Showing posts with label Linganore Winecellars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Linganore Winecellars. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Explore #WeAreMarylandWine During Maryland Wine Month

The Maryland Wineries Association has designated March as Maryland Wine Month and to follow the action they are promoting the #WeAreMarylandWine (in addition to #MDWine #MDWineTrails & #MDWineMonth) tag on all social media platforms. There are also numerous events and activities scheduled at various wineries and retailers across the state -- all listed on the MD Wine website. So we decided to dedicate more time this month to visit the Free State and visited two that are open seven days a week - navigating with theCompass Craft Beverage Finder.

We started at Catoctin Breeze Vineyard, located north of Frederick on the Route 15 Wine Road. Being a club member, our tastings were complimentary so we went through both their Signature ($10) and Sweet ($8) tastings. After previous visits, I have discussed their wonderful dry Estate Syrah, Estate Cabernet Franc, and Chardonnay among others. So let me venture into the Sweet Wine tasting and the first impression is that out of the five, only the two meads comes across as sweet. For instance, the 2016 Rhapsody ($24) contains only .5% RS which is easily balanced by the Chardonnay's acidity. The sugar just rounds out the wine. The same is also true with the 2016 Bolero Blend ($22), a 50-50 blend of Syrah and Merlot. And finally, the 2017 Prelude Vidal Blanc ($20) has a Riesling character in that once again is balanced by the grape's acids. The two meads are definitely sweeter but the 2010 Honeymoon Mead ($25) is cut with orange juice providing more relief and the spices in the 2010 Amber Mead ($23) blend nicely into the honey flavor.

From Catoctin Breeze, we navigated the back roads, through a couple covered bridges to Linganore Winecellars. Interestingly, this winery is traditionally known for its sweeter festival friendly wines but has mad a concerted effort to enhance its dry wine portfolio. These wines were our focus through the Reserve Tasting ($10), which consisted of nine wines. These ranged from the dessert 2015 Midnight Bramble ($46) through a couple off-dry to several dry.  The 2017 White Raven ($14; Cayuga & Chardonnay) and 2018 Terrapin ($14; Melody & Vidal) were both light and refreshing with the later providing a distinct apple profile. The crux of the whites was the 2017 Reserve Chardonnay ($27) fermented in oak then aged an additional six months in barrel. This is a full bodied wine, depth and creamy with lifting acids. Nicely done. The reds were Chambourcin centric with three wines showing the flexibility of that prolific grape. The 2016 Exposure ($46) is a classic Bordeaux blend but I preferred the 2017 Cabernet Franc ($35) that we received a sneak peek and has more creamy texture than green character.  The fact that Linganore produces 50,000 cases of wine using practically all estate grapes is worth a visit and tour - whether festival season, Maryland Wine Month, or year round. Cheers.

Saturday, January 9, 2016

Linganore Winecellars Barrel Tasting: The Future Looks Bright

This year Linganore Winecellars is celebrating it's 40th anniversary as the winery opened in 1976 after planting their first vines 1972. They relied on Cornell University to help determine which grape varieties to plant and eventually became a test vineyard for their experiential grapes. In 1978 the winery augmented their grape production with fruit wines after a local plum grower lost a verbal contract. Today Linganore is a giant among local wineries producing 155 thousand gallons annually. And they are proud of their upcoming 2016 offerings and organized an industry tasting of these wines in preparation for a similar consumer barrel tasting available this weekend. Mostly known for their festival style and fruit wines, Linganore also produces a wide range of dry and off-dry wines. These wines were the focus of our visit.

Second generation winemaker Anthony Aellen, Marketing Director Jessica Garcia, and a trio of young winemakers led our group on a tasting of several wines fermenting and aging for a future release.  After a brief introduction about the history of the Aellen family and winery (available here) we entered the tank room to sample the off-dry, Cayuga based White Raven. In the past this wine was 100% Cayuga but this year they blended it with 18% Chardonnay which added much needed weight. At .5% R.S., this wine comes off completely dry.  Later in the tasting room we sampled the current release which falls flat in comparison.

