Behind the buzz about Black Ankle Vineyards(1)
FOODWISE BALTIMORE: A visit to Maryland's premier winery
Their barrels are French Oak, their wine gets compared to Napa Valley and yet, Black Ankle Vineyards is, well, in Maryland. Could it be worth the price?
Photo by: Francine Halvorsen
I have long been curious about the top-shelf reputation of Black Ankle Vineyards. They’re often described as not just the best among Maryland wineries, but comparable to European and California wines.
Not being a member of the 1%, though, I had to ask: could a Bordeaux-style blend made in Frederick County, Md., really be worth $45 or $50? That question compelled me to explore Black Ankle in more depth and put their rep to the test.
So I did two things this fall: 1.) drove an hour west of Baltimore to their winery in Mt. Airy and talked to co-owner Sarah O’Herron (today’s story) and 2.) set up a blind tasting in a Hampden restaurant, comparing Black Ankle’s products with similar types of wine from the U.S. and abroad. (Coming soon.)
I learned a lot from my visit.
Back in 2002, when O’Herron and her husband Ed Boyce bought the land for Black Ankle (named after the winding country road that takes you there), it was largely open farmland formerly planted with corn and alfalfa.
In their mind’s eye, the 146-acre parcel – with its forests and rolling hills, its fields and creek – became the sustainably run, world-class estate vineyard and winery of their dreams.
Grapes growing amid the greenery at Black Ankle Vineyards earlier this year. (Photo by Francine Halvorsen)
(“Estate” in this use means that the winery produces and sells only wine that comes from grapes that are grown in its own vineyard.)
Indeed, what they’ve achieved at Black Ankle is lovely, green and “green.” It’s almost surreal how little it feels like Maryland – it’s more like the setting for the movie “Sideways,” if Michael Pollan had been one of their consultants.
It’s the creation, as well, of two canny businesspeople. Both had worked as management consultants and so, in the interest of identifying “best practices,” they looked to see who was doing what, well. They read everything available on wine-making, visited vineyards here and abroad, and attended conferences and seminars from Napa to Bordeaux.
Finding the Formula
The business has been a bit of a juggling act for Boyce and O’Herron, who have kept their house in Silver Spring and, except at harvest time, alternate days at Black Ankle with working from home. (They have five children, one in college and four under the age of 10.)
“You have to have tasted a lot to know what you like, to know what you are looking for,” O’Herron said. “It is very subjective. And can only be learned by tasting.”
They also had to think through how they wanted to connect to the land.
