Winery aims for annual harvest event

St. Michaels Winery is partnering with the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, Chesapeake Heritage Conservancy, and Mount Felix Manor and Vineyards to rejuvenate the historic tradition of transporting goods on the Chesapeake via the classic sailing vessel the skipjack.

 On Thursday, September 20, the Martha Lewis, a skipjack out of Havre De Grace, Md., will dock at the Maritime Museum to deliver to the winery about 4,000 pounds of Chambourcin grapes produced by Mount Felix Manor and Vineyards, owned by Mary and Peter Ianniello. Mount Felix, located in Havre De Grace, is a historic Georgian Estate encompassing 15 acres, with spectacular vistas of the Chesapeake Bay.

 The Martha Lewis is owned by the Chesapeake Heritage Conservancy, whose mission is to promote and preserve historic Chesapeake Bay watercraft and to educate the public in the heritage of the Chesapeake Bay.

"The Chesapeake Heritage Conservancy is very excited about this trip," said Cindy Beane, Conservancy Executive Director.

Once at the winery, Mount Felix’s red grapes will be crushed and destemmed, fermented, and aged in oak barrels to make a fine Maryland Chambourcin next year.

“This is the perfect combination of many of my favorite passions – history, sailing, the Chesapeake Bay and wine,”  said Winery President Mark Emon, who lived on a sailboat docked in Fells Point, Baltimore for six years.

 Most who are familiar with the Chesapeake Bay also know about the famous oyster dredging skipjacks, which have declined from around 2,000 in the early 1900s to around 30 today. But when it was not oyster season, many captains carried goods from farming communities to the large cities surrounding the Bay.

 "Skipjacks and other sailing vessels carried manufactured goods, oyster shells for paving county roads, bricks, fertilizers, and other bulk materials to Denton and other small rural towns. In return, they carried watermelons, tomatoes, and other produce, and grains from farms to city markets," according to the Choptank River Heritage Center's Web site.

St. Michaels Winery and Mount Felix intend to make the skipjack harvest an annual event to highlight and rejuvenate the historical uses for sailboats on the Bay.

St. Michaels Winery, now heading into its third year of business, introduced red wines in May. Its first Maryland-grown red wine -- a Cabernet Sauvignon -- will be bottled in late November.

 St. Michaels Winery was conceived in May 2005 and began making its first wines in October of that year. Its tasting room and winery store opened on Memorial Day weekend 2006.

 The winery, which draws locals and tourists alike to its eclectic, Chesapeake Bay Log Boat Canoe-inspired tasting room, boasts a space for corporate and group functions. Those can be booked through the winery, also open daily for tastings and tours.

 More information about the winery, including wine descriptions and food pairings, can be found on its Web site: www.st-michaels-winery.com.

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Resources
More information about the winery, including wine descriptions and food pairings, can be found on its Web site: www.st-michaels-winery.com.

Information about Mount Felix and its accommodations may be found at: www.mountfelix.com.

Information about the Skipjack, Martha Lewis and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime museum can be found at: 

http://www.skipjackmarthalewis.org

http://www.cbmm.org

Schedule of Events
Grape Harvest – Mount Felix Manor and Vineyard – 7:00 AM – 8:00AM Thursday, September 20, 2007   -  2000 Level Road, Harve De Grace MD 21078  410-939-0913

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