A Nice Eastern Shore Stop

Our second stop in Maryland was about 40 minutes east of St. Michaels, Layton's Chance Vineyard in Vienna, MD.  It popped up not far from the water and surrounded by farmland. It was very peaceful with rocking chairs on the front porch. We were the only guests, but had apparently just missed a big crowd. The tasting room was well decorated with local pottery, other crafts and wine knick-knacks.

Our two hostesses were very friendly and told us quite a bit about the property. We learned that they made their first wine in 2009 and since they are still building their vineyards they have bought some of their grapes from other MD and NY vineyards. For $3 we tried 8 wines and the wine frappe. Layton's Chance is on Lazy Day Farm which is an 1800 acre working farm, owned by the Layton family.


They have their signature concord grape wines which are sweeter and they call the "beer drinkers wine," Joe's Cool White and Joe's Cool Red both with 8% rs and 12% alcohol. As a (dark) beer fan myself, perhaps these should be called the light beer drinkers wine. I did like their red version of Joe's slightly better than St. Michael's Gollywobbler. As for the rest of the wines we all liked the 2010 Traminette the best,  the Chambourcin was made with NY grapes but it was a bit more tart than I like my Chambourcin to be. They had the sweet wines well represented with a Lazy Day White (4% rs) and Lazy Day Rose in addition to Joe's wines. In the summer they serve a sweet Watermelon Wine which is a local favorite, unfortunately they were sold out so we were not able to try any. This vineyard seemed to fit the Eastern Shore with their light sweet wines for summer time sipping. While enjoying a glass we had some local cheeses from Chesapeake Bay Farms and we fell in love with their smoked cheddar!

Since we were so far from home we asked our hostesses for dinner recommendations and they pointed us in the direction of the Hot Spot Cafe in Cambridge. We also adored this spot! We had the best surf & turf...all the surf was amazing your choice of shrimp, scallops or crabcakes and since there were 3 of us we got to try all three. Delish!

Maryland Has Wine; And It's Good!

Virginia has wine so why wouldn't its northern neighbor, Maryland, have wine? That was my question while in Annapolis last weekend while supporting a friend as she participated in the Polar Bear Plunge. Thank goodness for smart phones because a quick Google search told me that Maryland does have wine on the eastern shore! Unfortunately the Maryland Wine website is not nearly as easy to navigate as the Virginia Wine website, but I was able to find one about 40 minutes east of Annapolis, St. Michaels Winery in the historic town of St. Michaels "the town that fooled the British."

I had Megan and Debbie in tow and we made our way to the tasting room, which was behind a brewery and around an old flour mill. The tasting room was packed! It seems it was the last day to redeem a Living Social deal there so it was full to the brim and the staff was working hard. We were originally told it would be a 20-30 min wait for a tasting, but some friendly tasters who were finishing up made room for us at the main bar.  There we were greeted by a friendly server who told us that St. Michaels has been making wine since 2005 and a lot of the Maryland wineries were taking notes from Virginia's growing industry. She also told us about the Maryland wine passport that has codes for each of the 50 wineries in the state; once you register yours you are eligible for discounts to tasting events, festivals and bottles. Virginia, you've got to get in on this!

The tastings were a la carte and a $1 for each, if you tried more than 3 you got to keep your glass. We tried about 9 of the 16 available, they were sold out of an additional 4 wines. We all tried the same first 3, Long Splice dry white, steel barreled Chardonnay, and a steel barreled Viognier. The Long Splice, a seyval blend, had a very fruity fragrance and we all enjoyed the Chardonnay & Viognier.  I went straight in for the reds starting with the Maryland Merlot, a smoky merlot that is grown on a former tobacco farm, followed by the Island Beauty which a wonderful smooth and dry red. The Syrah had a nice nose, but it was a bit too dry for my palate, that was followed by the Martha Chamborcin which was light and named for the Martha Skip Jack that brings the grapes down the channels. I finished up with the Gollywobbler Red, made from the Concord grapes that grow well in Maryland. While I was busy with these Debbie and Megan had skipped down to the off dry whites, the Pinot Blanc and St. Michaels White (vidal). Megan was head over heels for the Pinot Blanc which had notes of mint in it, a very refreshing cool white, also the wine makers favorite. Debbie tried it next and also loved it so I gave in and tried it as well, it was amazing! I mean you all know I'm learning to like more whites, but this was amazing! Lucky for us they were having a sale on whites, 3 for $10 so we walked out with a couple boxes of the Pinot Blanc, Viognier and Chardonnay. There was also a "bargain bucket" of wines marked down because of their imperfect labels and Megan jumped on the bottle of Pinot in there.

While the tasting room was a bit cramped, the service was great and the wines were wonderful! Next time you are heading out to Maryland's eastern shore make this stop for sure!