We then moved to the barrel room laden with rows of American, French, and even Bulgarian oak barrels. We started with the a sample of the base that will eventually become their méthode champenoise Sparkling Cuvee. The Vignoles grapes were harvested early in order to retain more acids and is currently aging in neutral oak. There is still an element of toastiness that blends with the grape's citrus flavors.  I'm looking forward to seeing this base transition to a sparkling wine. We next tasted what will become their Reserve Chardonnay. This wine will eventually see eight months in oak and we we tasted it half way through the process. It starts with a buttery aroma, but the oak influences fade as the Chardonnay flavors dominate to the finish. Linganore's winemakers are waiting for the oak to integrate in finish and then it's off to bottling. Again, later in the tasting room, we sampled the current 2014 Reserve Chardonnay and it was fantastic. Perhaps the best wine from Linganore that I had tasted - bright fruit, texture, just a little oak presence, and plenty of acids. We concluded our tasting of whites with a Late Harvest Vignoles that is in it's second year in barrel. I was ready to take this home now, layers of creamy lemons unfolded throughout the palate. I wonder where this wine is headed?

Moving to reds, Linganore grows Chambourcin, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and even Barbera -- although they usually augment their Barbera with fruit from a grower near Westminster. In 2015 the winery was able to harvest the Chambourcin and Petit Verdot just before a two week rain deluge, but the Cabernet had to wait until after the storms. The Cab and Barbera were still undergoing malolatic fermentation, which all reds undertake in order to reduce their acid levels, so we sampled just the Chambourcin and Petit Verdot. Both of these were from three year old vines producing their first commercial harvest. And they were tasting well, particularly the PV which possessed loads of deep cherry flavors. They may bottle this as a single varietal wine or it may be used to augment the Cabernet in their Red Skins wine. We were also able to sample three dry reds in the bottle which were just waiting on labels before release. Their Bacioni (Italian for "A Big Kiss") is Barbara based and is a fruit forward friendly wine with easy tannins on the finish. And at $15, a great value. The Estate Chambourcin is more complex but still easy on the palate. And the Reserve Cabernet, a blend of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, is tasting nicely as well. This is a creamy textured wine with more tannins and acids than the previous two. Nicely done again.

Our last endeavor was to sample their Port styled wines aging in barrel, all fortified with neutral grape spirits. We started with their 2015 Ruby Chambourcin that has been in barrel for only three months. It was big, but aggressive with acids taking over the profile. We then sampled the 2014 Ruby Chambourcin that was entering it's second year in barrel. The contrast showed the benefits of this extra year as the wine was rounder, the caramel flavors more prevalent, and it had a much more pleasant finish. Afterwards Anthony couldn't help himself and indulged us with a barrel tasting of their Black Raspberry port styled wine. He's justly proud of this wine. First you don't find that many black raspberry wines, but also, this wine tastes exactly like the fruit. He and the other winemakers at Linganore are justly proud of their upcoming releases. There's no reason to wait until a music festival. Visit anytime.

Monday, November 9, 2015

Beer and Wine Partner at Linganore Winecellars & Red Shedman Farm Brewery

The latest trend to hit the farm winery scene is the co-habitation of wineries and breweries offering a wider range of products to attract an audience. Corcoran Vineyards & Cider was perhaps the first to establish this amalgamation in the DC area, and others quickly followed in the Commonwealth. In Maryland, a couple of brothers have gone rogue and combined wine, beer, and cider at the Linganore Winecellars and Red Shedman Farm Brewery facilities. And with more lenient tasting regulations, the overall visit is much more enjoyable. In Virginia, the two operations must be completely segregated where beer must stay in one boundary, wine in another. Absolutely no mixing of the two onsite. However, in the Free State, visitors are free to walk around the winery grounds with a pint and Linganore wine can be brought into the brewery. Imagine that Virginia.

Linganore is one of the oldest operating wineries in Maryland, established by Jack and Lucille Aellen in 1971, and succeeded by their son Anthony in the early 1980s, with another son Eric later managing the vineyards. The winery is known for their broad portfolio of sweet to dry wines as well as their numerous music festivals. Another brother Victor stayed out of the family business for most of his adult life until he escaped corporate America to work in the brewery industry in Grand Rapids Michigan. Eventually the Aellen's decided that adding a brewery to the successful winery would be the next logical progression so Victor returned to start Red Shedman. And Victor established their farm brewery credentials by cultivating several varieties of hops such as Cascade, Columbus, Chinook, Nugget and Crystal.


