Old Westminster Named 2023 Best of Baltimore winner!

We are thrilled to sharethe incredible newsthat Old Westminsterhas been recognized by Baltimore Magazine asa 2023 Baltimore BestWinnerandawarded Editor's Choice for"Top Foodie Field Trip" in Maryland!

This recognition fills us with immense pride and joy. It wouldn't be possible without the unwavering support of our community. Your enthusiasm for our wood-fired pizzas and exceptional local fare has been the driving force behind our continuous efforts to create amazing meals to pair with our wines. 

We want to first acknowledge the amazing farmers who grow the exceptional ingredients we source for our wood fired pizzas and dishes. It is their commitment to working with the land, seeking quality and sustainability, that makes our food truly unique and memorable. We also want to extend heartfelt appreciation to our incredible team, whose hard work and dedication make the experience truly outstanding! 

As we celebrate this honor, we are excited to share with you our new August menu -- showcasing incredible summer flavors like Maryland sweet corn, peaches, and fresh blue crab from the Chesapeake! 

Thank you for being an integral part of our wine community. Your support and enthusiasm inspire us. We look forward to welcoming you back to the farm soon.

A year in Community: 2022

We’re struck with an overwhelming sense of gratitude as 2022 draws to a close. We had an incredible year — despite some life-altering challenges — and we couldn’t have done it without you. We cherish the privilege to not only steward our land and produce wines that bring you joy, but also to nourish and serve our community. There’s always a lot to recall, so we pause and reflect. What have we learned? How have we overcome challenges? How can we best navigate the opportunities that 2023 will bring? How can we use our wines to address real world needs? 

In the spirit of reflection and gratitude we wanted to share a few highlights from this year with you:

• Drew’s Health: Our family and team have never been more sure that what is truly meaningful is the gift of being together. After two years of remaining apart during the pandemic, this year was looking to be especially full of love, laughter, and togetherness. In early April, our family was hit with devastating news — Drew, one of our founders, had Leukemia, once again forcing separation from family and friends. Drew's livelihood is community-driven and not being with loved ones, missing meaningful events, and not being able to spend his days on the farm with the team was devastating. After nine grueling months of intense treatments, procedures, tests, and a successful bone marrow transplant, we are thrilled to report that Drew’s cancer is in remission!

• The Winter Greenhouses: As we entered the winter season, we knew we wanted to create something special: something where people would be able to gather and make meaningful memories with those closest to them, even on the coldest winter nights. So, in November, we launched our Winter Greenhouses — the embodiment of our dedication and passion to providing experiences that draw people together. Our Greenhouses were designed and built by hand by our family. We worked diligently on prototypes all autumn long until we were satisfied with the details. We now have thirteen beautiful Greenhouses that host up to eight guests, and three larger Greenhouses that seat up to twelve guests. Each Greenhouse is heated and cozy for those windy winter days and cold evenings. Twinkling lights and fresh garland are strung and lit to mark the arrival of the holidays. Wine and food are brought table side so you can spend as much time as possible with the ones you love. The joy they have brought friends and families near and far is the joy we needed this season.  

• Brunch and a Pasty Chef: In 2022, we expanded our offerings to include a brunch program! We offer fresh baked donuts, savory treats and pastries all day long! In the bakery, Chef Jeanine uses organically grown flour from our farm in Clarksburg, Maryland, Burnt Hill, as the base to all of her creations. Her love for baking started at a young age making cherry pies from scratch with her grandmother. Born and raised in Maryland, Jeanine has a passion for showcasing local flavors in her pastries. She has a Bachelor's degree in baking and says, "to me, there's nothing better than seeing food come full circle. The mission here aligns very much with my own, and I think it speaks volumes about a place where they desire to support other local small businesses and communities, use the very best ingredients, and don't cut corners with quality. I’m thankful for their talent and passion in both cooking and agriculture. I hope you come by to enjoy it."

• Artisanal Coffee and a Barista: Our Lead Barista, Kenzie Contestabile, is an innovator in the world of coffee, and we are thrilled to have her at the helm of our portafilters! Utilizing artisanal coffee from Black Acres Roastery in Baltimore, Kenzie is committed to crafting the best cup! She has always loved curating experiences that make people feel special and valued. When she started her career as a barista in sunny Florida, she quickly realized her passion for understanding the elements that make perfect espresso. It's not just a drink—it's love and creativity in a cup! After 5 years as a lead barista at a premium coffee shop in her home state, (Axum Coffee Co.) she joined the Old Westminster team and looks forward to making you an intentionally crafted coffee at your next weekend brunch visit!

• Our first Ready-To-Drink spritz!: In 2022, we introduced Ver Juicy! Made from green, underripe grapes that are bright and tart — “verjus” is the by-product of good farming. To encourage vine balance, we "green harvest" our vineyards each summer. This involves removing excess grape clusters while they’re still mostly green, reducing crop level and improving the quality of the remaining grapes. We green harvest during a stage in the vine's lifecycle called veraison, a term meaning "the onset of ripening.” Although many grape growers simply drop green fruit to the ground, we resolve to let nothing go to waste. We carefully handpick the green clusters and press them in the winery to make verjus — or should we say Ver Juicy! A delightful blend of verjus, rosé wine and sparkling water. Enjoy from the bottle or over ice! Aromas & flavors: orange peel, lemon meringue, mandarin jam, lime zest, blood orange.

• Summer Solstice Festival: After a two year interlude, we once again hosted our Summer Solstice Festival at Burnt Hill Farm and were able to celebrate the longest days of the year with friends near and far. Summer Solstice is a celebration of the best low-intervention winemakers from around the world under a giant circus tent atop a wild hillside. The festival is all about discovering the beauty of regenerative farming and soulful wine in an undomesticated environment. We had over 50 incredible producers pouring at the event and over 1000 attendees. We opened our farm for an outdoor gathering featuring winemakers, farmers, artists, musicians and purveyors from near and far. Our guests were able to sample 200+ unique wines, eat amazing food, listen to unique music and enjoy our stunning hillside.

• Salt & Pepper: In 2022 we released a new duo of food and wallet friendly blends made for everyday drinking! Salt & Pepper were dreamed up by our Somm, Joey, who wanted us to prove we can make world class wines in Maryland for $25 or less. They were produced and blended by our dynamic winemaking duo, Lisa and Erin. Beautiful art and calligraphy were created by our creative team, Taylor & Maggie. The whole team was in on this! 2021 Salt is a blend of 85% Skin-Contact Grüner Veltliner, 10% Chardonnay, 5% Albariño -- it's bright and juicy with fresh acidity and those mouthwatering saline notes that will have you saying "pass the salt"! 2020 Pepper is a blend of 50% Cabernet Franc, 30% Blaufränkisch, 20 Chambourcin -- it's rich and ripe with soft tannins and those spicy pyrazine notes you would expect from a wine called "Pepper."

We talk a lot about the importance of shopping local, supporting small farms and consuming wine and food with a sense of place. We believe that supporting local farms is essential to our communities! As local farmers and makers, we want to produce wines that speak for themselves and cultivate a community of customers who not only purchase our wines because they love them, but also because they know we support bigger causes. We hope our simple approach inspires you to discover a way to give back to your community to meet the needs of others.

