Welcome to Maryland and Boordy Vineyards!

My latest wine experience brings me to Boordy Vineyards in Maryland.  This wine was a gift from my future sister-in-law Lauren and her wonderful parents.  As I had stated earlier, in December we went to an engagement party for my brother-in-law (Lou) and his fiancée. We are very excited about the coming nuptials.  Now getting back to the wine, the bottle that I received was a bottle from Boordy's landmark series. Maryland is known for a lot of things. It is one of the original 13 colonies to revolt from the British, the inspiration for Francis Scott Key's (and our National Anthem) Star Spangle Banner, the Mason-Dixon Line, one of the first capitals of the United States (Annapolis), and much more.  Who would have thought that Maryland would be a place for wine and grape growing too.

Boordy Vineyards is one of Maryland's oldest family owned vineyards.  Located just outside of Baltimore, Boordy currently offers three distinct categories of wine: the Landmark Series, the Icons of Maryland, and the Just for Fun Series.  The Landmark Series features Maryland grown grapes and is considered to be the finest wine, and is marked by vintage year. The wines that can be found in the Landmark Series are: Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Landmark Reserve, Eisling, and Veritas.   The vintage year that I received was a 2008 Merlot.

Take a Video Tour

The 2008 Landmark Merlot is a full body dry wine.  Though I have found that my palate does enjoy a more semi dry wine, this bottle of wine had a nice finish and was not as dry as I had expected it to be.  The Merlot was very interesting because it was well balanced and did not overpower you by having a heavy oak taste, even though the aroma of the Merlot was oaky.  You could smell the oak right away and it smelled earthy.  The color of the wine was a dark ruby color and barely translucent.  I could taste the earthiness to the wine and I noticed that the wine did not have a lot of tannins to it, which is something I was expecting from a dry wine.  The finish of the wine was nice and long lasting.  It did not just hit hard and run away, and overpower you with the tannins and oak from the aging process.  I found this wine to be very enjoyable and I would highly recommend it.  As for food parings I would recommend this with Eggplant Parmesan.  I also soaked my Eggplant in about 2ozs of this wine and it made my eggplant very good.  I also made sauteed mushrooms and onions in a tsp. of the wine with a tsp. of olive oil.  and it made a very nice taste in my sauce.  If I was serving steak or lamb I could just see how placing my sauteed mushrooms and onions on top of the meat would be delicious and paired perfectly with the wine.  This wine is great on a cool spring, or fall day and as a winter treat.  I am not sure how this wine would be in the heat of the summer as I believe it may be too rich for the summer.  However, it is an excellent wine for cool days.  

If you would like to learn more about Boordy Vineyards or would like to order a bottle of this to try for yourself.  There are three options:  The first options is if you are on your way  Florida (trying to escape the winter blues) Take a side trip into Maryland, stop at the vineyard located at 12820 Long Green Pike,  Hydes Maryland.  The wine tasting room is open daily at 2pm to 3:30pm and their store is open daily from 10am to 5pm.  Your second option is to visit their website and order your wine.  Check to see if you live in one of the states they deliver too. The third option is to check to see if it is at your favorite wine shop. If not see if they can order it for you.  Enjoy!