I recently had the opportunity for an impromptu stop at a Maryland Winery. I was driving along highway 13 with my wife when we noticed a sign for Bordeleau Winery.

We knew nothing about it, but decided to take a short detour to explore.  The sign promised it was a mere five miles down the winding country road...

The release of the new vintage of the Cedarville Zinfandel is always an event at our house. We were first introduced to this unique vineyard (as is usually the case with all things Zinfandel) at a ZAP Festival in 2005...

I had the pleasure of being hosted by Joel Peterson, the founder and current President/CEO of Ravenswood, at the 2013 ZAP Festival’s Winemaker’s Dinner. He started his winemaking career in the mid 1970’s by buying, harvesting and vinting zinfandel grapes. Since then, he has been one of the leaders in the renaissance of zinfandel wine...

Castello di Amorosa, (http://www.castellodiamorosa.com/) which translates to Castle of Love (though I preferred to translate it to “Love Shack”) is hidden from the road by the trees and slope of the hill. When you pass through the lovely iron gates at the entrance and start up the drive, you only see the neatly pruned lines of grapes planted on all sides...

For me, one of the mandatory stops on any Napa Valley wine trip is the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars (http://www.cask23.com). Given its legendary reputation and importance of the development of California wines, it is hard to provide any new or even objective review of this winery. First a little history. The winery itself was founded in 1970...

Maryland wine has a reputation, not wholly undeserved, that is less than stellar. It is considered both unrefined and unfocused. There are several wineries with as many as 30 different wines and the focus seems to be on playful wine rather than “good” wine, especially as it relates to red wines. I believe this is the result of more than one factor.

The first is the relative age of Maryland winerie...

“Welcome to Del Dotto Vineyards, where Wine is Liquid Art and Our Cave is the Art Gallery.

When we drink from a new barrel, it is like looking at a painting, cutting it up, and eating it! We experience the art; it becomes part of our life experience. The value of the remaining pieces goes up because there is less for the world to enjoy.

The Wine is the Reduction Sauce, and the Barrel is the Spice...

September is the perfect time of year to visit wine country. It is still warm, but not horribly hot, and the crush is just starting so the winery staff is happy to be there. The tourist season is mostly over which means you get a combination of small crowds, happy winemakers, and plenty of interesting things to see.

We had the opportunity to do the St...