This year, we felt the overwhelming sense of your support and love! We sincerely could not do it without you. Here's to discovering the new opportunities 2023 will present us.

Much Love,

SALT + PEPPER: a co-release of food and wallet friendly blends made for everyday drinking.

Introducing our newest releases — SALT AND PEPPER.

Dreamed up by our Somm, Joey, who wanted us to prove we can make world class wines in Maryland for $25 or less. Produced and blended by our dynamic winemaking duo Lisa and Erin. Beautiful art and calligraphy by our creative team Taylor & Maggie. The whole team is in on this!

2021 Salt is a blend of 85% Skin-Contact Grüner Veltliner, 10% Chardonnay, 5% Albariño -- it's bright and juicy with fresh acidity and those mouthwatering saline notes that will have you saying "pass the salt"!

2020 Pepper is a blend of 50% Cabernet Franc, 30% Blaufränkisch, 20 Chambourcin -- it's rich and ripe with soft tannins and those spicy pyrazine notes you would expect from a wine called "Pepper."

These are our first wines finished with a screw cap -- we're always trying new things and screw caps are a fantastic closure for fresh wines with no risk of TCA ‘Cork’ Taint and they're user friendly for your kitchen table.

We hope you enjoy this a co-release of food and wallet friendly blends made for everyday drinking.

Maryland’s First Winery to have a Licensed Outdoor Restaurant

Old Westminster Winery is officially Maryland’s first winery to have a licensed outdoor restaurant at our farm!

The Backstory

A year ago, we transitioned from celebrating the onset of spring to a stark and sudden need for social distancing, empty buildings and farming through a pandemic.

Our heartbeat has always been to create wines and experiences that connect people with our farm. Suddenly our parking lot was empty, the tasting room was closed, and all activities were postponed indefinitely. We had to completely change the way we interacted with our customers, absorb the shock, feel disappointment, and then get up, put on our face masks, and figure out our new reality.

How did we change and adapt? One way was by launching a new outdoor wood-fired restaurant on the farm called Eat Pizza Together!
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Eat Pizza Together is a dining experience bringing together the bounty and tastes of Maryland to those around your table. We’re showcasing more than a dozen local farms and sourcing carefully grown produce, crafted cheeses & meats to be savored atop a handmade pizza crust cooked in a seasoned brick oven.

We got started with nothing more than two brick ovens (purchased from a Baltimore-based restaurant that did not survive the pandemic), a James Beard nominated Chef (recently unemployed by the pandemic) and a vision for the future. All of our ingredients are sourced from the Mid-Atlantic’s finest farms and our oven is fueled by local oak, hickory and cherrywood.

This project is about so much more than simple food with a compelling story – it’s a mission to support farmers, provide good jobs and nourish our community. We're achieving this by offering a deeper food and wine experience rooted in local agriculture that is totally delicious and approachable! We welcome guests to make a reservation, show up and let us take them on a food and wine experience that is fun and uniquely Maryland.

We’re supporting farmers

When we talk about supporting local farms, it’s not in the token way that so many fake farm to table restaurants do. We put our money where our mouth is. In our first four months of business, we purchased $48,648.00 of raw ingredients (flour, produce, cheese, cured meats, honey, sunflower oil, etc.) directly from more than a dozen farms within 100 miles of our oven. Shepherds Manor Creamery in New Windsor – Maryland’s first and only sheep-milking dairy farm – hand delivers us an average of 80 pounds of cheese per week! This is a particularly rewarding relationship because our entire team spent a day at Shepherds Manor Creamery participating in the lambing process and now we're making pizzas with cheese made from the sheep we cared for the very next weekend!

We source pepperonis, cured meats, and sausages from Meat Crafters in Landover, Maryland. They provide high quality meats that are locally sourced and produced in small batches. We even brought them four of our own pigs that we raised at Burnt Hill Farm to be processed into fuet, cacciatore, truffle and porcini salamis that are on our menu every weekend!

We source small lots of stoneground flour from Migrash Farm in Randallstown, Maryland to make our amazing dough. Migrash grows grains organically in the Chesapeake Bay region and stone grinds at low temperatures to preserve the nutrition, tastes, and artisanal culture that nature intended.

We source high quality, sustainably grown veggies, fruit and other farm products directly from Chesapeake Farm to Table, a farmer-owned, farmer-managed collective of small farms in the Chesapeake region.

We’re creating jobs

We hired 13 new employees in September of 2020 to support the launch of Eat Pizza Together. In the most challenging and unpredictable year, we worked day and night to provide good jobs for a growing team of people ready to pour their passion into this burgeoning food program.

2020 was a wild ride and our hearts are filled with a deep sense of gratitude for everyone who supports us through the good times and tough times.

What does all of this mean for your next visit to our tasting room?

Well, we’re still serving the same great Maryland-grown wines that we’re known for and now we’re also dishing out a full menu of amazing pizzas and other wood-fire fare to pair with it! Chef and his team are bringing together the bounty and flavors of Maryland to those around your table.

As we transition to an outdoor restaurant-style service model, there’s no need to stop at the grocery store on the way to stuff your cooler full of snacks – we’ve got everything covered! Just make a reservation on our website and leave the rest to us! You can trust that the wine and food will be delicious and that you’re supporting local farms and businesses from top to bottom.

This is a new chapter in our story. We hope you will journey with us. Come with those you love to enjoy a glass of wine and pizza that are representative of a place, an ethos and the passionate people who inspire it.

Farm Rhythms

It's a peaceful time of year here at Burnt Hill Farm. And a great time to reflect. The vineyards through our kitchen window are covered in a heavy blanket of snow marking a visual reset from one season to the next. 2020 was a wild year to say the least and yet we have so much to be thankful for. 

 Early on in the pandemic we all witnessed the stress placed on our food systems. I remember going to the grocery store – shelves stripped, no fresh milk, no fruit, and no meat in the butcher’s case. It was scary. It was a potent reminder that the way we farm is important – not only for keeping food on our table, but also for making payroll each week and providing a safe place for our community to connect. 

 We choose to think of our farm as a living, breathing organism. Like a human body with a system of organs, our farm is a complex system of interacting substances and processes. While the vineyard is at the center of what we do, we invest in the workings of our farm as a whole. 

 Here are a few highlights from the past year at Burnt Hill Farm:

We Started a Mushroom Farm  

Our farm manager CJ Parra and I started growing a dozen strains of shiitake & oyster mushrooms on 300 logs and totems. We scouted the woods for the ideal environment and found a hollow between two hills by the stream. We selected and cut the perfect logs (white oak, sugar maple, poplar, beach) 4” x 40” at the peak of color change. We let the logs rest for a few weeks, sourced spawn, and built a bench for drilling, inoculating, and waxing the logs. We built beautiful log formations along the forest floor – there’s something special about arranging logs in an orderly fashion within the wildness of the woods. Now we wait and hope it all works! 

