Millstone Cellars- Hopvine

This is my second year blogging about new comers Millstone Cellars. I know that this will not be the last. I had a chance to taste their Hopvine cider at the Decanter Wine Festival this year. I fell in love with it's taste that resembles a sparkling white wine. The palate of the cider is very floral with a honey aftertaste. Millstone Cellars is making cider the new alternative to wine and beer. Check out their tasting room. You will enjoy every slurp!

Cheers!!

http://www.millstonecellars.com/our-products/uncategorized/hopvine/

*picture courtesy of millstonecellars.com

Old Westminster Winery

Recently I visted Old Westminster Winery. It was a great pleasure to meet the Baker Family. I tasted a few wines and was blown away by the aroma and unique texture of the grapes which by the way are grown at the vineyard soaked in Maryland soil. Old Westminster is not your "run of a mill" winery. They produce fermented grapes for the mature palate. I fell in love with the unoaked Chardonnay. Defiantly one of my favorites. The winery is worth the drive to visit on a nice Spring day. They re-open to the public on Saturday, May 3. The wines are also sold at multiple wine stores throughout Maryland. Check put the website for more details http://oldwestminster.com.

Cheers Wine Lovers!

Decanter Wine Festival 2014- The Winery at Olney

The Winery at Olney

For Your Eyes Olney, Cabernet Sauvignon

This red wine was very interesting. The winery did a great job at attracting my attention to the bottle with the catchy name of the Cab and the eye tuning picture on the bottle. The wine was very smooth and had less tannin then I normally expect from a Cabernet Sauvignon. I recommend For Your Eyes Olney to those wine drinkers who are just starting to favor red wines. The light tannins will not leave your tongue thirsting for fresh air. I also tried the Australian Shiraz named "Down Under Red". It was a light flavored Shiraz with a lingering coconut aftertaste. 

I had a chance to chat with two of the owners, Joe and Jeremy. I really like the concept of a working winery in a urban setting. It's definitely something that I would love to be a part of in the future. I will be vitpsiting the tasting room very soon. Get Stained at the Winery at Olney.

Decanter Wine Festival 2014- Romano Winery

Romano Winery

Rougeon, 2012

This wine has a medium body with a sweet aftertaste. The grape used (Rougeon) is defiantly new to my vino vocabulary. Yes it is a red grape but ver light with little to no tannins. It's a truly unexpected flavor for a red wine. I will have to visit the family farm in order to get a taste of the other wines they have to offer. 

Decanter Wine Festival, Knob Hall Winery

Knob Hall Winery

Le Rêve Rouge, Semi-Dry Red Blend 

This wine is a blend of percentages of two grapes, 70% Chambourcin and 30% Vidal. Because it is considered to be a semi-dry wine the taste is light with very low tannin. At the first swirl of wine in my glass I smelled a floral scent. The something happened after tasting, floral after taste. Le Rêve Rouge was ok to enjoy but Knob Hall Winery had a taster red wine named Sweet Revenge. In my wine tasting profession I get to try all types of wine. Taking with others I realize sweet red blends are becoming a popular choice. I fell in love with Sweet Revenge after the first sip. I was told that this wine can be sipped with chocolate to give it another level of vino satisfaction. 

Decanter Wine Festival 2014

This weekend was the Decanter Wine Event held at one of Baltimore's most famous locations, The Pimlico Race Track. We enjoyed two fabulous sun shiny days of wine,  ciders, crafts, and horse racing. The kids were welcomed at the event but it was the big kids (adults) who had the most fun. As for me, I am always thrilled to be around lovers of fermented grapes.

I have attended Decanter for three out of the four years it has been open. Not to my surprise, this event gets better every year. This year I decided to checkout Maryland vineyards that I have not visited a of yet. I am a lover of dry red wines. A fellow wine lover suggested that I visit the following vineyards to taste their red wines, Knob Hall Winery, Romano Vineyard, and The Winery at Olney. 

Check out my upcoming posts about the experiences I endured at the Decanter event.......

Cycle Buff Beauty

A couple of days ago I stumbled across a wine store that I had never been to before. The name of this place is The Wine Stop. It's located in Reisterstown, MD. I was actually in search of my favorite cupcake store but lucky for my weight lost plans the cupcake place had closed for the day. Settling for wine instead of cupcakes nearly broke my heart, laugh out loud. 

The undiscovered wine store was small and quaint but they had a great selection of wines. I recently blogged about a wine named "The Show". This was the particular wine I was looking for that day. To my surprise the owner knew of this interesting vino. Unfortunately, he did not have any bottles of the wine remaining in the store. Like any great wine store owner, he recommended another wine that was said to be on the same level as The Show. I was offered a vino with a strange but intriguing name. Cycle Buff Beauty, a 2011 Limited Edition mixture of Shiraz and Malbec grapes from South Australia boating an alcohol content of 14.5%. Talk about great advertising. The bottle alone caught my attention. A regular size bottle canvassed with a comedic scene of two women dressed in only bra and panties, using a non-traditional yet soon to become very popular corking technique, the twist cap. I was more than eager to enjoy my first sip. Since the wine was a 2011, I quickly aerated the red into my glass. The nose of the wine was jammy with medium tannins. At 90%, the Shiraz did its best to shine. At 10%, the Malbec was a great compliment. I did not pair this wine with anything but I would love to sip this beauty with a Five Guys double cheese burger and a bag of greasy fries. Just like the The Wine Stop store owner, I definitely recommend tasting a glass of these fermented grapes. I am positive you will enjoy every delicious sip. 

Cheers to the discovery of great red wines. And the Wine-Ohs who accidentally discover them. I truly live for these "Ahhh" moments as well as enjoy sharing them with you.