Haven’t made it out to a Maryland wine festival yet? Today’s your lucky day… er, week.
Today kicks off Maryland Wine Week, when restaurants and retailers get in on the game and feature (finally!) Maryland wine. Local bloggers are pitching in with lists of participating restaurants and shops; the Maryland Wineries Association has their official press release here. Special events are going on all over the area, from tastings at wine shops to dinners at restaurants, and even promotional discounts on Maryland wine. The MWA suggests following along at MarylandWineWeek.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter. (The Annapolis Arts and Crafts Festival folks are even looking for volunteers, if you’d like to pour!) While a number of wineries are continuing their summer events series, winemakers and retailers are hoping the hype will get Marylanders to try something new – even if they’ve tried Maryland wine before.
I’m personally excited about Eat Drink Go Local North Beach on the 16th, since Matt and I had such a good time at the Silver Spring event last November. I’d also love to go to Drover’s in Mt. Airy; their thing is Maryland food and Maryland wine, and it’s a great dinner if you can get out there. The Maryland Wine Bar in Berlin is also opening today; follow along on Twitter.
Tell you what: in honor of trying something new for Maryland Wine Week, I’m going to actually *gasp* go to my local liquor shop and find a new Maryland wine to try. Matt and I almost solely buy wine after trying it at a festival or winery, so this will be something new for us. Who knows: if we’re really organized, we’ll have some friends over when we uncork that wine.
And if that’s not enough Maryland wine for you, you can always go on next year’s Maryland wine cruise. Any takers?
What are you doing for Maryland Wine Week? What will you be trying for the first time?