 We talk a lot about sustainability in farming, but rarely in the human context. As you might imagine, tending a commercial vineyard is a lot of work, so keeping things fresh and interesting is a great way to build morale. This is why we love to try new things, raise animals, and grow different crops. It's good for the environment and fulfilling for us. And of course we benefit from all the other known benefits of biodiversity. Just as important, thoughtful mushroom farming promotes good forestry practices. We cultivate mushrooms in a way that is compatible with the overall renewability of our farm. 

 We Established an Apiary

While our vineyard is the centerpiece of our operations, we invest in our farm as a whole. We're raising honeybees to improve the overall vitality of our farm. Honeybees are the world's most important pollinator. Bees play a part in every aspect of the ecosystem. They support the growth of trees, flowers, and other plants, which serve as food and shelter for creatures large and small. Bees contribute to complex, interconnected ecosystems that allow a diverse number of different species to coexist. Without bees, our gardens would be bare and our plates empty! 

In exchange for our effort in caring for the bees, we receive delicious raw honey that offers unique flavors – flavors that reflect our farm’s natural flora; flavors that are completely lost in industrialized honey.

 We Planted 20 Acres of Small Grains

Turkey Red is an heirloom wheat variety that was once the premier variety of hard red winter wheat planted throughout the U.S. Like many traditional crop varieties, this one had all but vanished. Fortunately, a few thoughtful farmers kept the old seed stock in production, enabling us to play a tiny role in its revival!

For readers who may not know, Old Westminster Winery launched a new wood-fired pizza concept this year called Eat Pizza Together. All of our ingredients are sourced from the Mid-Atlantic’s finest farms, including stoneground flour from local grain. We're on a mission to support farmers, provide good jobs, and nourish our community. Pizza is an incredible medium for sharing local ingredients – from the meat to the cheese to the veggies and sauce, right down to the dough – in a way that's approachable, delicious, and affordable. As a result, I've become obsessed with pizza, and subsequently obsessed with local grain. That’s why we planted wheat – to harvest our own grain & mill it on site to produce our own local flour for pizza dough!

 We Raised Pigs and Chickens 

 We sourced chicks from Reich's Farm and raised them in the old corn crib on a diet of non-GMO local grain and flora and fauna as they free ranged around the farm. A few of the chickens were enjoyed by a local fox and the rest we butchered ourselves! We also sourced four heritage piglets from our friends at New Roots Farm to try our hand at animal husbandry. Our goal is to raise happy, healthy, and delicious animals to feed our family and community. 

 This Year We’re Expanding to Raise 40 Pigs! 

They’ll be raised in the woods where they can feast on acorns and fruit from the trees, root up invasive plants, devour flora and fauna, and rejuvenate the woodland ecosystem. Their time spent outdoors feasting on varied foraged items add to the flavor and texture of the meat, making woodland pork a whole new dining experience. Supplemental feeding will consist of GMO-free grain that is locally grown and milled. Happy animals just taste better! 

We Shepherded 30,000 Grapevines through their Second Season 

From a weather standpoint the year started fine – some touch-and-go frost during the first week of May but otherwise things were “normal.” The vines were healthy and our soil was full of life. 

 Then the pandemic hit, and our world was turned upside-down. While most human activity screeched to a halt, nature's rhythms didn't miss a beat. The vineyard is brimming with new life and serves as a grounding rod in the midst of uncertainty. Our team rallied and took incredible care for the vines, working in tandem with nature to train the vines to establish healthy trunks and root systems deep to mine nutrients. Now the table is set and we eagerly await what we hope to be our first crop of grapes in 2021!

 So yes, 2020 was a busy year! And we made the most of it. We give so much of our time and energy to our farm and know that it will yield a generous return. Burnt Hill Farm is a reminder of the generations who have come before us and our responsibility to preserve its legacy for generations to come. 

The Brutal Podcast

To help document this journey, I started a podcast called The BRUTAL Podcast. On this show I interview progressive winemakers, chefs, farmers, scientists and other interesting guests at my kitchen table. We tell stories and talk about our lives and interests. I interview folks who inspire the way we care for our land – who are changing the way we think about farming regeneratively, and who encourage us to steward our land well and nourish our community. 

If these topics interest you, I encourage you to check it out HERE!

2021 is already shaping up to be another busy year on the farm. We’re planting thousands of grapevines, raising 40 woodland hogs, increasing our apiary by 20 hives, harvesting our first mushrooms, heritage grains, honey, and most importantly... grapes!   

I plan to share stories and observations from the field along the way. 

Many blessings!

Drew Baker

COVID-19: The Journey To Adapt

In just weeks we went from celebrating the early onset of Spring to a stark and sudden need for social distancing, empty buildings, and farming through a pandemic.

While most human activity has come to a screeching halt, nature's rhythms don't miss a beat. The vineyard is brimming with new life and the cellar is humming with spring chores like bottling, disgorging, and barrel topping.

Our heartbeat has always been to create wines and experiences that connect people with our farm -- a true reflection of Maryland and her beautiful, bountiful offerings.

Our team was planning to launch events like Cru Cuvée Blending, Pét-Nat & Pilsner Oyster Fest, Summer Solstice Festival, a Mother's Day celebration at the farm, a summer farmer's market series and a Strawberry Moon Dinner. We had big eyes for the year ahead and an even bigger appetite to create memorable experiences for guests at our farm, including a new food program set to launch at the beginning of May.

But now. 

Our parking lot is empty, the tasting room is closed, and events are postponed indefinitely.   

We've had to completely change the way we interact, sell, and work as a team. Oftentimes we can’t even be with our core team members. We’ve had to absorb the shock, feel disappointment, and then get up, put on our face masks, and figure out our new reality.

Almost overnight, nothing is the same.  

How have we changed and adapted? It’s a story worth writing down -- not only to remember these times, but also to attest to a community that has rallied to support us and a team that has come together to keep things moving.

By mid-March, news of COVID-19 became too loud to ignore. Every media outlet was discussing limitations on the number of people in a social setting, specifically recreational settings like bars and restaurants. Being a farm building with several hundred people visiting across any given weekend, we immediately knew we were in a tricky position.

Quick conversations turned into quick actions. Our first action item: Connect with customers and our community in a new way. Our second action item: Deliver wine directly to people at home. Through even quicker actions from our State supporting our efforts, we had the legal support to start delivering wines to people at their homes by the third week of March. By the fourth week, our tasting room was closed.

In a race against a competitor who got the jump start, the only means to gain traction is a quick strategy, hard work, and luck. This virus got the jump start. But our team came together -- showing the ultimate flexibility in responsibility-sharing, patience, and creativity. It’s a culture we are exceptionally proud of, a team made up of incredible humans; the ones we see everyday, and the ones we haven't seen in many weeks but who have continued working and supporting the mission from afar.

Into May now, we've been delivering wine to people for just over seven weeks. Averaging 400 deliveries a week, we can't thank our community enough for being an integral part of our journey to adapt. We're honored to be recently featured in The Baltimore Sun with our local community for helping to provide essential items to those in need by using our home delivery service to gather donations for the Crossroads Community Center food bank.

We'd like to thank you all for helping provide hundreds of supplies to people in need!  We're so proud to be a part of the generosity from your families.  From the bottom of our heart, THANK YOU!

New year. New wine.

