The wine selection leans somewhat more towards reds and definitely stays in the dry territory. Roy told us his goal is to emulate the style of wines produced in Rhone and Burgundy, which typically feature blends of several grapes to bring out unique flavors in the final product. Although eastern and central France share some of Maryland’s “continental” climate type marked by warm/hot summers and cool/cold winters, our soil types are pretty different, and in recognition of that you’ll see a familiar set of ingredients in said blends – cabernets, chambourcin, petit verdot, and chardonnay. However, Royal Rabbit is also pushing forward and experimenting with some new varieties for the region, like the white wine grape marsanne.

Overall, I was really impressed by their set of wines, both in terms of the quality and the number (11 in total) for such a new winery. The winemaker does have a number of years’ experience in winemaking, coming up through the ranks of amateur winemakers – the “homebrew” club of the wine world – that give him years of experience in that department. That experience really came out strongly in the professionally-finished feel of these wines. Of course I found myself drawn to the cabernet sauvignon (“The Count”), but would recommend trying any and all of them, including a dry-style rose that sacrifices none of the complexities found in a solid table wine. The chambourcin is also a strong offering in an increasingly crowded space – I still think Knob Hall does the best chambourcin in the state, but Royal Rabbit’s take on the grape is well-balanced and goes easy on the cherry flavors that can be overwhelming in other interpretations.

Due to limited production capacity, Royal Rabbit will be very limited in terms of festival attendance during 2012, so your best bet is to make the trek up 83 to Parkton, which is just south of the MD-PA border in Baltimore County (on of the Piedmont Wine Trail, if you’re keeping score at home – although they’re considering a switch to the multi-state Mason-Dixon wine trail given the vineyard’s proximity to PA). And although the holidays delayed my writing this post by a few weeks, the timing does allow me to include a mention of their upcoming “Woodwinds and Wine” event on January 28, featuring a variety of chamber music performances. Not sure any of the Vinotrip staff will make it out to that, so please let us know in the comments if you get up there!

With that cheerful image in your minds, I present a couple new things I’ll be trying in 2012 to break myself from my rut:

Sparkling Wine from Great Shoals: The Spencerville Red Apple got rave reviews in Colesville Patch this past fall, and I tasted some really nice sparkling wines at Eat Drink Go Local in Silver Spring last November. I usually don’t care for sparkling wines, so a trip down to Great Shoals is in order.

Sparkling Cabernet from Serpent’s Ridge: Thanks to Paul Vigna for alerting me to this one. I’m not huge on sparkling wines, as I said above, but if it’s from Serpent’s Ridge, it’s worth a try.

Oaked Chambourcin from Layton’s Chance: Layton’s Chance announced this in October, but I haven’t gotten down to see them yet and taste it. I’ll admit, though, that since I do like oaked wines (!), this isn’t really taking me out of my comfort zone.

The Mason-Dixon Wine Trail: Paul Vigna detailed this in September, but I haven’t been able to get up there. While I’ve been to Boordy and Fiore, I haven’t been to many Pennsylvania wineries, and I’d like that to change.

Aliceanna Winery: One of Maryland’s newest, it’s in Baltimore City. But because regulations prevent tastings on site, this is one I’ll be looking for at festivals.

New Maryland Wineries: Detour (western Carroll County),

For anyone uninitiated in the art of crowd sourcing, it is a practice made possible by the rise of connected media and the culture of sharing driven by social networks. The premise is that an organization or company asks their fans and followers to generate assets on their behalf, from content for journalists to logo design. Logic states that the wisdom of the crowd outweighs (or at least, is cheaper than) the wisdom of the few. I’m pretty sure Mr. Spock even said something like that once.

So, what is the connection with wine? Well, over the years I’ve heard that a number of wineries invite case club members to events that let them create custom blends, sometimes even releasing the better ones for sale. And there are at least a couple places in the region that invite amateurs to make their own wine under the guidance of experts. But I admit even I was surprised to receive this email from a California winery a few days ago:

With people from all of the world participating and two winemaking decisions already made, it’s now time for your next decisions as winemaker in [redacted] Vineyards’ Crowd-Made Wine Project!

• At what level should we set the rollers for crush?

