It's Magic...kinda

You take some fruity things, you crush them up, you throw them in a vat, wait a while, , and maybe fill some barrels, then sort of forget those for....…and bam!! you got wine….in essence that’s it. Been done for thousands of years. Of course the real magic comes in the hands of the winemaker who knows how long, when, what temperatures, etc., all of which governs what ends up in your glass. That’s the fun of it.

I suppose you’ve already heard that we have a winery now in Leonardtown, called the Port of Leonardtown Winery. Never mind there isn’t really a port there anymore, it rolls off the tongue nicely and will make a pretty label. What’s really important is that it supports local grape growers, and promotes agriculture (and tourism) in Southern Maryland. There’s lots of hoopla surrounding it, and I suppose that will continue as commissioners will get their picture taken hoisting a glass, etc. But the real work is done by the Southern Maryland Grape Growers and Wineries Association, a cooperative of local vineyards, and the winemaker Rich Fuller. At the risk of being overly obvious, Vineyards grow grapes, wineries make wine. Sometimes they’re combined, sometime not. In Leonardtown’s case the winery makes wine from the grapes grown by the vineyards.

Earlier this year, I had an opportunity to visit the winery, already in business. It’s in an unassuming building (you gotta start someplace)



with most of the space being devoted to the wine stuff



It’s kinda odd, once you get inside a lot of these “little” wineries they all look the same. Remember Chatham Vineyards --?



Barrels for “aging” can be all over the place: New Oak, Aged oak, American Oak, French Oak, Hungarian Oak, medium light, heavy toast, and usually they're marked on the barrel



Pretty stuff




Besides that you need all the “testing stuff”



But at the end of all this, you get to have:



Find what you like, stay tuned for more developments of our “own” winery, and always

DFD (which could also be "drinking") - not that we would ever do that