Gimme some....

Slack!…. After a long weekend at the (successful!) Friends of the Library book sale, MFO and I joined a couple of friends at a little wine tasting event down at Woodlawn, a B&B down near Ridge, now home of Slack Winery. You pass by it on Wynne Road, while on the way to Courtney’s…. It is on the historical property of St. Michael's Hundred, dating back to the early 17th century, and the manor house was painstakingly restored starting in the early 70’s.



It’s a gorgeous setting overlooking a portion of Calvert Bay just off the Potomac river. I can see why the colonists would like it..




The current owner/manager of Woodlawn is Jim Grube who has been interested in wine for quite a while, and still grows grapes on Jubilee Farm. He and his wife Maggie O’Brien along with their two sons have recently started the winery.

We were initially greeted by a rather non-traditionally dressed piper (DFP?), but it’s always a great beginning..



Once inside we started off by sampling a lovely (but I think not yet available) Sparkling Wine served “straight up” and also in the form of a Mimosa. It is a very, very nice wine made in the traditional Champagne method and is from the Chardonel Grape. When it is available, I would get some. We then moved to a white called “Yellow Legs”, made from 100% Petit Manseng, which they purchase from a grower in Virginia (only a few miles by water, but many more by truck!). They also poured a red, called Red Drum Red, a blend of Petit Verdot, Montepulciano, and Barbera. The name incidentally is meant to be a red wine that you might eat with the local fish, Red Drum. The Yellow Legs is quite nice and would go well with food. I appreciate the fact they keep it away from oak. The Red Drum is soft and approachable, it would be nice to sit on your patio and watch spring unfold with it. They also featured their new “dessert wine”, called Danny Boy Danny also from the Petit Manseng, which has a rather distinctive label. The wine is not quite as big and sweet as you would get with a Sauternes like wine, but would be pleasant to finish the evening with..

They of course had food which was quite nicely prepared and presented. Some items were passed and some were on buffet.










They also had a very good selection of cheeses, including some Kerry Gold Cheddar with Irish whiskey…I won’t start waxing about cheese, but good cheese is good.

After supping and sipping you could pass into their lovely little courtyard



Which now has a little gift shop (straight ahead) and the “tasting room” (on the left) featuring the wines.



All in all, a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon. They are open from 11 – 6 Wednesday thru Sunday.. Worth a visit just to see the place, and the wines are a bonus. Down here where there’s nothing to do.

And, although we were suitably dressed, there were some that in my humble opinion, that were not

DFT(asting) – or at least commensurate with the setting…