Wine Industry

Maryland Wine Week is back. The 11-day celebration of the state's wine industry begins Friday and runs through June 24. Organized by the Maryland Wineries Association, the third annual promotional event has restaurants and wine shops throughout the state offering discounts and specials in addition to a full schedule of winemaker dinners and other events featuring Maryland wine. Johnny's (4800 Roland Ave., 410-773-0777, johnnysdownstairs.com) will spotlight a different Maryland winemaker at evening wine tastings from June 18 to 23. The free tastings, which will include light snacks, are from 5 to 6 o'clock each night.

Maryland Wine Week is back. The 11-day celebration of the state's wine industry begins Friday and runs through June 24. Organized by the Maryland Wineries Association, the third annual promotional event has restaurants and wine shops throughout the state offering discounts and specials in addition to a full schedule of winemaker dinners and other events featuring Maryland wine. Johnny's (4800 Roland Ave., 410-773-0777, johnnysdownstairs.com) will spotlight a different Maryland winemaker at evening wine tastings from June 18 to 23. The free tastings, which will include light snacks, are from 5 to 6 o'clock each night.

On a recent Sunday afternoon, Polly Pittman clipped nets over the ripening grapes in the vineyard she hopes will ensure that one of Anne Arundel County's oldest family farms continues to have a future. "Basically, the McMansions start on the other side of these trees," Pittman said. "We think of ourselves as the last frontier of agricultural development in Anne Arundel County. " Nearly three centuries after her ancestors started tilling this hill in Davidsonville, the 550-acre Dodon Farm remains the county's largest working family farm.

Maryland Wine Week is back. The 11-day celebration of the state's wine industry begins Friday and runs through June 24. Organized by the Maryland Wineries Association, the third annual promotional event has restaurants and wine shops throughout the state offering discounts and specials in addition to a full schedule of winemaker dinners and other events featuring Maryland wine and winemakers. Johnny's (4800 Roland Ave., 410-773-0777, johnnysdownstairs.com) will spotlight a different Maryland winemaker at evening wine tastings from June 18 to 23. The free tastings, which will include light snacks, are from 5 to 6 o'clock each night.

LOS ANGELES -- As President Clinton intensifies his personal effort to win congressional approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), California's 52-member House delegation is a particularly critical contingent to his hopes. The White House expects to win the Nov. 17 vote in the Senate but is fighting an uphill battle in the House, where constituent interests are pulling congressmen in all directions.House veteran Democrat Robert Matsui of Sacramento, the administration's point man for NAFTA in the state, acknowledges that only six of the 30 California Democrats in the House are on record supporting NAFTA now. But he predicts 13 will be aboard eventually, along with 16 or 17 of the state's House Republicans.

It has been said that a glass of red wine each day can be good for your health. A recent congressional study says it can also be good for the nation's economic health. Winemakers and grape growers contribute more than $162 billion annually to the U.S. economy, according to a study conducted for the Congressional Wine Caucus, a group of 182 senators and representatives from states with an interest in wine. Although tiny compared with those in some states, Maryland's wine industry is growing and becoming an increasingly important part of the agricultural economy.

SOMERSET WEST, South Africa -- A few years ago, Howard Booysen thought "bouquet" referred only to flowers and that the mark of a fine wine was a big, fruity flavor. Now, at 24, he is one of this country's most promising young vintners, praised for his calmness under pressure, his discerning palate and his knowledge of chemical processes so critical to turning grapes into a choice bottle of shiraz or chardonnay. Booysen has another notable quality, given South Africa's bid to redress decades of racial discrimination and the wine industry's long history as a bastion of exploitation: He isn't white.

The upstairs room in Helen's Garden Res-taurant in Canton one Thursday eve-ning is bathed in candlelight and filled with the hum of talk, music and laughter. About a dozen women sit at tables in the art-filled nook and chat as they nibble from carefully arranged trays of hors d'oeuvres and sip glasses of rose. Welcome to the Women's Wine & Dine, a monthly event with wine tastings, a three-course gourmet meal, guest speakers and goody bags. No men are allowed. The dinners, which began in April and sell out every month, offer women the chance to learn about wine in a relaxed "sisterly" setting while raising money for an organization that helps homeless women, says Wine & Dine founder Monyka Berrocosa-Marbach, a 34-year-old food and wine consultant.

I was about to sit down and write a column about cabernet sauvignon and merlot when I got the phone call telling me Philip Wagner was dead.Cabernet and Merlot can wait.Wagner, who died Dec. 29 at the age of 92, was a most remarkable man. It would be difficult to overstate how important a figure this Baltimore newspaperman was in the world of wine.This was a man who reinvented the wine industry in the United States east of the Rockies. He accomplished this in his spare time, while pursuing a distinguished journalistic career that ended in 1964, when he retired as editor of The Sun.Wagner was also the man who taught America how to make wine at home, inspiring generations of amateur vintners.

