My wife and I love to visit Frederick, Maryland for an easy day trip. Every June, Frederick holds a wine festival downtown in June to celebrate Maryland wines. I missed this wine festival last year but made sure to go this year. I wanted to see and taste for myself what Maryland wineries had to offer. With wine festival tickets secured I planned our weekend getaway to include two restaurants, we hadn’t been to yet.
First, much wine would need to be sampled on Carroll Creek before dinner explorations. I planned on traveling light and left the bulky Canon Rebel camera in the car. I shot all these photos with my Google Pixel smart phone!
Boordy Vineyards at Frederick, Maryland wine fest. All phots by Kurt Jacobson
The wine tents stretched some three city blocks on a glorious June day. The rains had come and gone before our arrival and although a tad humid the Frederick Wine Festival was in full swing. This popular event features only Maryland wineries, and there are several good ones worth noting.
The winning number is
The second tent we visited was occupied by Knob Hall, a winery just to the west of Hagerstown. It was love at first sip when the N 39 red blend hit my palate. With 18 more tents to visit, I did a quick sip and run maneuver.
Knob Hall N 39 red wine
Next up was Bordeleau Vineyards, an Eastern Shore entrant. I’ve been to Bordeleau for wine tasting and bought some of their wines. Since Bordeleau’s tent was packed, we only grabbed a quick sip and moved on. At Big Cork Vineyards we tried their Cab Franc and a couple of whites. Last year Big Cork won an award at the Comptroller’s Cup competition for this tasty red. I still have some of their wines in my cellar, so we moved on down the line. At the center of the festival was Gringo Jingo- a Santana cover band that sounded almost like the real thing. The guitarist was raging on the long drawn out notes just like Carlo Santana and the music fill the festival.
We stopped at Boordy Vineyards to taste some of their impressive lineup of Icon series and Heritage series. Their wines have come a long way since I first tasted Boordy wines eight years ago. Their rosé is a good choice for a summer cooler.
A chiller but not a thriller
The Urban Winery from Silver Spring, Maryland had a decent oaked chardonnay and a good syrah. Although we were tempted to buy these two winners, we continued our tasting mission. The Port of Leonardtown and Links Bridge Vineyards were our next stops. We liked Links Bridge a lot and are tempted to make a special trip to their winery near Thurmont, Maryland soon.
Links Bridge Vineyards had a good albariño, vidal blanc, and cab franc. The albariño almost had me wanting a full glass, but there was more to taste and dinner too before the afternoon was finished. We came upon a tent selling sangria by the glass and were psyched to try the free samples of icy-cold sangria. Sadly all three types of sangria were too sweet for us and we passed.
Sangria tent
The day was getting sunnier and warmer. We sat and enjoyed the band for a bit in the shade and pondered our next move. Knob Hall had been the best wine yet, so after an hour of intense tasting, we went back for another taste. I tried the N 39 again to make sure, and the owner poured me a taste of the Prestige, a red blend that knocked my socks off. I left with a promise to visit the winery and had a bottle of the N 39 to take home for further sampling.
Time to eat
From downtown, we headed to South Frederick to check into our hotel (Mainstay Suites) for the night. Mainstay Suites is pet friendly and only charges $10 for a dog to spend the night. Next time we travel with our dog Sophie I know where to stay. This convenient part of town has gobs of restaurants to choose from, and we wanted to try Lucky Corner for Vietnamese/Asian fusion fare. Our waiter L.K. was great. He was knowledgeable, polite, and efficient. We started with the wonton soup, a rich chicken broth version that started the night off right. The wontons were plump and delicious with a ground pork filling.
Wonton soup Lucky Corner
Next came the spring rolls and house salad. Both were quite good and very fresh. We had the seafood combination with shrimp, scallops, fish balls, and crab (surimi) in a delicious brown sauce. The seafood combination was perfectly seasoned with not too much salt or spice and hit the spot. The menu is large, and we just scratched the surface indicating a return visit is warranted.
Lucky Corner entrees
The next morning we went to Silver Diner for breakfast. We had eaten at their BWI Airport location several times and are impressed with their innovative diner fare like fish tacos and mango salsa on the low-cal portion of the menu. The weekend brunch menu features Carolina shrimp and grits. We ordered the shrimp plus I had a veggie panini with coleslaw.
Shrimp and grits Silver Diner
Not your average diner
The shrimp and grits were highlighted with savory andouille sausage and tasso ham to kick up the wild-caught shrimp. We would have of ordered a mimosa, but Maryland law forbids serving alcohol until after 10 a.m. on Sundays. Boo-hoo!
By 9 a.m. we were on the road homeward and 60 minutes later arrived safe and sound. Frederick has so many events, festivals, and restaurants I highly recommend visiting this historic city. Plan on staying a day or two if you have never been to Frederick, Maryland, and check out my other stories on the town and region to get the most out of your visit.
Four Micro-Distilleries and a Flying Dog
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