Winter Wine is Maryland’s premiere wine event and one of the best wine events on the East Coast. The sparkling wine reception had five of Maryland’s sparkling wine producers pouring tastings of sparkling wines. There was an assortment of bubbles crafted from different varietal grapes. The one that caught my attention was Old Westminister Winery’s Pétillant-naturel Albariño. This sparkling wine is made with Albariño grapes, a variety that is showing much promise in Maryland vineyards. The wine was not disgorged, but rather left in the bottle with the sediment from the secondary fermentation. That sediment did not appear in the glass though.

While waiting in line for a sparkling wine tasting, we met Katie and Tom Scott who were attending their first Winter Wine event. They were accompanied by Scott’s parents, Jeff and Linda Scott. Both couples had been tasting Maryland wines for a few years. Katie and Scott mentioned that they like smaller producers. Scott advised, “Check it out.”

Tricia McGrath and Steve Linhard had been exploring Maryland wines for five years. The Winter Wine event had been a Christmas present. They were impressed with the beautiful venue at the B&O Railroad Museum. Both felt that the red wines outshined the white wines, a sentiment that was heard by others during the evening.

Frank Schrom has been tasting Maryland wines for two decades. He mentioned, that during that time, the wineries have moved from sweeter wine portfolios to a dry portfolio.

Cephas Thornton (pictured) has been tasting Maryland wines for five years. He enjoys Maryland wines; purchasing several bottles at the event. Cephas praised the Winter Wine event saying, “It was nicely done.”

The takeaways for the evening was that there were many first-time event attendees. Many people I spoke with enjoyed the red wines a bit more than the white wines. All of the people praised the B&O Railroad Museum venue for this event. The atmosphere was a bit more polished, not quite formal, but far away from t-shirts and jeans.

The Winter Wine event is held yearly near the end of January. Watch for the event on the Maryland Wine website.

Cheers,
Terry