• What yeast strain should we use in fermentation?

• What fermentation tannin should we use?

Yes, current marketing theory also suggests that brands who engage their most loyal fans in these participatory efforts, they’ll maintain brand loyalty and possibly help promote the brand through word of mouth, aka earned media. But do you really want a wine developed at this level of detail by a popular vote instead of the authoritarian hand of a master winemaker? I think you’ll agree that sometimes what you need most is a strong hand to cut through the noise and skip the compromises – a Captain Kirk figure, if you will, to extend my earlier metaphor.

How interested are you, as a consumer, in playing the role of armchair winemaker? Or in tasting the results? Is this a sign of things to come, or just a marketing gimmick?

In addition to my own interview with Sarah O’Herron of Black Ankle Vineyards, several other winemakers were interviewed, quoted, and blogged about by area press leading up to this past weekend’s Festival. Some even blogged themselves!  Almost all of them said something to the tune of “festivals are a lot of work, but it’s fun.”

As volunteers for the Maryland Wine Association and its Premier Tent, we didn’t do much that felt like work. I was handing out the Riedel red wine glasses the MWA provided for the premier ticket holders, and Matt was pouring the lighter white wines. Along the way we talked to long time festival attendees, new Premier Tent guests, winery staff, MWA personnel, and other volunteers. It was a really interesting way to learn about wine and the industry (already two more stories coming together for you, dear reader).

We had upgraded our volunteer passes for the day, so we got to taste the wines ourselves once our shift was done. The red wines definitely showed better in the larger glass, and it certainly didn’t hurt the whites! I was intrigued to taste four chardonnays from four different wineries, as well as several different cabernet sauvignons (a few of which we came home with). I also found quite possibly the only dessert wine I didn’t care for, although the majority were fantastic.

We also had the chance to spend a little bit of time out in the field. While the wines in the tent were certainly worth it (not to mention the food), I looked forward to seeing a little more of each winery’s offerings. We made a point to get to Serpent Ridge, Running Hare, and Bordeleau before the pouring ended at 6. I can highly recommend visits to all three wineries, or at least catching them during a festival. Serpent Ridge is working with some grapes unique to our area, and Running Hare had an extremely good malbec. Bordeleau offers a steel-fermented chardonnay, a French-oak-fermented chardonnay, and an American-oak-fermented chardonnay, all different, so you could really taste how the vessel affected the wine.

All in all, a good time, even despite Saturday’s chilly rain. We came home with Sugarloaf Mountain chardonnay; cabernet sauvignon from DeJon, Elk Run, and Boordy (their Landmark Reserve); the Woodhall Parkton Prestige; and the Running Hare Jack Rabbit Red to mull. Kudos to the MWA for running an extremely well organized and enjoyable festival.

If you missed the festival, most wineries are open this fall during the weekends at the very least. Many wineries are also hosting harvest, crushing, or festival events. The Chesapeake and Piedmont wine trails are holding wine and crush events this weekend. October 1-2 the Riverside Wine Festival takes place at Sotterly Plantation. If you go, please take the opportunity and taste what’s available. As some other wine bloggers have noted recently, if you only taste what you know you’ll like, you may miss out on some really nice wines that are right up your alley. And finding those wines is half the fun.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve gotten curious about these competitions. Particularly at established wineries, I often feel I enter the tasting room to see a whole row of be-medaled bottles. How big a deal are competitions if every wine at every winery has won an award?

I was lucky enough, though, to speak to Sarah O’Herron, one of the proprietors of Black Ankle Vineyards recently. Why not go to the experts?

And experts they do seem to be. Ms. O’Herron said that Black Ankle has won the Governor’s Cup three of the four years it has been producing wine, and now only do that competition. This competition is coordinated by the Maryland Wineries Association, although Black Ankle gets invitations from plenty of other competitions, many privately run. However, with a small production and their focus on the Maryland wine market, entering other festivals isn’t always worth the extra publicity. Indeed, most of Black Ankle’s customers are already familiar with the Maryland Governor’s Cup.

I was curious. I’ve entered peach preserves in the state fair before, but what’s this competition like?

