Catoctin Breeze Vineyard

Catoctin Breeze Vineyard: First Visit

Another new winery.. The Cacoctin Breeze Vineyard, construction on one of the hillsides is where the new in-ground cellar will be, with a building on top to house a large tasting room.

When you first pull into the parking lot of the Catoctin Breeze Vineyard.. you can immediately see this is a fairly new vineyard. The fresh gravel in the driveway, the construction equipment parked on the side of the vineyard.. I was expecting to maybe see only 3 or 4 wines. Surprisingly, there was a very nice selection.. with three different lists for wine tastings including 3 different meades (honey wine).

The current tasting room was located in a newly constructed red barn shaped building co-located with some wine making equipment and barrels. The owner had a display up showing drawings of the new underground cellar under construction.. to be build inside the hill of the vineyard. On top of the cellar, they have planned a large building to be the new tasting room. We had a hard time choosing which tasting menu to pick.. I picked one which included local cheeses. Each of the tastings include a meade. The owner let us try all three meades and I was surprised by how much they tasted like sweet white wines. Just outside the tasting room there is a covered area with tables and chairs. We had a packed a picnic with us so we took advantage of the back patio.



 The wines were very good. We bought a chilled bottle of Chardonnay to have with our lunch (I believe it had won a gold medal). I can't wait to see the new tasting room and cellar once it is completed. The owner, Voytek Fizyta, indicated it should be ready for a grand opening early 2014.

Visit their website: http://www.catoctinbreeze.com

Note: While we were enjoying our Chardonnay and picnic lunch on the back patio, a bus of visitors pulled in from the Anne Arundale Community College and sat at the tables next to us. It was an educational trip to visit with the owner, who came out and provided a very detailed speech about the vineyard and his approach to wine making as well as many of the challenges he faced and lessons learned. After his speech he took the students for a walk up into the vineyards. This only made the trip that much more enjoyable!

Red Heifer

Red Heifer Vineyard and Winery: Our First Visit

About an hour's drive from the Baltimore Metro area.. you cross the paths of several Wine Trail regions in Maryland. This time we plotted a course to visit three vineyards in the vehicle nav.. the first was the Red Heifer Vineyard on the outskirts of Smithsburg and about a mile away from the Appalachian Trail. Just my opinion here.. take an SUV.. the road up to the vineyard turns into an unpaved path up a fairly steep trail with a few bumps to test your shocks. The vineyard is new with only a few wines in production but they were all of good quality. They are starting out with 20 acres.. of which it appears that 3 or 4 acres are in production. The prices ranged from $14 to $22 a bottle. I loved the Red Heifer Red.. it was easy drinking, surprisingly low in tannin, and well balanced. The taste reminded me of a red wine called "Joy" from Crosskeys Vineyard in Virginia. It is a very approachable dry red for those who shy away from the big bold reds. My wife really enjoyed the Vidal Blanc (as did I) so we couldn't leave without a bottle. Please support this new vineyard by visiting and tasting their wines. Although there are only a few different wines, there is something for everyone ranging from a nice dry red / semi-sweet whites to the very sweet. They are also on facebook so you can check out their events and photos.. (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Red-Heifer-Winery/136170063118383).

The tasting lineup when we visited: Red Heifer Red, Vidal Blanc, Red Heifer White, Blueberry Wine, Catawba, and the "Sweet Heifer"

The drive was scenic, and the view from the Winery patio was beautiful. This is one of those wineries that could be a great stop to picnic and enjoy a bottle of wine with your food while looking out at the vineyard and the hills. From the Red Heifer, we left the Antietam Wine trail and ventured out to the Thurmont area to swing by another vineyard, the Catoctin Breeze Vineyard and Winery.. which will bring me to my next post!

A tri-vineyard quick trip along the Antietam Highlands, Frederick and Caroll Maryland Wine Trails