Not-So-Local Wine Lists

Farm-to-table restaurants are all the rage in the American dining scene. Real food, locally sourced, thoughtfully prepared. It’s great. Organic veggies, pasture-raised animals, seasonal selections, local beer, craft cocktails and international wines. No, seriously, there’s often not a single local wine on the list. Not even regional… No Maryland. No Virginia. No New York.

I would understand this situation if there weren’t seriously delicious wines being made in these regions. A restaurateur can’t ask a guest to tolerate a bad wine because it’s local any more than they can ask a guest to tolerate a bad steak because it’s local. But the fact is that local wine is making a serious run.

Eat local food, drink local wine.

Lenn Thompson, executive editor of The New York Cork Report, has long said, "Good wine can be made in any state — it just takes the right grapes in the right places handled by the right people." I love that. It’s true. A good vineyard site, meticulous farming, thoughtful cellar practices and personal commitment will yield wines that display complexity, character and, most importantly, are a joy to drink.

Don’t get me wrong, not all local wine is fit for a prestigious wine list. I get that. But just like any other ingredient, the best local wines are worth seeking out. And the best wines of a particular region should be featured by restaurants that preach farm-to-table.

Vignerons are farmers. Trust me, I know. At Old Westminster Winery, we pour our hearts and souls into growing great American wines on our Maryland farm. We’re working tirelessly on our mission to put Maryland wine on the world map. This starts with winning the minds of influential restaurateurs, chefs and sommeliers.

We are so thankful for the numerous and prestigious restaurants in our region that do feature our wines.

I don’t intend this blog post to shame or insult restauranteurs without local wines on their menus. Rather, I hope it inspires folks to recognize local wine as local agriculture and a serious and beautiful addition to any wine list.

If you’re not a restaurateur, then I strongly encourage you to make sure your favorite restaurants know that you want to see local wines on their lists. But don’t just ask for them, buy them.

Drink local wine.  It’s not only delicious, it’s meaningful.

Maryland Wine and a Sense of Place

“If we don’t make mistakes daily, we aren’t pushing the boundary and challenging the system enough.” - Antonio J. Lucio

Running a vineyard isn’t easy. We’ve heard some of the romantic ideas out there. Buy some land, plant some vines, and then relax on the porch beneath a dazzling sunset. All while sipping on a glass of your own delicious wine. Like a Tuscan tycoon.

Dream on. The wine business is arduous with a lot of unforeseen twists and turns. The ground only yields to hard-working hands. There are no shortcuts for producers that are bent on the best. It’s a long road with a lot of challenges along the way.

The reality of it is years of toil before a single wine is bottled, old-school farm work all year ‘round, a metric ton of paperwork, the task of branding in a highly competitive niche, the right kind of distribution choices, and convincing the world that your wine is exceptional.

But we’d be lying if we didn’t say it’s all worth it. Especially here in Maryland. Viticulture has been here since 1648. There’s something captivating about the responsibility of carrying that legacy on in a way that redeems many misgivings about Maryland wine.

"Wine being among the earliest luxuries in which we indulge ourselves, it is desirable it should be made here and we have every soil, aspect and climate of the best wine countries, and I have myself drank wines made in ... Maryland, of the quality of the best Burgundy."  - Thomas Jefferson, October 1, 1811.

And for us it isn’t about settling for any kind of status quo. And it isn’t about turning a buck. It’s about forging a new image for Maryland wine and earning respect in a meritocracy where criticism can be so unforgiving.

But we’re up for it. We’re bent on setting the bar high in Maryland. Come, taste and see what our hard-working hands can do.  

Maryland Wine is Getting imPRESSive

We’re excited about putting Maryland wine on the map! And what makes this even more thrilling is that we aren’t the only ones. The timing is aligning with a lot of interest in the press and it confirms to us that we’re well on our way.

Maryland is ready for the production of noteworthy wines.

Are you ready?!!

We’re grateful that news outlets like The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, New York Cork Report, Penn Live, and The Daily Record have all taken notice, and are sharing THE STORY.

Here's what the publications are saying...

The Washington Post

The Baltimore Sun

New York Cork Report

Penn Live

The Daily Record

Pét-nat! The New Vogue in Sparkling Wines

There’s a new sparkling wine on the scene. Okay, actually, it’s ancient. Pétillant naturel (commonly called "pét-nat") is an all-but-forgotten wine style enjoying revival. Pét-nat is popping again with the attention of sommeliers and wine enthusiasts around the globe. 

Venerable nouveau

This simple, natural style of sparkling wine made its debut in France’s Loire Valley half a millennia ago and is resurging in trending appreciation. Pétillant naturel (lit. “naturally sparkling”) also known as méthode ancestrale (ancestral method) is fresh and fizzy while displaying authentic handmade qualities. Educated and adventurous wine enthusiasts love her raw, unpolished vitality. Pét-nat is alive.  

How it’s made

Pét-nats are made by bottling still-fermenting wine under cap and allowing fermentation to finish in the bottle. As yeast converts sugar to alcohol, naturally occurring carbon dioxide makes the wine fizzy. Once fermentation is complete, the bottle cap and sediment are removed, and the bottle is recapped. That’s when pét-nat is ready to be chilled for a sunny spring day. This ancestral method pre-dates Champagne and unlike the “Champagne method” which undergoes a second fermentation by adding sugar and yeast, the ancestral method allows the initial fermentation to finish in bottle without any additives. 

Why it’s popular

Beyond the fact that it’s downright delicious, pét-nat doesn’t have any additives, there’s no blending, and the all-natural process is a direct reflection of the vineyard and the vintage. Once the still-fermenting juice is bottled, you don’t taste it again until it’s in your glass. This makes it a little unpredictable, and that spontaneity is one reason why it’s so popular.

Welcome her to Maryland! 

Old Westminster Winery is set to release the first two pét-nat wines ever made in the Old Line State this spring. 

The first is handcrafted from Albariño grapes grown in the rocky soils of their Home Vineyard. A timely harvest on September 2, 2015 captured freshness and bracing acidity from the vineyard. Fermented spontaneously with wild yeast in stainless steel. Just before fermentation was complete, 400 bottles were hand bottled and capped on September 19, 2015. This wine offers a dazzling and vivid expression of Albariño -- high acidity, apricots and limes, distinctive texture and only 11% alcohol by volume.

The second is handcrafted from Grüner Veltliner grown at Cool Ridge Vineyard on a limestone hillside in western Maryland. A timely harvest on September 8, 2015 captured beautiful, ripe flavors and balanced acidity from the vineyard. Fermented spontaneously with wild yeast in stainless steel. Just before fermentation was complete, 1,000 bottles were hand bottled and capped on September 23, 2015. Pét-nat Grüner is funky and delicious. Minerally, viscous and fresh; A treat for all wine geeks.

Old Westminster's team is especially passionate about this project because they love crafting wines that reflect the vineyard. These wines offer an authentic expression of the Old Line State – refreshing, distinct and intriguing.

Catch pét-nat before she's gone!