Don Segal's vineyard, with its rows of bare midwinter vines and wood and wire trellises, sits on Annapolis' Harness Creek, a quiet nook where kayaks skim over glassy water. It bears the name of Segal's yet-to-be-unveiled boutique wine. Segal's Anne Arundel County vineyard, which he hopes will be Maryland's 13th winery, is representative of the state's burgeoning grape-growing and wine-making industry, as well as a concerted effort by state officials to establish a cluster of wineries in southern counties such as Anne Arundel, Prince George's and Calvert - where tobacco was once king.

Maryland will host the fifth annual Drink Local Wine Conference. The event will be held the weekend of April 12-14 in Baltimore. Created by Washington Post wine columnist Dave McIntyre and wine blogger Jeff Siegel, a.k.a. the Wine Curmudgeon, the Drink Local Wine Conference brings attention to wine made in the 47 states and Canada that aren't California, Washington and Oregon. Maryland's wine industry is one of the fastest growing in the country, nearly doubling in size over the past two years with more than 60 wineries, according to the Maryland Wineries Association.

On a recent Sunday afternoon, Polly Pittman clipped nets over the ripening grapes in the vineyard she hopes will ensure that one of Anne Arundel County's oldest family farms continues to have a future. "Basically, the McMansions start on the other side of these trees," Pittman said. "We think of ourselves as the last frontier of agricultural development in Anne Arundel County. " Nearly three centuries after her ancestors started tilling this hill in Davidsonville, the 550-acre Dodon Farm remains the county's largest working family farm.

This week, Maryland wine lovers will be able to get their favorite bottles delivered directly to their homes — so long as they're interested in buying from one of the 11 wineries that have applied for a shipping permit. Since the state made the applications available on June 10, just eight Maryland wineries have returned the forms, according to the office of the state comptroller. Three more from out of state have also applied. Maryland is home to 50 wineries, and there are about 6,500 across the country.

All Mark Emon, owner of St. Michaels Winery, wanted to do was ship to a customer from New York who loved his Maryland-made wine. But since Maryland doesn't permit direct shipment of wine within the state, New York ruled this summer he could not ship out of it. The result? No sale. "This is St. Michaels. We get tourists," says Mr. Emon, who employs nine people at his Eastern Shore winery, one of the state's top five producers. "How much business do I lose? I'm asked several times a day if we can ship, whether in state or out of state.

Here in Paris, Coca-Cola is 10 dollars a glass. A grilled cheese sandwich is 10 dollars. And gas is 10 dollars a gallon. But France still offers one good deal to Americans - and the French and everybody else. A decent bottle of wine is 2 or 3 euros - 3 dollars to 5 dollars. A great bottle can be had for 10 or 15 dollars. (I'm violating Sun style by spelling out monetary amounts, but my French keyboard doesn't have a dollar sign! At least not that I can find. It also has the letters "w" and "m" and "a" and a bunch of other stuff in the "wrong" places.

SOMERSET WEST, South Africa -- A few years ago, Howard Booysen thought "bouquet" referred only to flowers and that the mark of a fine wine was a big, fruity flavor. Now, at 24, he is one of this country's most promising young vintners, praised for his calmness under pressure, his discerning palate and his knowledge of chemical processes so critical to turning grapes into a choice bottle of shiraz or chardonnay. Booysen has another notable quality, given South Africa's bid to redress decades of racial discrimination and the wine industry's long history as a bastion of exploitation: He isn't white.

Maryland Wine Week is back. The 11-day celebration of the state's wine industry begins Friday and runs through June 24. Organized by the Maryland Wineries Association, the third annual promotional event has restaurants and wine shops throughout the state offering discounts and specials in addition to a full schedule of winemaker dinners and other events featuring Maryland wine and winemakers. Johnny's (4800 Roland Ave., 410-773-0777, johnnysdownstairs.com) will spotlight a different Maryland winemaker at evening wine tastings from June 18 to 23. The free tastings, which will include light snacks, are from 5 to 6 o'clock each night.

Forget Monica Lewinsky. It's France that has the real scandale of 1998 on its hands.Chateau Giscours, a prestigious Bordeaux estate, and two former winery employees were charged this month with making fraudulent wine from various forbidden ingredients. Wine professionals fear the alleged concoction could end up giving their entire industry a hangover."It just kills the whole wine industry. It just gives it a black mark," says Hillard Donner, who has sold fine wine at his family's Mills Wine & Spirit Mart in Annapolis for more than 50 years.

Ever wonder what goes into a bottle of wine? The story winemakers love to tell on the bottle label is one of a mystical alchemy of climate, soils, ancient practices and long traditions. Wine labels tend to focus on romance. The small amount of government-mandated information includes the percentage of alcohol, a warning against consuming wine when pregnant or driving, and a disclosure of sulfites. It might be disenchanting if the label also listed the chicken, fish, milk and wheat products that often are used to process wine.

Ever wonder what goes into a bottle of wine? The story winemakers love to tell on the bottle label is one of a mystical alchemy of climate, soils, ancient practices and long traditions. Wine labels tend to focus on romance; the small amount of government-required information includes the percentage of alcohol, a warning against consuming wine when pregnant or driving, and a disclosure of sulfites. It might be disenchanting if the label also listed the chicken, fish, milk and wheat products that are often used to process wine.