Two summers ago, after a long day at the farm, our winemaking team cracked open a bottle of piquette made by our good friends at Wild Arc in New York’s Hudson Valley. It was the first bottled piquette we'd ever tasted. And we loved it. 

Not sure what piquette is? Check out this blog Drew wrote in October of 2018: A New Take on an Old Classic

Here at Old Westminster Winery, we think that piquette is worth exploring. During harvest, we have TONS of grape pomace with little purpose but to be composted. Such a shame! It's with a resourceful and creative spirit that we decided to try our hand at making fresh, alluring, and artful piquette. A few months later we released our first pét-nat piquette followed by skin contact piquette in cans.

The reception has been incredible. So we went back to the drawing board and discovered an endless ocean of possibilities before us -- all connected by several common denominators: sustainability, resourcefulness, natural winemaking, lower alcohol and deliciousness.

Now that the stage is set, we are stoked to announce three new wine x piquette blends! Each riff is fermented with wild yeast, contains no added sulfites and is unfined & unfiltered. Our vision for this series is to make delicious, relatively low-abv, natural wine accessible to everyone. We think these wines will tell a compelling story that a lot of folks can relate to and enjoy.

Here’s the blend breakdown...

blinded by the light | v 2019 | 50% piquette blanc | 30% grüner  veltliner | 20% vidal blanc. Acidulated to taste with verjus. Cloudy neon yellow color. Aromas of tart lemon, pineapple core, apricot skins. Tastes like lemonade, peach rings, pineapple and starfruit.

take it easy | v 2019 | 60% chambourcin rosé | 35% piquette blanc | 5% piquette rouge. Acidulated to taste with verjus. Hazy pink color. Aromas of tart red cherry and raspberry vinegar. Tastes like sea breeze, white cherry, sage and gooseberry.

come together | v 2019 | 40% piquette rouge | 35% blaufränkisch | 25% chambourcin. Acidulated to taste with verjus. Dense ruby purple color. Aromas of bramble and dark plums. Flavors of under ripe raspberry and tart berry jam. 

Piquette has been all over the news recently: Eater Magazine says “In 2020, We’re Drinking Piquette.” Wine Enthusiast says “What is Piquette? Wine’s Easy-Drinking, Low-alcohol Style.” Washingtonian Magazine says “Sustainable Piquette is the Next Big Thing in Wine.“ We think the hype is justified. In Imbibe Magazine, I’m quoted saying, “Piquette is a natural byproduct of a sustainable winemaking program and has taste, history and experience all its own.” And that just about sums it up!

Get your hands on a bottle while you can. Available NOW on our webstore and coming to the following states this spring: 

California – Revel Wine

New York, New Jersey & Philadelphia – MFW Wine Co

Washington, DC & Virginia – Siema Wines

Massachusetts – Mise Wines

Maine – Vacationland

Illinois – Maverick Wine Co

Minnesota – Amphora Imports

Tennessee – Best Brands

Florida – City Beautiful Beverage Company

Ohio – Cavalier Distributing

Arkansas – Arkansas Wine and Spirits

Arizona – Quench Fine Wines

Looking Back & Forth, Near & Far

Struck with overwhelming gratitude as 2019 draws to a close.  

There’s always a lot to recall, so we pause between Christmas and the New Year to reflect back, & look ahead. What have we learned? And how can we best steward the challenges and opportunities that 2020 will bring? 

Our audacious mission has always been to put Maryland wine on the world map -- and we believe we can achieve it by making delicious wines comparable with the best in the world. 

But also by using our wines to address world needs like lack of water, nutrition, and education. 

Since the very start, we set aside $1 from each bottle of wine retailed for philanthropic work. The tasting room facilitates retail sales of 30,000 to 50,000 bottles annually -- so we are overjoyed to report that YOU contributed to $46,600.00 in 2019 donations to people with dire needs. 

As many of you know, we use earmarked funds to support organizations both nearby and around the world. A few I'd like to highlight...

• In Uganda, contributions install rainwater harvesting systems, build classrooms, feed & sponsor students, supply books, and pay teachers in their socio-economically challenged region. 

• Locally, we contribute to a youth mentorship organization and another that provides cancer treatment. 

We talk a lot about the importance of buying local and supporting small farms -- a worthy cause! But there are many more issues facing our world like thirsty children without access to education. We believe we’re selling ourselves short if we don’t leverage our resources to help. Not as an obligation, but as an opportunity. 

We want to produce wines that speak for themselves. We want to cultivate a community of customers who purchase our wines because they love them. All while contributing to pressing causes. 

We hope this inspires more people to discover a way to give back to their communities and leverage their influence to meet the needs of others. The world is counting on us!

Here's to looking forward to meeting the New Year and discovering the opportunities it presents us. 

Cheers!

Terracotta

New wine alert!

Terracotta. 100% Pinot Gris. Grown at Libertas Vineyard in Mt Airy. Spontaneous fermentation in hand-crafted amphora. 62 days whole-cluster skin-contact. Aged 11 months in amphora. Unfined & unfiltered. Nothing added or taken away.

Ok, let’s break all that jargon down…

Here at Old Westminster, we’re passionate about crafting beautiful and unique wines that embody timeless tradition infused with modern-day, new-world flair. With that being said, we’d like to introduce you to the newest wine made in an old-school vessel: the amphora.

WHAT IS AN AMPHORA?

An amphora is a type of vessel that dates back as early as the Neolithic Period. It’s made of terracotta, handspun on large pottery wheel.

During the amphora production process, the body of the vessel is spun first then left to dry. Once dry, large coils of clay are added to form the neck, rim and handles. With all the details complete, the  porous vessel is ready for the makers use. 

Amphorae have historically been used to transport various products - both liquid and dry - but have most popularly been used for wine (we think for good reason). The vessel assists in the fermentation and aging process for both red and white wines and can be buried in the ground to help regulate the overall temperature. 

RETIRING CLAY, HIRING OAK.

Clay vessels of all kinds were the golden standard of winemaking in ancient Rome and Greece - not only because it predated wooden storage, but also because clay was easy to produce and took less time to create than wood. While clay vessels have many positive attributes, the porosity of the clay increases the oxygen exposure to wines while they age. Oxygen accelerates flavor development which includes softening tannins and increasing aromas. However, the negative attributes of the amphorae ultimately lead to its downfall - its overall weight and fragility made it increasingly impractical to transport as trade developed and increased. With that, the age of wooden barrels was born.

Wooden barrels, especially oak, became more and more popular over the centuries not only because of their strength and transportability, but because of the flavors and tannins the oak brought to the wines that it carried. 

Oak wood is made up of a multitude of complex chemical compounds - each contributing flavor or textural notes to red and white wines. It’s by aging wines in oak barrels that you are able to experience flavors of vanilla, tea, tobacco and the textural “mouth feel” of tannins.

BRINGING IT BACK.

As wine making methods became more and more advanced, wooden barrel aging and stainless steel aging became industry standard for making some of the most popular style of wines on the market…

So why bring back the use of an amphora?

Well, because great wine is the sum of many details. Not a simple linear sequence: farming, fermentation, aging, and bottling. We are peering deeper into the sequence to find more... history, innovation, context. To our minds, this amphora is a tool in that continuum. 

