St. Michaels Winery

At the St. Michaels Wine & Food Festival I was able to taste a few wines from St. Michaels Winery and since the winery, itself was within walking distance, we visited the winery afterwards. I had actually heard about the winery the night before when Joe Ely drank a glass of their Gollywobbler Red while performing and we enjoyed this concord wine at the festival.

St. Michaels Winery is relatively new, having opened in 2005, and operates in the historic Old Mill complex. Most of their grapes are sourced from outside Maryland, but their Wye Mills vineyard produces Chardonnay and Seyval grapes for their dry Long Splice and Cabernet Sauvignon for the Maryland Cabernet Sauvignon - a lighter styled wine.

The winery offers a large array of wines, from the aforementioned dry Long Splice to the sweet Chocolate Zinfandel (this was a crowd favorite at the festival). Besides native and hybrids, they produce a number of good vinifera based wines: Pinot Blanc, Riesling, Viognier, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Syrah, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Zinfandel. I told you they produce a large selection of wines. Of the vinifera, we liked the Pinot Blanc - this is a good wine to drink while eating; but overall, the Gollywobbler Red and Gollywobbler White were our favorites. Neither of these wines were overly sweet and I can definitely see their suggestion of serving the Gollywobbler Red over ice and mixing the White with club soda - then with crabs.