First, once a winemaker decides to enter a competition, he or she takes care of an entry fee and sends in the wine. For Black Ankle, the Governor’s Cup is a little easier because “we can just drop off the wines in Annapolis,” explained Ms. O’Herron. She hasn’t judged competitions herself, but judges may be wine writers, restaurant staff, or other industry experts. They taste and rate each wine, tabulating the results to find the wine with the highest score, and assign medals from there. Competition staff will call or email with results before the public announcement is made. Of course, the Governors’ Cup results are conveniently announced only a few weeks before the state wine festival. In fact, Ms. O’Herron told me that, several years ago, participation in the festival was a requirement for participation in the competition (they’re both run by the Maryland Wineries Association). At this point, though, the festival gets so much participation the requirement has been relaxed.

Actually, I hadn’t remembered seeing Black Ankle at the last few festivals I’d been to. I’d heard that they just didn’t have enough wine to sell it at festivals in addition to the sales at the winery, but was that just hearsay?

“We don’t have enough wine to go to festivals,” Ms. O’Herron confirmed. As an estate winery, only using grapes grown on their own acreage, they can only grow so many grapes and ferment so much wine. “You pour so much wine at festivals,” and many festival goers are not looking for higher end wines, including the dry reds that Black Ankle is known for. Black Ankle will have wines at the premier tent, though: “if our wine won [the Governor's Cup], we should be there.” Further, participating in a festival means printing banners, setting up tables, acquiring tents, finding pourers, etc.

But it’s a lot of fun if wineries do go. “And it normally works great for other wineries,” said Ms. O’Herron, noting that each winery has its own marketing plan.

And Black Ankle itself is expanding. They doubled their plantings this spring, and hope to harvest in 2013 and release those wines in 2014 and 2015. A subsequent return to festivals such as this weekend’s event in Westminster is possible, but it depends on whether the market leaves enough wine to go to festivals.

It’s a shame: I remember Black Ankle being some of the first dry reds I truly liked, and I haven’t been to the winery in a couple years now. But Black Ankle does distribute to about 150 stores and restaurants. And while I’m waiting to get back up to the winery in Mt. Airy, roughly four dozen other Maryland Wineries are participating in this weekend’s Maryland Wine Festival.

I hope to see you there this weekend! (The Baltimore Sun rates it the number one thing to do this weekend.) The weather is supposed to be about 70 degrees and sunny. Don’t forget sunscreen, water, and a snack; eat well before you go, or plan to get food from the many vendors there. Also, if you forget your wine tote, I’ve noticed a lot of wineries now carry their own, so you can get one on site. Try a wine you don’t think you’d like, and find something you’d like a bottle of.

As one last note, I highly suggest carpooling to one of the satellite lots at Carroll Community College or Carroll County’s government offices park and taking a bus in, and please, please, drive only when sober or designate a driver.

TONIGHT – if you’re getting a head start on your weekend, I can recommend Boordy’s Good Life Market. Wine, burgers, local products, and live music from 4-8. And you don’t even have to pull out your tux.

If one night of wine, food, and music isn’t enough, Layton’s Chance is hosting a Happy Hour and buffet – with karaoke! – from 5:30 to 9 on Friday. It sounds like a good, low-key affair – at one of Maryland’s newest wineries.

Also Friday night, Legends Vineyard is coordinating a cruise on the skipjack Martha Lewis from 7-9. Gotta love them for going above and beyond the typical wine-tasting-and-food routine. Information is a little sparse online, but reservations are required, and a phone number is listed.

Eastern Yacht Club holds their Bayside Blues and Wine Festival Saturday from 1-7 in Middle River, featuring blues, zydeco, rhythm and blues, Maryland wines, and beautiful views of the bay. (via East Coast Wineries)

For the landlubbers among us, a little more inland is the Briggs Chaney-Greencastle Farmers’ and Artisans’ Market in Silver Spring. Open from ten til two on Saturday, they’re hosting a tasting of international foods and Maryland wines. (Note: The listing on VisitMontgomery.Com says it’s free, but I’d trust the admission information from the Market’s website: while admission to the market is free, the tasting is $15, or $10 in advance. )

There are tons of other events going on this weekend, and occasionally during the week: this is just a sampling. We won’t post an event round up every week, so I suggest bookmarking Maryland Wine’s Events Page and the calendar page of your favorite winery. Enjoy!