We can't help but get excited thinking about how this 200-gallon clay vessel that we'll be fermenting fruit in this fall is just how the Etruscan's would have made wine in the 7th century BC!

OUR SPIN.

What are we going to be making, you might ask?

The answer is: Terracotta! A skin-contact Pinot Grigio.

When we say Pinot Grigio, many of you are picturing a straightforward white wine. However, Pinot Grigio has grey/copper colored skins which, when the juice is soaked with the skins, gives the wine a deep amber color. How many of you have tasted our Alius, or Seeds & Skins? Terracotta is the next iteration of experimentation.

Italian winemakers have used Pinot Grigio to make Ramato in amphora for millenia. This project is a perfect way for us to put a modern, local spin on an ancient tradition. And we're excited to carry on these traditions.

Made from carefully grown grapes, with nothing added or taken away, Terracotta is a ode to authenticity.

We encourage you to snag a bottle off our webstore or in the tasting room while you can!

WaPo On Old Westminster: Cultured But Unpretentious

We enjoyed a great review in The Washington Post last week. The story -- Five local wineries where the experience is about more than just what’s in your glass -- was a pleasant place to find a fitting synopsis of our vision in a few beautifully-descriptive sentences.   

"For all the media attention and on-trend practices, Old Westminster’s Carroll County tasting room is a remarkably attitude-free place to sample and learn about wine.” 

Relevant…  attitude-free…  a place to learn…  All things we’ve cared about since inception.

“A diverse group of wine lovers gathers around a long bar hewed from a 200-year-old white oak or shares bottles around communal tables decorated with Mason jars of flowers." 

Yep, that’s us! 

Cultured but unpretentious 

The story goes on to compare our wine experience with Linden (an east coast legend) and RdV (who spares no expense to draw comparisons with iconic producers in Napa and Bordeaux). We’ll take it. 

At the same time, we're the fun place to go :) 

"The atmosphere at Old Westminster, which includes live music and food trucks on Fridays and Sundays, stands in contrast to some of the region’s other lauded but more restrictive wineries. Linden, one of the area’s most decorated wineries, only allows ‘Friends of Linden’ — those who buy their wine by the case — to sip on-site on Saturdays and Sundays, and doesn’t allow groups larger than four. RdV, in Delaplane, is open ‘by reservation only,’ and requires the advance purchase of a $65 tour-and-tasting package."

I love how the comparison goes on to  mention our sans-pretense price points: "The reasonably priced tasting — $10 for five samples — showcases a broad variety of Old Westminster’s products." 

Beyond all of the energy that goes into our farming and products, a lot of thought goes into the full experience which includes price points and aesthetics and we’re thrilled that WaPo captured this about us.   

A year-round experience

As we head into winter I’d love to emphasize that this is who we are all year round. In addition to our standard tasting experience and delicious cheese, charcuterie, and snack selections, we're broadening our offerings! 

Artisan Cocktails

Everything we do at our tasting room is centered on our overarching goal to connect our community to the land through a glass of wine… and now through rotating seasonal cocktails! Join us in the Tasting Room to enjoy artisan cocktails made from estate spirits and other Maryland-grown ingredients. We will be releasing two new cocktail recipes each month – one light & bright, the second bold & rich, as well as “mocktails” for those who want to have some fun while staying sober. So reach out to friends old and new – join us in our tasting room for an expanded experience that is both fun and relaxing.

Wild Cider

We’ve been growing & fermenting grapes for the better part of a decade now and we’ve always loved the kindred nature of cider. We’ve released a few experimental ciders over the last year, and it seems y’all just can’t get enough! We’re thrilled to offer wild cider made from local heirloom apples, fermented with wild yeast and aged in giant American Oak casks. 

Come see what all the buzz is about! 

Tasting Room Hours: Thursdays & Fridays (4 - 9 PM), Saturdays & Sundays (11 AM - 4:30 PM)

Join our family! Sign up for the Cru Club. 

Happy Camper: A Wild Cider

There’s a first time for everything.

This fall we’re releasing something NEW — and a first for us. 

We’ve been practicing for several years — discovering our personal style through trial & error, perfecting our techniques and releasing small batched for customer feedback. So we’re proud to announce that this fall, Happy Camper wild cider is coming to life!

Our cider ethos is simple: start with amazing apples and don’t screw it up! 

Product Description: 

Happy Camper is a cider crafted from heirloom apples grown in local orchards and pressed directly to oak barrels with NO additives. Yes, that means no: yeast, nutrients, sulfites, enzymes, sugar, adjuncts or other commercially standard stuff found in other ciders. The result is a lively and authentic cider that's precisely 6.3% alcohol by volume, dry, earthy and refreshing! 

Happy Camper is honest and true to the fruit grown here in the Mid-Atlantic.  We’ve been growing and fermenting grapes for the better part of a decade now and we’ve always loved the parallel nature of cider. 

While we don’t grow apples commercially (yet), our neighboring fellow farmers do. The heirloom apples in Happy Camper wild cider are grown in two area orchards:

➡ Carolyn’s Orchard just over the hill in Carroll County, Md. We have a very special connection with these folks beyond sourcing apples for several years. Erin Brothers, the daughter of the farmer, is Lisa’s assistant winemaker here at Old Westminster. This is a coming together of worlds!

➡ Peter’s Orchard (30 miles up the road) in Adams County, Pa. Farmer and orchardist, Brett Krause, is one of the best in the business. Beyond growing apples, he produces fresh ciders that are esteemed throughout the region. Brett’s fresh ciders are made without any additives or adjustments: only apples. This provides a keen sense of what to look for in apples like flavor, tannin and acidity. It’s not all about high yields and sugar content.

After fermentation, Happy Camper ages in a 1,500 gallon American Oak cask for several months before bottling.

Cider, at its best, tells a truly American story. Did you know that the earliest colonists had a hard time growing grapes for wine and the grains and barley they needed to brew beer? So they grew apples and made cider a mainstay. We want to carry on that legacy in new and creative ways, so say hello to Happy Camper!

Beginning October 1, you’ll find Happy Camper at our tasting room and in retail shops and restaurants throughout Maryland, DC, Virginia, and California for starters.

Grab a 4-pack and take it on your next adventure!

Viticulture: Light Hands and Delicate Balances

Viticulture (from Latin for vine) is the fancy word for grape farming. It’s ancient, complex, frustrating, and beautiful. 

The farm and its surrounding areas are continually shaped and realized and everything all together is considered one living organism. So much so that when you pull on one thing in nature, you see that it moves everything else. Everything in a given ecosystem is connected - and it’s delicate. 

What we do on our farm affects the one next to us, and visa versa. We are constantly learning and paying close attention to patterns, anomalies, what is living on our farms, and how all these elements pertain to growing healthy grapes.

You could think of it like a diet. We’re not just subtracting. We’re also adding - eating things that support and build our immune/metabolism systems. 

Similar with the farm. 

Wherever/whenever humanly possible, and with light hands, we work in tandem with nature to create optimal growing conditions for plant health - again, within the context of the entire local ecosystem.

