In a Jam

The music's pumping and people have settled in with their bottles of wine. There is a nice breeze blowing and the summer heat wave has subsided a little to make the evening very pleasant. Joe has set up an outside cash bar to offer easy access to chilled wine.



Jen, Laura and Barbara are working in the tasting room, greeting guests and doing wine tastings. We've got sandwiches from Millie's and freshly prepared cheese plates from our local creameries for people to munch on. But the best part of the evening are our Wine Slushies! It's a mix called Frappe Vino and we blend it with Chambourcin wine to make a delicious frozen drink.



Almost the whole crew is here tonight- Richard's on crowd control and William is leading vineyard and winery tours. For our second big music event I think we're finally figuring out how to make sure everything runs smoothly. Band plays til 8 so stop reading the blog and come enjoy the evening!

Another shore winery!

Congratulations to Costa Ventosa! Today marks the opening of another winery on the Chesapeake Wine Trail and an excellent reason to visit Maryland's lower shore.

Maybe it was momentum from the weekend carrying over into the week, but we got off with a bang on Monday morning and things have hardly slowed down since. Word is getting out about Layton's Chance, and many people are stocking up on cool wine for their beach vacations. It's really only a short detour from Rt. 50 and a good place to take a stretch break or have your lunch. And the grapes are so beautiful right now, heavy on the vines and just starting to ripen!

The Cambridge Fire Company invited us to serve wine at the Powerboat Regatta next weekend at Sailwinds. It's a huge fundraising activity for the fire company and now also a chance to showcase local wine. We'll be there, so stop by and say hi when you see us!

On top of this, we're getting ready for a concert at the end of the month. Kevin Turner of Trappe came out to our Memorial Day concert and enjoyed himself so much that he asked to come back and bring his band of musicians. We've heard great things about their performance- classic country and good times! Saturday, July 31 from 5-8. $5, tickets available at the door. Don't forget your concert gear!

Eventful weekend

We had several events over the weekend and their momentum carried us through the week. On Friday I did a wine tasting at the Pitt Stop in Pittsville (on the Ocean City side of Salisbury) and had the chance to talk to new people about what we're doing here. Folks really get interested when they hear that we're making wine right down the road. The family who runs the Pitt Stop has put a lot of work into offering a varied wine and beer selection and they give the place a very friendly atmosphere. Apparently the local customers agree, since many came in for one item and stayed to chat and taste wine.

The rain all day Saturday seemed to be good encouragement to visit the winery and Joe and Laura had their hands full with visitors in the tasting room. Juanita Weber, namer and first lady of the Layton's Chance Winos came in with friends for her free case (and to celebrate!) The sky even cleared up at one point so that Joe could take two ladies on a farm tour, the first of many I expect.

Rain returned in the evening and we didn't get much of a sunset for Sundaes @ Sunset, but everyone who showed up definitely enjoyed a sundae! Vanilla ice-cream, peaches, blueberries, strawberries, cherries, chocolate syrup and whipped cream- plus a splash of Joe's Cool Red for the wine lovers.

Laura and Joe took advantage of the quiet evening by relaxing in their usual spots on the front porch.

Erik and Errol came on Sunday from the Delmarva tourism's Host Our Coast program. William gave them a full tour and tasting in the production area, then put them to work a little scooping watermelon. We've made several batches to experiment and refine a recipe and William says we'll be ready to do a large batch at the end of the month. Stay tuned for a date- we'll be looking for volunteers to help scoop melons! Many hands makes light work!

4th of July!

I hope the heat doesn't scare folks off, though we certainly enjoyed the pleasant weather of the past week. It was 87 when I drove in this morning and keeps getting hotter...

This is the time of year that work in the vineyard calms down a little bit, but with the 5 acres of new vines there has been a lot to keep up with. Nellie finished painting posts and Richard has run all the wire so it's really starting to look good. We'll have to think about deer fencing come fall, especially since the vineyard borders Richard's favorite hunting spot.

We held our first volunteer training last weekend with the enthusiastic bunch that showed up. First assignment- Sundaes @ Sunset- next Saturday night. We'll scoop and pour and you can enjoy the view. Kid friendly event!