There’s been a fair amount of buzz about newly opened Great Shoals Winery, all of it good. Operating in Mount Vernon, Maryland (not the Virginia farm or Baltimore square, but in Somerset County), Great Shoals snagged a couple of awards for their sparkling ciders earlier this spring. They’ve been distributing in central Maryland and on the Eastern Shore.

Right now, they’re only open for tastings by appointment, and we haven’t had a chance to drive down. Has anyone been? What are your impressions?

I finally found information about volunteering at the Maryland Wine Festival next month, which again, I highly recommend (my tendency to say yes to volunteer gigs between the Potomac and the Mason-Dixon aside). While I’m not always a big people person, the chance to interact with people who truly love wine, and to interact in person with out a screen in between, was pretty darn cool.

There are several ways to volunteer: Check in with your favorite Maryland winery, and call or email them – many are looking for volunteers now. Many ask volunteers for a couple hours of work before you’re free to enjoy the festival.

You can also work the front gate – checking IDs, attaching wristbands, and handing out glasses. As per the press release from the Carroll County Government, you can “contact Roger Hardman, Volunteer Coordinator at 410-386-3891, or call the Farm Museum office at 410-386-3880″.

Hope to see you there!

Three cheers and a pop of the cork for Cygnus winemaker Ray Brasfield, whose Royele Rose’ de Noir Brut Rose was featured at last Thursday’s Governor’s Buy Local Cookout, according to an article in the Baltimore Sun.

Maryland has a number of vintages grown between the Potomac and the Mason-Dixon, but I’m not sure people often think of a sparkling wine. Further, as Brasfield told Sun reporter Bob Allen, the wine is made from the Chancellor grape, a French-American hybrid found on the Atlantic Seaboard but not commonly here in Maryland.

Not only does this help raise the visibility of Cygnus Wine Cellars and Maryland Wine in general, but it answers concerns about locavore movements forgetting local wine. Even more exciting, this is apparently the second year Cygnus has sent a sparkling wine to the Governor’s table, according to one of Matt’s posts last summer.

Have you had the Cygnus sparkling? How did it meet your expectations?

The future tasting room site atop a hill at Big Cork Vineyards. Vines planted this spring are visible in the background.

About a month ago, I had the distinct pleasure to attend a preview event for what promises to be the next big thing (pun intended) on the Maryland wine scene: Washington County’s Big Cork Vineyards, a collaboration between the Thompson family (of Thompson Gas fame) and Virginia wine all-star Dave Collins (formerly of Breaux Vineyards). Vineyard owner Randy Thompson pulled off a huge coup earlier this year in luring Dave away from Breaux where, as the winemaker, he won a whole bunch of prestigious awards for the Loudon County property in northern Virginia. Now he’ll take on the challenge of a brand new venture on the other side of the Potomac.

Dave is a long-time Virginia resident, where he studied horticulture at Virginia Tech. His interest in wine propelled him to the venerable viticulture program at UC Davis before he returned to ply his trade  in the old dominion state. His efforts managing Breaux’s 100+ acres of vines lifted the winery from a startup experiment to a leader in the state’s booming wine industry.

Another view from the Big Cork Vineyards hilltop - down into the valley below.

The new 22-acre vineyard (with plans to grow to 30) just went in. They have yet to break ground on the tasting room. But the promise of a premier wine maker backed by a serious investor in the state of Maryland drew an impressive crowd for the preview, including Dave McIntyre from the Post and a number of Virginia bloggers.

However, we should start to get a taste of what’s to come sooner rather than later as the winery plans to begin production using locally-sourced grapes while the new vines mature. Personally thought I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do with some of the varieties we don’t see very often in Maryland: Nebbiolo, Barbera, and Malbec are all in the ground.

Exciting times for Maryland wine ahead – we recently reached the 50 winery milestone and direct shipping makes it easier for in-state wineries to distribute product outside of the traditional (and often uninterested) channels. The positive momentum here – and in Virginia and Pennsylvania, for that matter – can hopefully continue to attract talented winemakers to the region.

I’ll drink to that!