The brewery offers several styles of beer brewed from their fifteen-barrel brewhouse at the bottom floor of the facility. They also produce a cider, Silo Hard Cider, that is quite nice - very sweet and fruity up front, but finishes completely dry and tart. When visiting the brewery flights range from $8 to $10 for six beers. Besides standard IPAs and Blondes the brewery creates unique beers such as the Suicide Blonde White IPA (part classic Belgian Wit and part dry hopped IPA), Honey Rye, and Vanilla Porter. These were my favorites and I believe all available in cans. Cheers to Maryland wine and beer and as usual theCompass Winery, Brewery, Distillery Locator Mobile App can guide you to their location.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Where the Wild Things (Grapes) Are

This week Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell announced several changes to the structure of the Virginia Governor's Cup Competition. One change is that eligible wines must be certifiably made from 100% Virginia grown grapes. While we applaud the Virginia Wineries Association (VWA), Virginia Vineyard Association (VVA), the Virginia Wine Board (VWB), Governor McDonnell, and Secretary of Agriculture Todd Haymore - doesn't this new regulation simply codify what we, as consumers, most likely already expected? Isn't it obvious that the wine that is judged to be the best in the state, be made from 100% Virginia grapes? What took so long? And shouldn't a wine labeled "Virginia Wine" be made entirely of Virginia grown fruit? Nope. Make sure you read this article by Frank Morgan in Flavor Magazine that explains why this may not be the case.

Now that wines entered in the Virginia Governor's Cup will consist of solely Virginia grown fruit, we still may not know from where? Was it from estate fruit? A vineyard in a local American Viticultural Area (AVA)? Somewhere else in the state? Just like the locavour movement, wine consumers should start requesting (or demanding) more information about the source of a wine's grapes - whether from inside or outside the state's borders. And this isn't just a Virginia issue, it should resonate with wine consumers in all states.

Recently I visited Linganore Winecellars in Mt. Airy, Maryland. While browsing their wine selection, I was reminded of a Maryland Merlot they crafted which won the Maryland Governor's Cup several years ago. That state's Governor's Cup Competition has always required 100% Maryland grown fruit and this wine was produced from grapes grown in the Maryland Eastern Shore. But the region and vineyard were not publicized? The wine just stated Maryland Merlot. And in a couple weeks, our family will be headed to Seven Springs where we normally visit Glades Pike Winery, just outside of Somerset Pennsylvania. On the last visit, they were pouring a Norton wine made from grapes sourced from Chrysalis Vineyards in Middleburg Virginia. Knowing that Chrysalis holds the world's largest planting of Norton I surmised this wine's source. But state law allows the winery to print "Pennsylvania" on the label because Middleburg is within a mile radius restriction. Bizarre. Why not publicize the fact that they grapes are sourced from the most trusted grower of Norton. The same holds for eastern wineries that utilize Finger Lakes Reisling or Long Island Merlot or any other grape sourced from a different vineyard.

In Loudoun County Virginia, several wineries (such as Tarara Vineyard & Winery and Corcoran Vineyards) are moving in that direction by creating vineyard designate wines where the vineyard is proudly displayed on the label. And what better way to publicize well known independent vineyards such as Benevino and Honah Lee. There's also another solution implemented by Virginia's Potomac Point Winery and Delaplane Cellars. On their tasting sheet, they note the appellation or vineyard which provided the grapes for each wine. And if the grapes were sourced from multiple vineyards, both note all the appellations or vineyards. The same holds for practically every California winery we have visited. What an easy way to educate consumers when the grapes are sourced from outside the estate. I think as eastern wineries start competing with left coast wines, the source of their wine must be fully disclosed.

One of the beauties of a bottle of wine - as opposed to beer and spirits - is that the wine, itself, is history. The wine directly reflects the weather that affected a geographic region during a specific period of time. If we don't know the wine's source, this sense of history is lost.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Linganore Goes Solar

Over the years, Linganore Winecellars has been one of our favorite places to visit. What more would you want - an enjoyable ride in the country, good local wine, and entertaining music? As Maryland largest winery, Linganore also leads in employing sustainable practices such as recycling tar-tare, cardboard, grape pulp - all practices which helped the winery win the Green Business of the year award by the Baltimore Business Journal. They are a shoe-in next year as they are now the owners of a solar panel and two Electric Vehicle charging stations partially funded by a grant from the USDA Rural Energy for American Program (REAP). Furthermore, the winery received a second REAP grant to study the feasibility of using geothermal, wind, and/or solar systems to reduce electric consumption from the public grid.

I've read that one of the drawbacks of solar panels is the necessity to clean the panel which results in tremendous water usage. Not so with these panels from Earth & Air Technologies, LLC. Regular rainfall will remove any dust and the panels attract sunlight even when the sun is obscured by clouds. On this day, the panels were operated on 25% capacity, even though the sun barely revealed itself. And when it did, the SolarTracker101 elevated and rotated the panels to the most optimal position. In this way, the panels are able to harvest the the most optimal of the sunshine and enables a 45 degree tracking capability. Much more efficient than just planting some panels on a roof.

