It's the law now: Maryland's St. Mary's County opens door for wineries to open

Maryland wine's biggest supporter checked in around dinner time today by phone with news that St. Mary's County in southern Maryland had only hours before adopted zoning regulations to allow wineries. Association of Maryland Wineries executive director Kevin Atticks said that will allow a few to open over the next 12 months.

Outside of that, the festival season ended last weekend at Salisbury, where Atticks said around 2500 people came out amid torrential rains Saturday and chilly temperatures on Sunday.

We talked about some of the events being held at Maryland wienries, including the upcoming wine and food pairing at Black Ankle in Mt. Airy. Atticks noted that Elk Run, only a cow chip's toss away from Black Ankle, had what he called an amazing dinner on Oct. 13 as part of their harvest celebration. That one featured Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc and a five-course meal prepared by chef Bryne Voltaggio of Volt Restaurant in Frederick. I didn't ask Attick if he had heard how many attended; the cost was $165 per person, including tax and gratuity. That's by far the most expensive pairing I've written about in this blog, but the menu had a little bit of everything and contained local products and meats.

Among the events on Elk Run's list for the next couple months are a champange release on Sunday, Nov. 15, and an open house from noon to 4 p.m on Dec. 5-6.