Quite frankly I do not care what the tasting area looks like as long as the wine is good. I did get to taste all of Knob Hall Winery’s current releases.  As usual with my Maryland wine tasting adventures I am always pleasantly surprised, uncovering wines that can hold their own against others from better known areas.  My two favorites were their Chambourcin and their semi-dry rose.  The rose was only slightly sweet and had nice fruit and acidity.  The Chambourcin was full bodied and very interesting, with lots of sour red fruit and hints of earth and leather.  It is unusual to see a single varietal made from Chambourcin, a fairly obscure grape, and I was excited to try it.  Defintely worth a trip and bringing  home a bottle or two as well.

Knob Hall Winery is located at 14108 St. Paul Road in Clear Spring, Maryland.  Their phone number is 301-842-2777.

The tour starts in their tasting room.  You are given six wooden tokens, each one good for one three ounce sample of their beer, and let loose in the bar area.

Hard decisions to make with only six tokens!

They have pretty much everything they make on draft including all the specials and seasonals.  Two knowledgable servers were pouring and on hand to answer all your questions.  Following a good while in the tasting room the tour began.  I wont bore you with a blow by blow- just go.  The people I went with ranged from home brewing beer geeks (yours truly) to casual drinkers and everyone loved it.  We saw the mash areas, the fermentation vats, the labs, the bottling line (which was running full tilt and very impressive) and finally the warehouse, which was like a Stonehenge of beer.  Interspersed we learned about the founder and how Ralph Steadman got involved.

The warehouse. Can you lock me in for a night?

All questions were welcomed and the guide was knowledgeable and friendly.  We learned some interesting trivia.  For example: all the sample packs have to be made up by hand so there is some poor schlub who spends all day mixing the bottles and placing them in the boxes.  Think of that next time you buy one!  At the end we went back to the tasting room where you could ‘spend’ any unused tokens.  There is also a Flying Dog gift shop where you can purchase their beer and other merchandise.  As a lovely parting gift you get to keep the tasting glass.  I plan to go back until I have a complete set!

I also really like the ambiance of the restaurant.  It struck me as one of those neighborhood places you find in Boston or New York.  I think it’s due to the fact that when you look out the front windows all you see are trees and residences and no other commercial property.  It really makes it feel like a cozy neighborhood joint, which is exactly what it is!

Il Porto:  200 South Market Street, Frederick, MD 21701-6527 Phone: (301) 620-7480

Unfortunately the provisions allowing direct shipping from out-of-state retailers or on-line specialty Web sites as some consumers (me included!) had hoped failed.  There was apparently enormous pressure from the alcohol wholesalers lobby who want to keep their monopoly. Both Virginia and West Virginia allow direct shipping from retailers to consumers and the sky has not fallen there.  In anticipation of the new law I went online and signed up for half-dozen wineries’ mailing lists.  I went a little nuts and if they all come through I’ll have to get a second job.  And although proponents of direct shipping are vowing to push for expansion of the law next year I am also researching (purely for informational purposes, of course) where the nearest mailboxes etc type store is in Va or Wv.

UPDATE:  Governor O’Malley signed the bill into law on April 13th.