Adjacent to the panels sits two Electric Vehicle charging stations, in which a quarter of the cost was supported by the REAP grant. Two of the downfalls of Electric Vehicles are the lack of charging stations and the long time required to recharge. Linganore leveraged this to their benefit by utilizing EVs for winery operations and allowing the public to use their recharge stations free of charge. Not entirely conceivable that drivers will stop into the tasting room to sip or purchase, ya think?

The winery has had an interesting 2011, having survived a tornado and tremendous rain. We hope this ribbon cutting ceremony initiates sunny conditions ahead. Paraphrasing Congressman Roscoe Bartlett "I don't like seeing tax dollars going to Washington, but when they do, it's worthwhile to see them return to rural Maryland for a worthwhile energy project". We agree completely. Watch the video below to hear Anthnony Aellen, Linganore's proprietor, discuss the winery and their environmental practices. Cheers.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Linganore Cellars - A Happening Place

This has already been a busy year for Linganore Wine Cellars. First, in February they retro-fitted the winery so that 100% of the electricity used at the winery will be generated from wind power. Then last week they were awarded the “Green Business of the Year” Award in the small to midsize business category, from the Baltimore Business Journal. Obviously the wind power contributed to receiving this award, but so did their practice of recycling, using fruit pulp for deer feed and vineyard compost, and the use of organics for fertilizers in the vineyard. Congratulations. And finally, the winery is gearing up for festival season. On Mother's Day, May 8th, they release their traditional wine of spring, May Wine. This wine is flavored with the herb Sweet Woodruff from the Black Forest region of Germany. That day also includes music from Rob Thorworth. Later in May, Linganore hosts their annual Carribean Festival, followed by the Beach Party, and two Reggae festivals. I guess no Blues Festival this year.
  • May 28 -29 - Caribbean Festival
  • June 25 – 26 – Beach Party Wine Festival
  • July 16 – 17 - Reggae Festival
  • August 27 – 28 - Cool Beats’n The Summer Heat
  • October 16 – 17 Reggae Wine Festival II

Friday, May 16, 2008

Wine 101: Honey Wine

"Imagine a world without honeybees. Now imagine the world without tasty pears, luscious raspberries, and juicy strawberries…" So reads the opening page at Haagen Dazs Help the Honey Bees website. Honeybee pollination is directly responsible for over 30% of our food supply – that’s over 100 crops and does not include indirect contributions to beef and dairy production through alfalfa and other feed products. Alarmingly, the population of honeybees is decreasing rapidly in the United States (37% in 2007). Scientists site several factors, one being Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), where bees simply leave their hive and die. These scientists are not sure the specific cause for CCD, but they site a few possible causes: viruses, mites, chemical exposure, and poor nutrition. After reading several articles on CCD, we decided to contact several honey wine producers to see how this crisis is affecting their operations.

Honey wine, and in particular Mead, is often considered merely a cult beverage served at Renaissance Festivals or Medieval fairs. Yes, honey wine has an ancient history and has been produced in all corners of the globe, from Africa, and Asia, to the more familiar, Medieval Europe. Meads history is fascinating reading and most Meadery websites contain a history page – one of our favorites is at Medovina. However, those that dismiss this beverage are missing out on several tasteful and interesting concoctions. Traditional Mead is made from three ingredients: honey, water, and yeast and can be made into many different styles – no different from grape wine – dry, semi-dry, or sweet. Plus the mead can be produced from different honey varietals, such as clover, wildflower, orange blossom and buckwheat. Honey wine can also take several different forms. Metheglin is mead made with herbs and spices. Melomel is mead that contains fruit, whereas Cyser is mead fermented with apples. Pyment is a fermented combination of honey and grape juice while Melomel is mead blended with fruit. Tej is an Ethiopian version of honey wine augmented with domestic spices. Finally, we learned about Braggot, where mead is blended with malted grains and sometime hops to create a close relative to beer. Quite a variety of styles and in the appendix of this article you can view the large array of products made by the meaderies contacted for this article.

