I had a pleasant visit at the award-winning French Creek Ridge Vineyards yesterday, checking out their annual sparkling wine tasting event. While there, I had a nice conversation with Janet Maki, co-owner and the winemaker at their J. Maki winery, discussing the most recent harvest (which by PA standards was just about perfect – warm weather, almost no hail or frost, short rains, and abundant sunshine). Their 2007’s should be interesting wines and could end up becoming their most balanced ever.

As for their more recent offerings, I thought they hit a homerun with their elegant Viognier, which has beautiful and fragrant nose. Their latest Gewürztraminer was also quite nice. If you had told me either of these wines had hailed from WA state, and not PA, I would have believed you.

The sparklers were a bit on the ‘leesy’ side for my taste, but opened up a bit given a few hours of air. (As for the Chardonnay – let’s just say they should have been paying me to sample it.)