We ride the vintage to see what each year gives us… some years are hotter and some are rainier…  then we react in the vineyard and prune/leaf pull/hedge/cut grass/intervene accordingly. 

This is the beauty and madness of growing grapes!

But why do we care so much? Well, because the quality of a wine is determined first and foremost by the quality of the grapes from which it was made. And the quality of the grapes is predicated on the quality of the site where they’re grown and attention to detail by the farmer. 

So much about a field, like soil type and topography, is not easily improved. But there are some things, like biodiversity and soil resiliency, that greatly impact outcomes and can be enriched through thoughtful farming practices. 

For those of you interested in our approach with sprays & practices, here are some basics:

• Cover Crops: There are several plant ‘types’ we focus on: legumes, grasses, small grains, brassica, and flowers. Our aim is to always maintain diversity, knowing that plants feed soil.

• Field Sprays: Biodynamic preparations add to the life processes of the soil and overall health of the farm.

• BD #500: A composted manure spray applied to the vineyard floor to increase microorganism health and introduce more beneficial decomposers

• BD #501: A silica spray applied to the plants to increase photosynthesis around veraison (onset of ripening) to encourage fruit maturation

• BD #508: A tea made from dried horsetail herbs and sprayed onto the plants to prevent fungal disease

• We avoid broad spectrum products or anything with "dirty chemistry"; we have narrowed down specific times for sensitive or vulnerable pests/diseases, and spray only for those things. We do this rather than spraying at general times, and killing everything, like the beneficial bugs. Ex.- we use BeetleGONE, a USDA organic biological insecticide, to fight invasive Japanese beetles. And we use targeted Grape Berry Moth sprays during their first generation, right before bloom, rather than broad spectrum synthetic insecticides. 

• We keep the vineyard floor totally covered with cover crops, rather than using herbicide under vine or tilling. This helps to curb vine vigor, reduce mechanical vineyard passes, and minimize erosion.

Similar to the interconnectivity of nature, we farmers can really benefit from each other and the learning process never really ends. This is why we are proactively working and learning with others regarding biodynamics, sprays, safety, and best practices to work together so that we can all achieve success. 

To this end, we are active in groups where shared ideas and strategies are celebrated - looking to better ourselves and our teams.

We also host events like the upcoming Biodynamics for Vineyards Part II, where Joseph Brinkley, Director of Vineyard Operations at Bonterra Vineyards, will lead a two-day workshop at our farm about how biodynamic practices can be incorporated into a commercial farming operation. The workshop will include classroom time, hands-on prep making, and vineyard walks. Attendees come away with practical information to incorporate into their farms.

Welcome to HARVEST SEASON EVERYBODY!

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Want to learn more? Join us after harvest for: Biodynamics for Vineyards Part II

Snapshots of Summer Blur, 2019

It's been a whirlwind summer so far! 

Sometimes it seems like the only way to slow the blur is to stop and reflect. Jot down items of gratitude. Plan for the future. Factor the risks and take bold steps. 

And try to write it all down.

Doing life and business with family - and a team that's an extension of family - is everything to us. 

Because difficulties aren’t typically fun in the thick of things, there’s something deeply meaningful about facing our challenges together -- which makes the victories great and small all the sweeter. 

Here are some events that stick out in my mind:

• We successfully planted 22,000 new grapevines at Burnt Hill: We spent two years tilling the earth, cultivating cover crops, and enlivening the farm through biodynamic practices. And now, two years later, we believe the ground is finally ready for 30,000 vines to be planted. In April we planted a thoughtful mix of old world grape varieties (like Cabernet Franc and Gamay) as well as Native American and mixed-heritage varieties which will be farmed organically. This hillside – with all its elements in harmony – will yield wines unlike anywhere else on earth.

• We honored the passing of both of dad’s parents: Bill and Peggy Baker passed peacefully at home and with family this spring. They’re no longer with us in person, but their loving legacy will be with us all for generations to come.

• We hosted Summer Solstice, the first natural wine festival in the mid-Atlantic: We originally envisioned Summer Solstice as a way to celebrate and elevate fellow producers who inspire our farming practices & winemaking approach. It turned out to be that - and so much more. Solstice revealed that there is a living and growing community of like-minded farmers and winemakers who are committed to sustainable farming practices, low-intervention wine production and the true story that soil tells through a bottle of wine. Our hearts are filled with a deep sense of gratitude for all who came to this epic celebration.

• Currently on the road spreading the good news of Maryland wine: Over the past six months, Drew’s traveled to Portland, Boston, New York, Austin, Orlando, Philadelphia, DC, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Chicago... Who knew there was a market for Maryland wine? ;)

Looking ahead:

• Upcoming trips to Nashville and Phoenix before harvest! You know why we're on the road - we're putting Maryland wine on the map!

• Glenn and the crew have done an incredible job in the vineyard - the table is set for a high quality vintage. Everything done by hand. Our fingerprints are on every vine and cluster. This method of farming offers our vines and wines a level of care few others experience. Nature’s rhythms are delicate, so we farm with a light hand. We believe our grapes and wine are better for it - but you be the judge!

• Looking ahead to harvest - just around the corner - 2019 is on pace to be an early year given the mostly hot and dry weather of late. In fact, by the looks of it, Pinot Gris will be coming off the vine within the next week!

Oh, and there's a few more additions coming to the OW family: 

• Ashli's first due on Oct 1 

• Drew's second due on October 15

• Karlie Cook (our amazing content creator) first due in mid-September! 

Slow the blur! It’s always good to stop, reflect, thank, and look ahead with hope and optimism. Here’s to you and yours and wishing you only the best! 

Summer Solstice Reflections

Reflections of the first-ever Solstice are lingering long around here… the buzz hasn’t worn off! Our hearts are filled with a deep sense of gratitude for all who came to this epic celebration of low-intervention wine producers - an exciting new frontier in American wine!

We originally envisioned this as a way to celebrate and elevate fellow producers who inspire our farming practices & winemaking approach. It turned out to be that - and so much more.

We'll never forget the moment we first stood on top of Burnt Hill overlooking the Appalachian Range... it was love at first sight. We bought the land on the crisp winter morning of December 20th, 2016 and we immediately rolled up our sleeves and got to work. We spent two years tilling the earth, cultivating cover crops, and enlivening the farm through biodynamic practices. And now, three seasons later, we planted the first 30,000 vines made up of a thoughtful mix of old world grape varieties as well as Native American varieties which will be farmed organically. 

In due time, this hillside – with all its elements in harmony – will yield wines unlike anywhere else on earth. 

Rather than sit back and wait patiently for our first harvest, we decided to plan a festival with the purpose of elevating those who are inspiring our vision for land stewardship and love of minimal-intervention wines. And that is how Summer Solstice was born.

Solstice embodies a next-evolution in wine. 

Many of you made this first-ever Solstice more than a lasting collection of awesome memories. You’ve given the event a sense of FUTURE as well - inspiring what appears to be an emerging movement of forward-thinking natural wine producers and biodynamic farmers - we are collectively creating a community that embodies an evolution in winemaking! 

Solstice revealed that there is a living and growing community of like-minded farmers and winemakers who are committed to sustainable farming practices, low-intervention wine production and the true story that soil tells through a bottle of wine.    

