Carroll Wine Trail: Maryland’s Newest
Vines on the hillside at Galloping Goose Vineyards in Carroll County, MD
Despite the 100+ temperatures, I trekked from Columbia to Carroll County to bring you this report from the newly-inaugurated Carroll Wine Trail, which officially opened on July 7. All three wineries in the trail – Cygnus, Galloping Goose, and Serpent Ridge – are relatively new on the scene but are doing great things. More importantly, these three pioneering wineries have helped transform agricultural Carroll County into a destination for tourist and homebuyers alike. I smell a brilliant marketing scheme by the county economic development board!
But enough about that. Let’s talk about some wine!
Working from north to south (so you have the shortest drive home from the last winery, obviously), your first stop is Cygnus Winery (twitter: @cygnuswine) in Manchester, Maryland, only about 15 miles from the Pennsylvania border. The label grows a few grapes and imports the rest from nearby vineyards, maintaining a local character in their wine. Winemaker Ray opened Cygnus about 15 years ago in 1996. Perhaps best known for their premium sparkling wines – the Royele blanc de blanc was recently selected for Governor O’Malley’s “Buy Local Week” kick-off event – this winery offered the most selection of the day. You’ll find a number of reds, whites and desert wines on the tasting sheet too. I already have a bottle on Cygnus Red on my shelf from a recent wine festival, so this time I left with a bottle of their chardonnay. For a no-oak chard (and I love me some oak), I found this one very balanced and not overly fruity or acidic.
The tasting room at Galloping Goose. You can't see it here but on the far side, they actually have a green roof covered in cacti.
Next stop, just a few miles from Cygnus, you’ll arrive at Galloping Goose. Another Carroll County wine pioneer, most of their grapes actually go to other wineries. What they do keep, though, makes some excellent wine. Galloping Goose only offers a handful of wines but each represents the best of their skill and expertise. I left the winery with two bottles, their chambourcin and cabernet sauvingnon. The former is light but successfully avoids the cough-medicine-cherry flavor you find in some chambourcins. They recommend serving it chilled which suited me just fine on such a hot day. The latter cab is their most complex wine, a little bit heavy on the tannins now but something I think will age well. One more interesting note: their blueberry dessert wine is made using grape yeast, which gives it a very different character from typical fruit wines that use a special fruit wine yeast. Who knew the little devils were so specific?
Last up is Serpent Ridge (twitter: @SerpentRidge, and they’re on facebook), about 30 minutes south in Westminster, MD. I first discovered them at the Drink Local Wine conference in Virginia and find myself unable to resist either of their fantastic red wines which sit atop the ‘premium’ end of the Maryland wine scene, perhaps even more so than Black Ankle (gasp!). Their Basilisk Red and Vintner’s Reserve, both red blends, are among the best I’ve tasted in the state and the latter already holds a number of awards both in the US and internationally. High demand and limited supply limits their festival appearance schedule, but make sure you try both when you see them at the Maryland wine festival. I took home a bottle of the Basilisk but only picked it over the superior Vintner’s because I couldn’t do the over $30 price tag at the end of the day. Yes, they do have some whites too, but dry complex reds are my favorite and somewhat of a rarity in the local scene. Forgive me that they captured my undivided attention!
My haul from the weekend - four bottles of wine and a glossy brochure!
And that, friends, is the full scope of the Carroll Wine Trail. Look for other wineries to open soon, though, as two more hope to open tasting rooms by 2012. The whole trail is an easy afternoon drive from Baltimore or Columbia and well worth a visit. Props to Carroll County, too, for embracing the local wine movement as a way to preserve their agricultural heritage. I could think of a few other Maryland counties that might learn a thing or two here… ::cough cough:: Howard ::cough::.
Make sure to follow vinotrip on twitter (@vinotrip) for play-by-play action on wine adventures in Maryland and beyond! Check out the feed for notes from the road this weekend with observations from the road, immediate impressions and other random stuff.
Until next time,
-Matt
July 26th, 2010 at 11:36 am
I think we tasted Serpent Ridge at the Maryland Wine Festival, and I don’t remember being blown away. But I’ve been meaning to get up to Westminster sometime (Went to school at the College Formerly Known as Western Maryland), so I’ll definitely try to check them out.