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Wine is ... the joy of the table! |
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Welcome to Russel's Ramblings™! This is the sixth installment of my addition to the website, which focuses on the various aspects of the joy of the table- WINE! In this installment, I discuss the Mason/Dixon Wine Trail. Read on and click here to send me your comments and questions. Tonya and I visited the Mason Dixon Wine Trail three summers ago during the 4th of July. We planned this trip at the last minute and were able to get a hotel room in Aberdeen, Maryland, not far from the proving grounds and Cal Ripkin has a minor league team in the area. We stayed at a Hilton Garden Inn not our usual bed and breakfast. Because it was a late reservation, you can usually get good deals on hotel rooms and some bed and breakfasts on their websites. The Mason Dixon Wine Trail consists of eight wineries. As some of you might be aware, the Mason Dixon line is the imaginary border separating the north from the south. It was surveyed in the mid-1700s in an effort to resolve a border dispute between Pennsylvania and Maryland. The trail wineries are located on either side of this line with four in Pennsylvania and four in Maryland. We were able to visit four of the wineries: Allegro Vineyards and Naylor Wine Cellars in Pennsylvania; Woodhall Wine Cellars and Fiore Winery in Maryland. These wineries are separated by some good distances so it makes it hard to get to more than two in a day if you don't get an early start. Most of the area you will travel through is beautiful farmland. You can catch a glimpse of some Amish in their buggies and purchase fresh produce in season. Allegro was a very nice winery. It is located on beautiful land not far from Baltimore and Harrisburg, PA. It has a very knowledgeable staff. Tonya and I actually made a stop there this summer when we stayed at a B&B near Lancaster, PA. Tonya and I are dry wine drinkers so I we focused on their drier wines. If you visit their website you will see that they have two types of Chardonnay: steel aged and oak aged. As you go through your wine experience you will see more and more un-oaked Chardonnay. This is the new thing but it is not unwelcome. Most Chardonnay over the years has been oaked and you really do not get to taste the grape. When it is un-oaked, Chardonnay is light, crisp and refreshing. It makes for a good summer white. When it is oaked, you taste butter, vanilla, almond and butterscotch. Oaked Chardonnay is great for colder months. Their Chambourcin, Propietor's Red and the Dry Rose were all very nice wines. The next winery we visited was Naylor. It is very distinctive because they offer concerts and events on their property on summer weekends. Here we really enjoyed their reds. We enjoyed their Seductivo, Chambourcin (if you hadn't noticed it grows well in PA), Pinot Noir, Cab Sauvignon and Cab Franc. The Seductivo is the premier wine that they produce. It is made from Chambourcin and is from their choicest fruit. If you have an opportunity stop by this winery. Fiore is another winery where we purchased a number of bottles. Their reds were extremely tasty. Their is one that comes to mind as maybe the best of this wine trail. It is called Zinnavo. This is a blend of Zinfandel (California), Cab Sauvignon and Cab Franc (both Maryland grapes). This wine was exceptional. (Rant coming!) The only problem with this wine is that it is made in Maryland where you can only get it at the winery. As backwards as Pennsylvania is with wine, Maryland is even worse! After the Supreme Court decision about wine shipments from wineries, Maryland decided that no one can ship wine in Maryland! Even if you live in the state you cannot get wine from an in-state winery shipped to you. This does nothing but hamper commerce in the state and discourage those outside the state from purchasing more of a local product since they cannot get it sent to them. The final winery we visited on this trip was Woodhall. The trip to Woodhall is what this wine tasting experience is all about! It was a rainy day at the end of our trip. We arrived at this winery and were worried because it looked like it was moving slow. The winemaker, Chris Kent, was there in the tasting room enjoying the wine with some other employees when we arrived. We began tasting the wine and were very impressed with their reds specifically. I know we purchased some of the Gunpowder Falls Red because that was a fine everyday wine. They had a number of good red wines with some that were very exceptional, especially the Parkton Prestige, which is a blend of Merlot, Cab Sauvignon an Cab Franc. What made this a great trip was the impromptu barrel tasting. The winemaker took us into the wine cellar and showed us what he was making and provided us with a little sample! He was not only making wine but also brewing beer! If it is half as good as the wine, I know we will have to return to try his beer. Tonya and I seem to have experiences like this quite frequently. I think when you ask questions, show an actual appreciation of the wine and the winemaking process, and actually taste the wine, the doors open and the winemakers are eager to discuss the process with you. Don't forget to mention your wine journey and how much your taste buds have matured since you first drank the apple wine. Just like any artist, the winemakers are appreciative if you appreciate their craft and they are more than happy to share their insights and opinions with you. All in all this was a good trip that gave us some real gems. I only wish we could get some of these wines shipped to us so we good see the wines grow as our wine palates grow. Cheers! Russel Click here to send me your comments and questions
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