William held a radio interview with Cleveland Rippons on ESPN Radio last Wednesday. It was a great opportunity to talk about the winery and get the word out about our upcoming events. For everyone who didn't receive the most recent newsletter, make sure to sign up so we can send you our event calendar!

More music coming up at the end of the month- In a Jam (classic country) on July 31, and Randy Lee returns with the Saltwater Cowboys on August 8th. We'll also have guest author Terry White here to do a dramatic reading of some of her poetry and literature on July 31.

A lively vineyard

Another hot week has passed but fortunately we got a couple big showers this week and the crops are looking good. Corn has started to tassel and grapes are growing with vigor. Some of the vines we planted earlier this year, in April, have already reached the top wire and we may get some fruit from them next season!

There are lots of critters in the vineyards too, such as the Japanese beetles that Richard attacked early this morning. On a friendlier note, there are also abundant killdeer nests and babies running around. They're not harmful to the grapes and they're pretty cute so they're welcome to stick around.

The Dorchester retired teachers held a successful fundraiser last week. The group raised a couple thousand dollars for the scholarship fund and everyone seemed to enjoy the evening. Time Out, led by drummer and former teacher Shelby Clendaniel, kept the atmosphere light with lots of good tunes. Alison Layton played the role of impartial drawer of door prizes, and Molly Meridith provided delicious crab dip and other munchies for the evening fare.

We've got some more music lined up for July and August, as well as a new event we're calling Sundaes at Sunset. We'll serve ice cream sundaes topped with Joe's Cool Red and you can enjoy the setting sun as it goes down behind the vineyard. Check out our website for more details and dates.

RTA fundraiser!

The teachers (of the Dorchester Retired Teachers Association) have set up the event room and everything is ready to go for tonight's big event. It's our first private event using the winery event room and we're excited to see how it goes.

Over 100 tickets have been sold, and there are several tables laden with silent auction items and door prizes from the Dorchester business community. Thanks to everyone who contributed!

Sally Work, our jeweler, came by with a beautiful selection of new necklaces. Her pieces are unique pieces of art. Maybe we can convince her to hold a class here and we can learn the magic of what she does.

Everyone has been out sweating in the vineyard this week, especially Nellie and Janet. I think they've made it halfway through the Chambourcin but the vines aren't slowing down for a minute. Now if only it would rain to keep everything green.

We have two new inhabitants at the winery- Alison and Stephen Layton. School's out and they've got plenty of space to run around. Both kids have been helping hoe the vineyard, coming in often to cool off. Their latest plan is to convince Jennifer that we need a winery dog. Let's see how persuasive the munchkins can be...

LC wine available at your local liquor store!

Three weeks after opening and things are starting to get back to normal. The vines are growing vigorously and a lot of energy is required to tame them. We have to "tuck them in"- that is, take the vines which are growing in all directions and stick them into the wire so that they grow down from the top wire. It sounds more complicated than it is. But it is tricky to separate the vines and make sure the bunches of grapes are hanging freely. Sometimes the vines snap if you look at them wrong, as Nellie shared with me yesterday.

In the tasting room we've done a little rearranging and received a shipment of really cool t-shirts from California. Have you seen Jen's awesome "Nice Rack" shirt, or Laura's "Well Red"? We ordered a good selection this time, and even a few t-shirts for men!

We also started distributing through local liquor stores in the past week. Best Wine and Spirits in Cambridge (off Rt. 50, heading east) and Cambridge Wine and Spirits (109 Cedar St) will carry a selection of our wines. Also, the Wine Rack in Fruitland is carrying several of our wines, and Millie's Roadhouse will serve Layton's Chance wine! You'll still have to come to the winery to buy a bottle of Rosé though. It's the wine made entirely from our own grapes and is an extremely limited wine!

Keep checking our website for updates on what's happening. We've booked Randy Lee Ashcraft again on August 8th and we've got several other bands coming in the next few months. There will be plenty of lazy days and good wine to enjoy this summer.