We hope to see you at Solstice 2020!

With the first Solstice behind us, along with the many things we learned, we’ve decided that we simply must do it again! Planning will begin after the 2019 harvest is in the rear view mirror; we can’t wait to roll up our sleeves again. 

If you haven’t already, please join our mailing list below. We welcome your participation and we’ll probably be tapping you for some feedback about Solstice and other things along the way!  

Stay in the know.

Have you joined yet? Join the project here | Want to see all the photos from the festival? Click here.

Have any thoughts you’d like to share? Do tell here!

Let’s Re-imagine the Modern Wine Spritzer

Special thanks to Wine Enthusiast and Sevenfifty for highlighting our latest efforts with piquette! Few people know of piquette, and if that’s you, the recent Sevenfifty article offers a quick descriptio

Derived from the French word for “prick” or “prickle,” which describes the drink’s slight fizz, piquette dates to ancient Greek and Roman times, when it was known as lora… In France, piquette is said to have been the preferred drink of vineyard workers at the lunch table, as its low alcohol encouraged post-lunch productivity rather than an alcohol-fueled stupor… nearly all European winemaking countries have their own version of piquette, usually made and consumed by field workers and their families.

So yes, piquette is not designed to replace that special bottle of wine for big occasions. It's meant to delight you, quench your thirst, and keep you moving!

Piquette is produced by hydrating pressed grapes for a second fermentation. Because freshly pressed grapes are plump with sugar and yeast, a second spontaneous fermentation takes off when water is added. This yields a refreshing wine-like beverage with a lower alcohol percentage than traditional wine.

We go into more detail about our foray into piquette, here. But the big a-ha moment came for us as we looked to history -- and friends -- for inspiration. Why not revive piquette and reimagine the modern wine spritzer? So we did. Not only through the Old Westminster Pet Nat piquette but also with our recent Better Wine Co releases.

Our thinking was, rather than adding sugar and adjuncts to already bad wine like most wine spritzers, why not change the standard by reviving the ancient approach? So we did. And as a bonus, because it’s so beautifully resourceful, the piquette method helped us bolster production considerably in an otherwise challenging year.

Piquette aligns beautifully with our approach to sustainable farming. I mean think about it. During harvest, we have literal tons of grape pomace with little purpose but to be composted. Is this not a shame? So in a spirit of adventure and creativity, we’re repurposing resources to make the perfect beverage for an active lifestyle: delicious piquette!

Piquette is not only delicious and thirst-quenching, it's also a natural byproduct of sustainable winemaking that has a taste, story, and experience all of its own.

So yes, we’re on a mission to reimagine the wine spritzer -- sessionable wine spritzers (6% abv) that... taste better, are better for you, and are better for the environment!

Summer Solstice : Natural Wine Festival

Don’t Miss Summer Solstice!

Those of you who’ve followed the Old Westminster journey over the past few years are familiar with the fact that we purchased a second farm -- a vineyard we’ve named Burnt Hill. So for the past few years, we’ve been cultivating the land, preparing it for planting, and organizing our goals for the farm. (Learn more about the Burnt Hill journey up to this point in this past post.)

We’re excited to have reached a point where we’re officially ready to plant our vines and begin telling the Burnt Hill story.

And... We’re opening up the land in new ways.

Enter the Summer Solstice Festival - Saturday, June 22!

Burnt Hill represents an exciting new frontier in American wine! We're leveraging ten years of experience at Old Westminster Winery + emulating others who farm biodynamically to make wines that inspire us.

Rather than sit back quietly waiting for three years to release our first bottle of wine and saying, "Hey! here it is! come buy it!", we're hosting a Summer Solstice Festival to celebrate folks who inspire the way that we farm and elevate the beauty of natural wine.

Summer Solstice will be taking place on Saturday, June 22nd, 2019. It’s a celebration of the best low-intervention wine producers under a giant circus tent atop a serene hillside at Burnt Hill in Clarksburg, Maryland. It's going to be a landmark gathering of the natural wine community in DC/MD/VA featuring farmers, art, music, provisions and purveyors.

Patrons will have the opportunity to meet and taste the wines of over 25 of America’s top winemakers - here are just some of the makers and producers that will be pouring at the festival:

The Scholium Project | Fable Farm | Purity Wine | En Cavale | Fausse Piste | Old Westminster Winery | Lightwell Survey | Liten Buffel | Brooks | Art+Science | Ruth Lewandowski | Zafa Wines | Floral Terranes | Margins Wine | Methode Sauvage | Iapetus Wine | Wild Arc Farm | Inconnu Wine | Johan Vineyards | Broc Cellars | Hiyu Wine Farm | Les Lunes | Native Selections | Zev Rovine | Williams Corner | Plant Wines | Domestique | Revel | MFW Wine Co | Siema

Delicious food options will also be offered by Clavel + Blacksauce + Ekiben + Primrose. Music by DJ Mike Bernstein.

This event is one that you don’t want to miss - tickets are sold at a first come, first serve basis.

Click here for all Summer Solstice information + ticket information

Burnt Hill in the Press: Possibility, Adventure, and Summer Solstice

We are sincerely GRATEFUL to have had a superb write up in the Washington Post last week.

In Can Maryland Produce An Iconic Red Wine?  WaPo wine writer Dave McIntyre does an amazing job of capturing the Burnt Hill story and what we see as an emerging frontier in American wine.

We love how the piece highlights our biodynamic farming practices and that we are “determined to make a low-intervention approach work in the challenging Mid-Atlantic climate.” These are exceptionally important issues to us with a lot of challenges but we’re committed to our approach.    

The article also reveals some of the farming histories of the Burnt Hill property:    

“The vineyard along Burnt Hill Road marks a new phase for a property that has been farmland at least since 1865 when it was owned by Rufus King, said John Liebertz, a Montgomery County Planning Department historian. There are still Kings in the area, Baker said. The land divided through inheritance and marriage and the property was purchased in the early 1950s by Edgar Riedel, who left it to his daughter, Kathleen Riedel Cumberledge. Kathleen’s stepdaughter, Kelly Johnson, sold the 118-acre property to the Bakers just before Christmas 2016. ‘We know tobacco was farmed there once because we found the racks and baskets used in tobacco farming when we went through the barn,’ Johnson told me in a phone interview. ‘My father leased the land to other farmers to bale hay or grow corn.’”

Burnt Hill: Equal Parts, Possibility + Adventure

Us: Let’s produce an iconic American wine.

Also us: Let’s experiment!

So we try uncommon things.

“Along with those rows of Gamay, they have planted some pinot noir, also uncommon in a region dominated by cabernet franc and other Bordeaux varieties. They have devoted a plot to 90 experimental varieties bred by Cliff Ambers, an iconoclastic viticulturist who pollinates native grape vines with pollen from European vinifera varieties” writes McIntyre.

This passion for creativity and experimentation is why we’re hosting Summer Solstice at Burnt Hill Farm this year -- a landmark gathering of the natural wine community in DC/MD/VA, featuring farmers, art, music, provisions, and purveyors.

Join us for adventure at Summer Solstice this year!  