Fortunately the current CCD crisis is not affecting the vast majority of honey wine producers that we contacted, although they are fearful of the future – particular rising honey prices. Most mead producers either extract honey from their own colonies or procure it from local beekeepers. These local sources have not been affected by CCD primarily because their bees avoid several known stress factors. New Mexico’s Falcon Meadery and Winery is typical when they state that “Our bees forage on diverse wild plants; there are no large mono culture crops nearby, no genetically modified plants, no exposure to pesticides, the bees are not trucked to farms for pollination and are therefore not exposed to additional parasites, stress and diseases. Plus half of the honey is left in the hives for the winter food source. We take good care of our bees.” This does not mean that small beekeepers do not lose bees. According to Medovina, they can lose 50% of their bees even though their bees are immune from known stress factors. And in Indiana, New Day Meadery’s supplier, Wildflower Ridge Honey, lost several hives in 2007 due to wild fluctuations in the weather.

On the other hand, it appears that bees used for crop pollination are more susceptible to CCD. We learned from Medovina that bees are transported across the country in order to pollinate specific crops. For instance, bees must be transported to California to pollinate almonds. Think of the stress on these bees: shipped hundreds of miles in tractor trailers, feeding on one pollen source that has been sprayed with pesticides, at the same time being exposed to mites and viruses from a new territory. And in Colorado, Australian honeybees are being imported to pollinate crops. These non-indigenous bees contain a new source of mites and viruses in which our native bees must build immunity. Unfortunately we don’t seem to have other short term choices in order to pollinate fruits and nuts we savior: almonds, pears, cherries, raspberries, and strawberries.

In the long term, this problem is exacerbated by the loss of beekeepers. The number of beekeepers that produce 6000 lb or more of honey annually has decreased from 3,000 to less than 1,000. No wonder bees must be shipped across country – there are simply not enough in California – and elsewhere - to pollinate crops. As beekeepers lose honeybees from CCD or other factors, they must decide whether the cost of purchasing new hives justify staying in business, and unfortunately, in recent years, it has made more economic sense to cease operations. Without relying on government bailouts - which create their own problems - any solution must increase the demand for honey products. With increased demand, at the very least, the rate of beekeeper loss will slow and quite possibly the number of beekeepers may even increase. How to increase demand? The average American consumes one and a half pounds of honey annually. A bottle of honey wine requires two pounds of honey. The math is simple – drinking two bottles of honey wine annually more than doubles the average consumption. We at Wine-Compass.com are striving to drink one bottle a month – not only to support the bees but as Medovina states, “Our honey wine is natural - the honey is made from 45 different types of wild pollen, sulfites are not added to the mead, and the operation is completely sustainable – no tractors or pesticide use.”

Mead Producers:

Medovina – Niwot, Colorado
Classic Mead; Sweet Melissa; Stinging Rose; Ancient Mead; Harvest Cyser; Paonia Peach

Linganore Wine Cellars – Mt. Airy, Maryland
Medieval Mead; Tej

Sky River Mead - Sultan, Washington
Sky River Sweet Mead; Sky River Semi-Sweet Mead; Sky River Dry Mead

Falcon Meadery and Winery – Sante Fe, New Mexico
Mountain Mead; Strawberry Mead, Blackberry Mead, Cherry Mead, Peach Mead, Raspberry Mead, Dry Peach Mead, Dry Blackberry Mead

Blacksnake Meadery – Dugspur, Virginia
Wildflower Honey Wine; Tupelo Honey Wine; Sourwood Honey Wine; Meloluna; Sweet Virginia; Cyser; Melomel; Pyment; Bee Brew with Hops; Bee Brew with Lime

New Day Meadery - Elwood, Indiana
Dry Mead; Dry Peach Honey Wine; Dry Blueberry Honey Wine; Dry Red Raspberry Honey; Semi-Dry Mead; Semi-Sweet Black Raspberry Honey Wine

Long Island Meadery – Holbrook, New York
Strawberry Mead; Peach Mead; Black Raspberry Mead; Strawberry/Raspberry Mead; Traditional Mead (Wildflower); Traditional Mead (Clover); Blueberry Mead; Pear Cyser; Pineapple Mead; Vanilla Mead; Apple Cyser; Red Raspberry Mead

White Winter Winery - Iron River, Wisconsin
Dry Mead; Sweet Mead; Black Harbor (Black Currant Honey Wine); Strawberry Mead; Black Mead; Cyser Apple Mead; Raspberry Mead; Blueberry Mead; Braggot (made with malt)

Earle Estates Meadery – Himrod, New York
Honey Mead Semi-Dry; Pear Mead; Traditional Honey Mead; Creamy Apricot; Cherry Charisma; Strawberry Shadows; Blackberry Blush; Apple Cyser; Honey Mead Semi-Sweet

