Boordy's Winery is a quaint vineyard outside of the heart of Baltimore. Although on a beaten path in Hydes, MD, it is worth the scenic drive through windy roads to get there; especially on a beautiful summer eve.
The vineyard has been up and running for 66 years now. The current owners are the second family to own the winery - they acquired it from a family friend in the 1980s, so it has that family-run feel to it right when you walk in the entrance. It is essentially a piece of green property in a field that has a few rustic stone barns on it, an outside stage and stone dance area, and a wine bar off to the side. I believe the owners live in the brown farm house in the background in this pic...
You feel like you are hanging out in a farmer's backyard. With lots of strangers.
The vineyard offers several different types of events. On Saturday nights in the summer from June - Sept, they offer a $17 wine tasting starting at 6PM. At this tasting, you are encouraged to bring your lawn chairs, blankets, picnic baskets filled with home-cooked meals or take-out, and of course your favorite people to get buzzed off wine with. I brought one of mine...Shout out to Whit! Holler.
There is live music that goes along with this tasting; mostly rock cover type bands, country, swing bands, reggae, or British pop cover bands it seems, but in the open summer night air and with some wine on board, most people aren't that picky re their musical taste. And surprisingly, the Brit pop cover band (that played TONS of Beatles tunes) was quite talented. I was also surprised by the crowd - there were probably 2000 people there, which Tom, our server, said is the usual for summer Saturdays.
The $17 covers your wine tasting desires through the night, and admission to enter through the fence and pick an open spot on the field, or on the dance floor; wherever your heart desires. If it's raining, however, you need to pay an extra $3 to enter in the barn for coverage...? Which is kinda lame. I say, just keep dancin in the rain.
Overall, it was an interesting crowd; families, young folks, kids, old folks, and just plain drunk folks. But the diverse crew made it a fun place to people watch...
There is also a tent that sells grilled food items by an outside caterer. We didn't try any of these options, as we brought our own baked veggies, tabouleh, and guacamole (sorry - just had to brag about our home-made items for a second since we worked on them ALL afternoon :-P).
You feel like you are hanging out in a farmer's backyard. With lots of strangers.
The vineyard offers several different types of events. On Saturday nights in the summer from June - Sept, they offer a $17 wine tasting starting at 6PM. At this tasting, you are encouraged to bring your lawn chairs, blankets, picnic baskets filled with home-cooked meals or take-out, and of course your favorite people to get buzzed off wine with. I brought one of mine...Shout out to Whit! Holler.
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| Get it girl! (My wonderful roommate Whitney modeling with our Riesling under the stars) |
The $17 covers your wine tasting desires through the night, and admission to enter through the fence and pick an open spot on the field, or on the dance floor; wherever your heart desires. If it's raining, however, you need to pay an extra $3 to enter in the barn for coverage...? Which is kinda lame. I say, just keep dancin in the rain.
Overall, it was an interesting crowd; families, young folks, kids, old folks, and just plain drunk folks. But the diverse crew made it a fun place to people watch...
There is also a tent that sells grilled food items by an outside caterer. We didn't try any of these options, as we brought our own baked veggies, tabouleh, and guacamole (sorry - just had to brag about our home-made items for a second since we worked on them ALL afternoon :-P).
Also in the summer, Boordy's hosts "Good Life Thursdays," which is a free farmer's market from 4-8PM. Obviously if you wanna buy something, you need to pay. Duh. Although I did not attend the market, it boasts sales of flowers, organic meats and cheeses, organic dairy products, organic seasonal fruits/veggies, and of course Boordy's wine.
As it gets into the Fall, Boordy's offers wine tastings during the daytime on Sundays, beginning in October, from 1-5PM. Similarly, there is live music, grilled food, and wagon rides! Come November, the vineyard opens their wine cellar to welcome guests for a Sunday afternoon "Soup in the Cellar" get together from 1-4PM (I definitely want to return for this).
And that's not all - in December, nearing the holidays, on the weekends from 1-5PM, Boordy's hosts an additional wine tasting experience, where they offer some vin chaud (warm wine). This would make for an excellent date day. I also want to return for THIS too! So many cool ideas. I will need to go once a month to try each of these exciting events!
Unfortunately, I was disappointed with Boordy's overall wine selection at the tasting. They have a few different series of wine: Landmark - 2006-2010s (a Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Franc), Icons of Maryland (Petite Cabernet, Shiraz, Boordy Blush, Vidal Blanc, Riesling) and Just for Fun - fruity flavored wines (Apple, Peach, Jazzberry, Sangria, Wassail). But overall - not that many, and not that great!
I have an enlarged sweet tooth - one that has been drilled many times by the dentist. And this enlarged tooth loves the sweetest wines. If it wasn't for nasty hangovers, I would drink dessert wines at breakfast. Ok, maybe not at breakfast. But definitely starting at 4PM. So my preference out of all these wines was the Riesling - and I don't usually like whites! I also recommend the Tango Peach, and Boordy Blush (this one's sweet, but not overly sweet). In general, Boordy's wines are sweet, with not much flavor. I am no wine connoisseur, but I have tried enough wines to know what I like and what I don't like. We did end up sharing a bottle of the Riesling's, which was reasonably priced at $14. Most of the wines were less than $25/bottle.
I wasn't a big fan overall of the Boordy wine selection. But perhaps you all will experience a taste bud explosion; wine taste is very personal! It's like deodorant.
So overall, Boordy's is a "Go, you will. Try, you must" type of place. Although the wine selection is not mind-blowing, the ambiance and experience is quite unique and worth checking out. I highly recommend going with a large group of people, bringing enough lawn chairs for everyone, sitting far enough away from the band that they're not blaring in your ear, and looking up at the sky every now and then to peak at the stars that you can see so brightly (since you are far enough away from Smog-altimore). It's a refreshing get-away from the city experience, and is worth the 30 minute drive from down-town. Make a night of it with your friends, family, kids, or date.
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| It's an extra $1 to sample the dessert wines as they take longer to ferment |
I wasn't a big fan overall of the Boordy wine selection. But perhaps you all will experience a taste bud explosion; wine taste is very personal! It's like deodorant.
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| He clearly doesn't have a preference. |
Here is their website:
http://www.boordy.com/I know I have been approving all of the places I have reviewed so far, but please be reassured that there are bound to be places that I will definitely disprove or be on the fence about. I have just been lucky with the first 3! You must also know that my personality is one that tries to find fun in every place I experience. But for you - I will try to be more pessimistic :-)
Stay tuned for the next place this week! I have a busy social week ahead of me and plenty of places to talk to you about! Thanks for tuning in again!
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