We're leveraging ten years of experience at Old Westminster Winery + emulating others who farm biodynamically/sustainably to make wines that inspire us. Our Summer Solstice festival will celebrate fellow innovators who inspire the way that we farm and elevate the beauty of natural wine.

Summer Solstice happens Saturday, June 22nd, 2019 - a celebration of the best low-intervention wine producers under a giant circus tent atop a serene hillside at Burnt Hill in Clarksburg, Maryland.

Patrons will have the opportunity to meet and taste the wines of over 25 of America’s top winemakers.

Register now and get our limited time 30% discount when you purchase tickets! Use Code: WaPoVIP

New Year, New Projects.

It's a peaceful time of year here at Old Westminster Winery. The rush of harvest is behind us and the vines are settling in for a long winter's sleep. As 2018 comes to a restful close, we are taking a look back on a few of the milestones that took place this past year…

2018 was a year of tremendous growth for Old Westminster Winery – we expanded our product line (through new canned products and experimental Piquette) which lead us to having distribution in 11 states across the country – including New York and California (we’re the first Maryland winery to be distributed in these markets!)

In addition to our product growth, we brought on 5 new full time employees (with plans to continue growing our team!). We now have an in-house Somm, a Sales Manager, a Content Creator, a Vineyard Manager, and an Office Manager. We’re ecstatic about the potential for bigger and better things coming up in the 2019 year – fasten your seatbelts; it’s going to be a wild ride!

But all that aside… the biggest and most exciting expansion for us this year was the growth of our family through the addition of a sweet, new baby.

In the early hours of the morning on December 20th, Lisa (Cofounder & Winemaker) and husband, Zach welcomed their first son, Huck Thomas Hinton, into the world. He weighed in at a solid 8 lbs and was 21.5” long. After a week of life, baby and parents are happy and healthy. 

On the day after Christmas, Drew (Cofounder) and wife, Casey hosted their daughter, Noelle (aka Nelly)’s, first birthday. It was a joyous celebration of a wild and willful child with a knack for making everyone smile.

Needless to say, the next generation of winemakers are on their way!

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With so many exciting things having had taken place this year, it only makes us more elated about the new adventures that are coming this upcoming year!

Here are 3 new projects that will be premiering in early 2019:

1. The Burnt Hill Project –One word: EXPANSION.

In addition to Old Westminster,we’ve found a new farm that is perfect for growing grapes… and when we say “perfect” we mean PERFECT. This farm will grow the kind of grapes that will make wines that redefine American wine.

We'll never forget the moment we first stood on top of the hill overlooking Sugarloaf Mountain and the Blue Ridge. It was love at first sight. We bought the land on the crisp winter morning of December 20th, 2016 and we immediately rolled up our sleeves and got to work. We’ve spent two years tilling the earth, cultivating cover crops, and enlivening the farm through biodynamic practices. And now, two years later, we believe the ground is finally ready for 30,000 vines to be planted this coming April. We will plant a thoughtful mix of old world grape varieties (like Cabernet Franc and Gamay) as well as Native American varieties which will be farmed organically. 

This hillside – with all its elements in harmony – will yield wines unlike anywhere else on earth.

Interested in following along on this project? Sign up for the mailing list, “like” The Burnt Hill Project on Facebook, and “follow” The Burnt Hill Project on Instagram!

2. Tasting Room Cocktails – Everything we do at our tasting room is centered on our overarching goal to connect our community to the land through a glass of wine… and now through rotating seasonal cocktails! Join us in the Tasting Room beginning Friday, January 11thto enjoy artisan cocktails made from estate spirits and other Maryland-grown ingredients. We will be releasing two new cocktail recipes each month – one light & bright, the second bold & rich, as well as “mocktails” for those who want to have some fun while staying sober. So reach out to friends old and new – join us in our tasting room for an expanded experience that is both fun and relaxing.

3. Saint Vincent Wine Festival – We are putting a Maryland-spin on an ancient Burgundian tradition! Each January, wine lovers from across the world travel to Burgundy, France to celebrate Saint Vincent, the Patron Saint of Wine. On January 26-27, 2019, The Saint Vincent Wine Festival will take place on the rolling hills of the Old Westminster farm! Join us for a festive weekend featuring winery tours, barrel sampling, live music, seasonal fare and roaring fire pits. Tickets are limited – get yours HERE!

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There’s a lot to be excited for and thankful for, isn’t there?! 

Now is the time to prepare for a new phase in our growth… as farmers and artisans, we absolutely love to share the fruit of our land with you. We can’t wait to see you at Old Westminster Winery this year!

Happy New Year: stay in touch!

Grade "A" Wines. Literally.

It’s an exhilarating and soul-satisfying thing when your life’s work catches the eyes of others… here at Old Westminster we are so fortunate to have a remarkably loving and complimentary support system and fan-base. It’s only through the support of you, dear reader, that we have grown in the ways that we have over the past 10 years. So for that, we thank you.

We diligently pour ourselves into the wines that we make… our ideas, our time, our creativity, our desire to experiment, our attention to detail… and we carefully craft balanced, unique, delicious wines that we hope would not only make our people proud, but would also make the state of Maryland proud. We willingly work 7 days a week to provide our customers with the best possible experience.

With that being said, we are so, so humbled and so honored to share some wildly exciting press coverage with you all. This month we have been featured three times in three separate reputable publications:

• Seven Fifty Daily

• James Suckling

• The Washington Post

We can hardly contain our excitement and would like to offer up a heartfelt “thank you” to these publications for tasting, enjoying, and sharing about our wines with your loyal readers.

We have linked the press articles bellow in hopes that you will enjoy reading them as much as we did! Cheers!

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Seven Fifty Daily: 10 Bottles That Will Change Your Mind about East Coast Wines

10 Bottles That Will Change Your Mind about East Coast Wines

“This wine (Pinot Gris Pétillant Naturel 2017) is an amazing expression of what can be done without additions or intervention. It stands up against pétillant naturels all over the world.”

— Khoury-Diaz

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James Suckling: American Wine Revolution Tasting

American Wine Revolution Tasting by JamesSuckling.com

Old Westminster Albariño Pétillant Naturel 2017

“A riot of boisterous tropical-fruit aromas in an untamed, hands-off style. The palate is packed with succulent, ripe peaches. Utterly delicious Pét Nat! Drink now.”

Old Westminster Outlier 2015

“Ripe raspberries and plums with a bold but soft palate, packed with blackberry and plum flavors. This has a wealth of depth and detail. A blend of 75% Verdot and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink this young.”

Old Westminster Solera (Batch No. 1)

“A ‘kitchen sink blend’ in the style of sweet sherry from a Solera dating from 2011, delivering dried fruit, nuts and butterscotch on the palate. Sweet. Drink now.”

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The Washington Post: Your Thanksgiving Must-Drink Wines

Your Thanksgiving Must-Drink Wines by TheWashingtonPost.com

“This is a fun wine (Piquette 2018), a “nouveau” from Maryland to mark the recent, very difficult and rainy vintage... If you’ve visited a winery in autumn, this wine may remind you of the raw smell of fermenting wine. This is red, so enjoy it as you might a Lambrusco.”

— Dave McIntyre

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