Maryland Wine trail - A visit to Elk Run and Catoctin Breeze Vineyards

August 29, 2013

Labor Day weekend is the traditional farewell to summer. Back in my school days, the day after Labor Day was the first day of school. Now they start school in August and run the buses just to close early for the day because of excessive heat in air conditioned facilities. I don't have that one figured out. I guess I don't have to since it's not my gig any longer, just my taxpayer dollar hard at work. 

Labor Day weekend also means vacation days. I like to extend every paid holiday a bit and this holiday is a six-day stretch. For Day One, my partner and I hit the road in search of Maryland wines. We headed east into Frederick County, traversing the winding Route 77 through Catoctin Mountain Park. It's not a road I'd like to travel in winter, but my Charger corners on a rail and it was fun on a sunny day. 

Catoctin Breeze Vineyard & Winery is just a stone's throw north of Thurmont, Maryland. We knew when we headed there they wouldn't be open on a Thursday, but we wanted to at least find the place. The day was more about the journey than the destination. We wanted to enjoy the drive and the countryside, not to mention play with my partner's navigation app. But back to Catoctin Breeze - 

It's newer and I must say very - very - accessible to people with canes. Nice level parking lot and NO steps to enter their patio area. A definite plus. A friendly young man with colorful tats on his arms greeted us and chatted for a few minutes. We were impressed with him, his big smile, and his genuine friendliness. He could have just as easily snapped at us that they weren't open and invited us to leave. Instead, he invited us to come back and we will eagerly do so. 

From Thurmont we headed farther east to Liberty Road in Mt. Airy, Maryland, and Elk Run Vineyards and Winery. Again, we took the scenic route instead of I70. Neither of us are too familiar with the highways and byways in that area and we drove through small communities we'd never heard of such as Graceham, Maryland. Very picturesque.

The first thing I noticed about Elk Run was it's not handicapped friendly at all. I don't know if I was really allowed to park my car where I did, but when it comes to my partner being able to enjoy the little things in life, do not get in my way. I think I established that in my last wine trail post a few months ago. BUT.... 

We were able to slowly and cautiously make it up the rise and the steps with NO HANDRAILS to enter to the tasting room. We were greeted by a friendly black and white cat whose name we never learned. 

Hey. We're cat people. Didn't you hear us making over the kitty? And didn't you hear the cat talking back to us? He/she knew we understand cat-speak. 

I suppose the owners aren't used to people stopping on Thursdays. My initial impression was the woman figured us as time-wasters, but she connected to us as our tasting progressed. I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and say she might have been unhappy with where I parked. Or maybe my honey sitting there tapping his cane on the floor annoyed her. It annoyed ME so I took it from him, an option she didn't really have. (Yes, I gave it back instead of hitting him with it.)

Anyway, she warmed up to us just fine and we had a lovely chat and tasting of six wines plus a swig of a Sangria they made for a special occasion thrown in for good measure. We tasted Chardonnay, Red Door, Cabernet Sauvignon Cold Friday Vineyard, Gewurztraminer Cold Friday Vineyard, Annapolis Sunset and Sweet Katherine. We liked each one, even the Chardonnay which as a general rule we're not too fond of. I found their pricing acceptable, and if we weren't diligently saving for a bathroom  renovation, we'd have gotten a bottle each of all six. We settled on a bottle of Annapolis Sunset and Sweet Katherine, a dessert wine that had both of us oohing and ahhing. 

The other cool thing the lady at Elk Run turned me on to is the Maryland Wine Passport. For $2 you get a passport the different wineries listed can stamp when you visit them. Best of all you get the addresses of the wineries for the navigation app on your smart phone! I'm ready for the next wine road trip! 

KC

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Hitting the Wine Trail on vacation

May 31, 2013

Vacations are marvelous and precious things. A week away from the day job has passed in the blink of an eye, and while I value my employment, I find I'm in no hurry to return. Doing good in the world one person at a time can be rewarding, but it does take an emotional toll. So does dealing with the politically-minded who don't realize they sound like brainless magpies, but I digress. For my last official day of this week of vacation, we went in search of local wine.

I live within easy driving distance of West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsylvania. Which way to go first was the hardest decision. We chose....poorly. The idea was to go far and work our way back home so we headed out to a new winery, Red Heifer, in the Cascade/Smithsburg area of Maryland. We didn't get to the wine part because...we drove right by the place. Their sign sits back off the road and, yes, I drive a little fast. My honey's nav program on his so-called smart phone was then activated and we turned around and went back.

I hope Red Heifer does well, but it will have to do well without me. We traversed a dangerously rutted and pot-holed gravel lane to a facility that is NOT handicapped accessible. #1 - My car sits a mere six inches off the ground and dragging bottom isn't in the playbook. I had to keep going to the top as there wasn't any way to turn around and go back down the mountain. #2 - My partner scared me to death when he got out of the car on the severely sloped parking area. And once he got down to the side of the parking area, no way in hell could he get back up under his own steam, even with his cane. Yes, I backed my car over their yard to get it to him.

Seriously, I hope you go and support them because I think small businesses are the backbone of this country but be warned - take a four-wheel drive and only people who can walk normally without assistance.

Our spirits somewhat dampened (okay, mine were soaking wet because my partner felt so bad he thought he was about to ruin my whole day out and it was NOT his fault) we decided to head straight to the place we really wanted to visit - Knob Hall in Clear Spring, Maryland.

Knob Hall sits out in the middle of nowhere, which is a plus for a vineyard. Once again, parking the car was a problem - NO handicap parking. Of course, by this point, I didn't give a damn if I ran over things to get him to the front door in any manner necessary to avoid him risking a fall. (Note: this is why handicap parking is so vital - people like ME get PISSED OFF if their loved ones don't have ingress and egress and WE are the ones y'all have to worry about because we're determined enough to take matters under our own four tires. Again, I digress.)

Once we were inside the rustic barn, this lovely blond chickie greeted us and invited us to have a little wine tasting, which we both thoroughly enjoyed although one of us more than the other - please refer back to the mention of a young blond. And I've digressed yet again....

We tried six different wines and ended up buying one bottle each of three of them. It was very instructional as to why we like the wines we do. We were well pleased with the staff and wine, and if the selections are as good with a meal as they were just sipping them on a hot spring day, I know we'll go back and stock up. Their prices weren't bad at all, and once again, I'm all about supporting small, local business. And the little four-bottle carry-all is pretty cool. I'll take that along whenever and wherever I get the next round of wine. I'm not bashful.

The one thing we do regret is not splurging on a bottle of their "port" wine. We'd never tasted "port" before and it had a wonderfully unique aroma and flavor, and had we been dogs, our ears would have pricked up. Another reason to go back to Knob Hall Winery.

We didn't make it to the three places in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, but we will some future day when I'm not stuck at the day job. It's good to have something to look forward to.

So now we've come to the last hours of a Friday afternoon. We're rested from the hours spent driving around some of the most beautiful countryside you'll find anywhere and it's time for us to relax on the patio until the bugs drive us back inside. It was a good vacation. 

KC
http://www.kckendricks.com