Wine and Christmas: These Are A Few of My Favorite Things

In case you haven't figured it out by now, two of my favorite things are Christmas and wine.  So when there's an opportunity to combine both of those together, it's nearly impossible for me to pass up on such an offer.  This weekend, Bryan and I got to do just that.

Wine Under the Lights was something we first discovered two years ago.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to go last year (blame Bryan's appendix on that one), so we were excited to be able to go back this year.  Hosted at Seneca Creek State Park, Wine Under the Lights features four wineries, live music, firepits, a food truck and a trolley ride through the winter lights, all housed in a large tent decorated for Christmas.

Bryan and I amongst the Christmas decorations at Wine Under the Lights

This year, however, it was just two wineries, a cidery and a meadery, so they switched things up a little bit.  In all honesty, the winery choices weren't top notch this year.  I like Janemark wine a lot, and we've been to Orchid Cellars in the past (it sells mead and wine/mead hybrids), but the other two were mediocre.  The hot cider sold was delicious, although I suspect part of the appeal was the fact that it was a bit chilly outside.  Unlike other wine festivals, you only get a limited number of samples a Wine Under the Lights, eight per person.  What Bryan and I did was make sure we both got different samples so we could try more wine (although with significantly smaller tastings).  Even so, we weren't overly impressed with any of the wine.  In fact, we didn't buy a single bottle to bring home, which is definitely a first for us.  We almost never leave a winery or a wine festival without at least one bottle.

Bryan and I with our light up wine glasses.

One of the highlights for me was the adorable light up wine glasses.  They had a series of different colored lights in the base, and you could press a button on the bottom to get the stem to change colors.  It was definitely something novel I'd never seen before.  When we went two years ago, we got plastic stemless glasses with the city of Gaithersburg logo printed on it.  I don't even think the glasses said Wine Under the Lights!  These plastic wine glasses were blank, but Bryan gave me his, and said I could decorate both of them with vinyl, courtesy of my Cricut.  I have a few ideas as to what to put on them, but I'm keeping those close to the vest until I make a final decision.

The ride through the winter lights was a blast, albeit a very cold blast (no pun intended).  We rode on a little trolley through the lights, but Bryan and I were, unfortunately, seated backwards, so it was hard to see.  The people sitting behind us played Christmas music on their phone, which definitely added to the festive atmosphere.  It's always fun to see the winter lights, it reminds me of my childhood, we used to go see them sometimes when I was a little girl.

Overall, Wine Under the Lights was a fun way for Bryan and I to kick off the holiday season.  We had fun splitting a bottle of wine there and listening to live music while watching the drunk people dance (seriously, why were they getting so drunk?  They had work the next day).  It was also a lot of fun cuddling on the trolley and going through the winter lights together.  Our one complaint is the wineries, they weren't our favorites.  Since only four wineries are there each year, it is harder to get all ones you like, as the selection is more limited.  If you're looking for something fun to do with some adults to get into the holiday spirit, however, I would recommend it if you've never done it before.

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Saturdays Are For Wine

This weekend was one of two weekends between now and New Years that Bryan and I didn't have anything planned (which is pretty shocking when you stop and think about it).  Rather than stay in, we decided to venture out and find a new winery to explore.  We have a map of Maryland with all the craft wineries, breweries and distilleries in the state.  When we're looking for somewhere new, all we do is open the map, find a winery, then head off.  Yesterday, we decided to try out Knob Hall Winery.

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.

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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