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Linganore Wine Cellars - Swingin’ Blues Wine Festival

Today we attended one of Maryland’s best wine events, Linganore Wine Cellars’ Swingin’ Blues Wine Festival. This event included music by local legends the Kelly Bell Band and The Nighthawks as well as tours of the winery, crafts, seafood, and wine. Linganore is Maryland’s oldest and largest winery, growing from 6,000 bottles in 1976 to 600,000 today. They produce a wide array of wines (31 total), from dry reds – sweet whites – fruit wines. In 2005 their Merlot, made from grapes grown in southern Maryland, won the Governors Cup as the best wine made in the state that year. The Aellen family is also moving into its third generation, as the current winemaker Anthony is starting to pass over tour responsibilities and future winemaking to his daughter.

When we arrived at the festival, we realized we were too late to grab a good seat near the stage. We were already being directed to the back parking lot and we could see a literally a thousand people already picnicking, playing volleyball, and tasting wine. When we entered we stood near the stage to hear the last set of Kelly Bell, and then took the winery tour. The tour is highly recommended; you hear how Linganore started from a home wine making operation with a hand crusher to today’s automated processes. In between Mr. Aellen encourages his audience to drink what they enjoy – you either like a particular wine – or you don’t. The tour ends with a wine tasting in the new Chambourcin Tasting Room with a sampling of several wines not available in the main tasting tent. At this tasting, we tasted for the first time their Chambourcin, Traminette, and May wine. The Chambourcin is a good full bodied dry red wine that has a slightly spicy finish. The fact that Linganore makes a good Chambourcin is not a surprise since the grape thrives in the mid-Atlantic region. The Traminette is a much sweeter white wine that was a favorite at this outdoor event. The wine is also spicy – both in aroma and flavor – as compared to its Gewürztraminer “offspring”. Finally, the May wine was a pleasant surprise. This is a semi-sweet wine (4%RS) flavored with Woodruff. Like the German tradition, this wine is recommended for spring drinking, but like other seasonal wines, is worth drinking whenever.

By this time, the Nighthawks had started playing, so we quickly grabbed a bottle of Terrapin White, an off-dry Riesling and our favorite from Linganore, and found a seat in the terrace adjacent to the old tasting room. The Nighthawks have been a Washington D.C. favorite since the early 1970’s when the band was formed by front man\harmonica player Mark Wenner and guitarist Jimmy Thackery, and joined early on by bass player Jan Zukowski and drummer Pete Ragusa. After Thackery moved on to a successful solo career, Pete Kanaras finally joined the band in 1995 and the same players have been performing over 200 shows a year since. For the rest of the afternoon, the Nighthawks entertained the crowd with their Chicago Blues and James Brown styled soul.

During the Nighthawks session break, we ventured into the grand tasting tent to try their remaining wines. The Black Ravin is a good lighter style dry red wine whereas the Steeple Chase Red is an interesting sweet red wine that has hints of chocolate at the finish. Finally we liked two of their fruit wines; the Strawberry tastes exactly like biting into a large ripe berry, while the Raspberry was a little less pronounced, but more satisfying.

Besides the music and wines, Linganore is a great place to spend an afternoon. The volunteers are extremely friendly and enthusiastic in introducing the visitors to their wines. The Aellen family and staff are also wonderful hosts and provide an excellent service to local music lovers. Linganore has three other festivals this year, including the wildly popular Reggae fest in July; just plan on arriving early to get a good spot under the shady trees.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Linganore Winecellars - Maryland Merlot

This week we opened our last bottle of Linganore Winecellar's Maryland Merlot, the winner of the 2005 Governor's Cup. This is a great full-bodied wine, with a strong cherry nose and flavor. The finish is long and smooth. The grapes are from the Hemsley Fortune Vineyard in Queen Anne's County. Perhaps conditions in southern Maryland are similar to those in Long Island, because if you like Long Island Merlot, you will love this wine. We also recommend visiting Linganore Winecellars. They host several music festivals throughout the summer and fall such as the Caribbean Wine Festival, Swingin' Blues Wine Festival, and Reggae Wine Festival. And during the winery tour, Anthony Aellen, the winery’s owner, presents a colorful commentary of both his wine as well as the American wine industry in general. We will miss this wine. In a few weeks we will post on the 2006 Maryland Governor's Cup winner, Frederick Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 2001.