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| Photo courtesy of https://www.inspirock.com/united-states/clear-spring/knob-hall-winery-a8130932687 |
Now, we've tried Knob Hall wine in the past at the Maryland Wine Festival, but we'd never been to the actual facilities (this is pretty common for us, there are a few wineries we greatly enjoy even though we've never actually been to them before). Knob Hall is about an hour away from where Bryan lives in Rockville. It's an unimposing property along the side of a country road. The tasting room itself is in an old barn, which has its perks and drawbacks. I loved the huge space with the tall ceilings and mismatched tables and chairs. It was fun and laid back. On the other hand, the barn is not at all insulated; you can see outside through some cracks in the walls. In the spring and earlier in the fall it must be nice, but when it's in the 40's, it's definitely cold. To compensate for this, there are several heat lamps hanging from the ceiling, but that just created an uneven distribution of heat. We sat under one of the lamps, and part of me was warm while the other part was cold.
The wine itself was decent. For a tasting, you get to pick six different wines from their list, which also includes two types of sangria. My favorite wine that we tasted was Make Me Blush. As the name implies, it's a sweet blush wine. I really don't know that much more about it I'm afraid. While we were given a tasting by one of the owners, he really didn't tell us about the wines. Sometimes he mentioned some of the grapes used, but not that much, which is very strange given that's usually what people talk about at a wine tasting. The chardonnay was pretty good too. While it was an oaky chardonnay, it wasn't an overwhelming oak taste, which is what I prefer. I definitely like stainless steel chardonnay instead of oak chardonnay.
The owner was much more talkative while Bryan and I sat around drinking a bottle of Make Me Blush and ate a cheese platter. Honestly, I thought the cheese platter was a bit pricey. For $15, you got a piece of brie, a piece of swiss, a piece of cheddar and a piece of something else, along with a handful of nuts, some crackers, three pieces of salami and two pieces of chocolate. While the cheese was alright, it wasn't a lot of food given the $15 price tag.
After finishing up at Knob Hall, we headed to one of our favorite wineries: New Market Plains. This winery is right off route 70. You drive to the Adventure Park, but instead of turning into the parking lot, you keep going straight. The road turns into a gravel one, then you veer right. It's a very small building, but they're making plans to expand and build a gorgeous property with all sorts of gardens and nature trails.
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| Photo courtesy of https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g41120-d12496979-Reviews-New_Market_Plains_Vineyards-East_New_Market_Maryland.html |
This was the third time Bryan and I went to New Market Plains. We found it on a whim, and just fell in love with the place. The woman who seems to work there every weekend happens to be a teacher at the elementary school two blocks from my house. I don't remember her name, but she's incredibly nice and has an amazing memory (she remembered us the second time we went and now remembers the wines we prefer when we go). The chardonnay is my favorite there. They have three different types of chardonnay. The 2014 comes from the first grapes harvested on the property, but the 2015 is my favorite. I love tasting both of them back to back, because I find it absolutely fascinating how you can have two types of chardonnay where everything is kept the same except the year the grapes were harvested, and that can make such a huge difference in the taste. Both the 2014 and 2015 chardonnays are made in stainless steel, which is probably why I love them so much (although I much prefer the 2015). The third type of chardonnay is called Rich Forest, and the grapes were also harvested in 2014. Unlike the first two chardonnays, however, this wine was fermented in oak. Usually wine is fermented in French oak barrels, but there was a shortage of French oak after a massive earthquake in California destroyed many of the barrels and wine bottles there. As a result, California wineries took most of the French oak, leaving New Market Plains with Russian oak. Even though I'm not a huge fan of oaky chardonnay, which one is pretty good, it's not an in your face oak taste. My other favorite wine from here is the Windy Day White, which is a blend of muscat and chardonnay. Muscat tends to be sweeter, while chardonnay is dryer, which makes this a wonderful balance between the two. After the tasting, we bought a bottle of Windy Day White and set up shop on the back porch (it's surrounded with plastic and had warm air being pumped in, so it was wonderfully comfortable).
What I love the most about New Market Plains (in addition to the wine that is), is the vibe there. It's incredibly laid back, and everyone who is there is there to have a good time. People don't just swing by for a tasting, they usually stay for a while, have some snacks (you have to bring your own, they don't sell any food) and just relax. The employees there are fantastic as well. You can tell they love their jobs and want to be there. They remember who you are, what you order and actually look forward to seeing you again.
Bryan and I have been to New Market Plains three times in the past few weeks, so we decided to join the wine club. Now, we get free tastings and discounts when we buy bottles (we already have two bottles at home, but we still bought another bottle of chardonnay and Windy Day White). This will definitely encourage us to keep going back, and I can't wait to do that. We might have quite a few busy weekends between now and the end of the year, but I'm sure we can squeeze in at least one more trip to New Market Plains in the next few weeks.
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