some shopping....

but don't even think of going to new hope on weekends - it is COMPLETELY overrun with bikers - as in noisy Harleys.