This weekend I set off for a little travel adventure within my own state, the great state of Maryland. When my friends Vicky and Adena mentioned the idea of visiting a winery in Maryland, my initial thought was not extreme excitement. After all, I’ve had the pleasure of visiting vineyards in Spain, Italy, and California. Let’s be honest, Maryland was not on my list of must visit vineyards. I don’t think I even realized that we made wine in this state. But I love a good group adventure, so I was up for the journey.
On Saturday afternoon, we headed out to Black Ankle Vineyards in Mt Airy, MD. Vicky and Adena are fabulous planners, so they had treats for everyone on the bus ride out and prepared lunch for the group to eat at the winery. Our friend Jennifer works at Black Ankle and introduced us to the wines and gave us a lovely tour of the property.
Black Ankle was purchased in 2002 and is approximately 43 acres. Their tasting room was built in 2008 and is a perfect set up with a beautiful view of the fields. Their first harvest from the entire vineyard was in 2006 and they hand-pick all of their grapes. I believe she also said that they are the only MD vineyard to produce wine solely from grapes harvested from their own fields.
Wine picks: My favorite wine from our tastings was the 2009 Gruner Veltliner. Jen allowed me to taste her bottle of their 2009 Albarino which was superb! However, I couldn’t buy it because I am not a case club member. Very sad. Anyway, we had a great time in Mt Airy. Vicky and Adena did a fabulous job of putting the trip together and I hope to visit Black Ankle again. Maybe next time I’ll join the club.
Next week I leave for Anchorage, Alaska. I cannot wait to go back to Alaska and visit Denali National Park and see some glaciers. I went to high school in Fairbanks, but this will be my first time visiting Alaska as a tourist. Good times!
Hey! You’re on my blog roll. Have fun in alaska and can’t wait to read about it!!