Maryland group pushing change in state's shipment law toasting several recent successes

I've been on the e-letter list for the group called Marylanders for Better Beer & Wine Laws since January, when I had a chance to interview executive director Adam Borden about his fight to change the state law prohibiting wineries from shipping their product to homes around the country.

Despite a crazy few weeks either testifying or simply arguing his case to anyone within earshot, the bill to overturn that law was rejected. Just like always. But Borden vowed that 2010 would be different, and recent developments would give some prescience to that battle cry, although he's far from overconfident.

Chatting by phone Thursday afternoon with him, Borden said there has been a "huge amount of progress" with the push to pass this bill early next year through Maryland's House and Senate. One shove came from a Sept. 7 editorial in the Baltimore Sun that supported his group's agenda. The headline: Our view: If Maryland wants to grow wineries and accommodate consumers, the state's misguided ban on direct shipment of wine must finally be discarded.

Borden said he heard that the editorial reverberated quite loudly in Maryland's capital of Annapolis as well as elsewhere across the state. "That was really exciting," he said, "and for them to come out tis early with such a long endorsement was really great."

Indeed, not a single opponent would show up to argue their side with Borden on Dan Rodricks' Midday NPR show last week. And then came last weekend at the Maryland Wine Festival in Carroll County, when the group added about 5,000 signatures to a membership that already topped 10,000. The original group totaled around 1,700.

You can read more about the group and their initiative at http://www.mbbwl.org, where you also have the opportunity to contribute to this grassroots effort. In the meantime, Borden noted that the group is planning a fund-raiser called "Drink Local: A MD & VA Wine Seminar & Tasting" on Thursday, Oct. 8, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Whittemore House (near Dupont Circle) in Washington D.C. It will feature three Maryland and three Virginia wineries, with each one serving a red and white wine. Virginia viticulturalist Tony Wolf and Association of Maryland Wineries executive director Kevin Atticks will offer a 45-minute seminar on the terroir in the two state. A seminar on the politics of wine in Maryland and Virginia will wrap up the evening.

"It's a great way to profile the industry and let people be able to taste some of the wines," Borden noted.

As for this final push before action on the legislation starts in January, Borden said the key is maintaining the momentum and "making sure the delegates and the senators know that this is going to be an issue that's going to come up for a vote this year [2010] and we want their vote. That's really it.

"They've always been . . . what's been such an easy way to co-sponsor is a bill when you know it's never going to get out of subcommittee. But as soon as it looks like it's going to get out of subcommittee, they say, 'Oh ----, I actually have to do something about it.' Soooo, they better be doing something about it."

Blending together a bit of this, that

Amid all the e-blasts and e-mails I have received the past 48 hours, let me clear the notebook a bit.

From Adam Borden, who's heading up Marylanders for Better Beer and Wine Laws and directed an effort to hand out flyers at Monday's Opening Day at Camden Yards in Baltimore: "We had a decent but not great turnout, about 10, and handed out probably 10,000 fliers," he wrote. "Boy, did I have to get my elevator pitch down! I got it to: 'We're a Maryland non-profit trying to change our laws.' Many people said they did not care about changing any Maryland law without even hearing what law it was, though on the opposite side, a few actually were already members and had signed up for email alerts. I am not sure we will do it again, but we sure got in front of a lot of Marylanders."

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From Dr. Vino, who posted on his blog Thursday a link to a story that ran in Tuesday's New York Times on restaurants beginning to serve wines from refillable tanks: essentially, wine on tap. Here's the Times story and below the Dr. Vino blog entry.

The NYT ran a story yesterday about wine served in restaurants from refillable tanks. It’s a win-win idea since it lowers the cost per glass of wine reduces wine’s carbon footprint with less packaging mass, similar to the bag-in-box idea I detailed in the Times last summer.
Let’s just hope the restaurants that do use the system pass on the lower costs to diners. Such is the case of those detailed in the story. Last spring, I also saw an affordable tank wine (”Mas vino,” pictured above) offered by the glass at Small Shed Flatbreads in Mill Valley. I didn’t try it because I was too busy trying a prosecco.

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Paradocx Vineyard in Landenberg, a member of the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail, will hold its 2nd Annual "Bud Break Bash" from noon to 8 p.m. on Saturday, May 9. There will be live music from 3 to 6 p.m. and a bonfire from 6 to 7 p.m. It's a celebration of the beginning of the grape growing season, signified by the grape vines breaking their first buds. “Bud Break Bash” will have something for all ages, including live music from The Acoustic Groove Project, wine tastings, cheese samples, hayrides, winery tours, and tours of the vineyard, where those conducting the tour will point out new bud growth. A ceremonial burning of the old grape vine trimmings will be held after dinner. Standard wine tasting fees apply ($5 for tasting of 7 wines). Everything else is complimentary.

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Clover Hill Vineyards & Winery in Breinigsville listed its receipes from the recently completed March Madness and gave notice to one of this region's unique events: A Day in the Vineyard. Held in conjunction with Pinnacle Ridge and Vynecrest, "the Hill" will serve as the location for grand tastings several times on Saturday, June 6, and Sunday, June 7. Activities after the grand tastings then will move to the other two wineries. The cost is $25. To sign up or for more info, call Clover Hill at 610.395.2468.

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Maryland Governor's Cup winner Black Winery Vineyards has moved to summer hours (Wed-Fri, noon-5 p.m.; Sat, noon-6 p.m.; Sun, noon-5 p.m.) and will begin a weekly "happy hour" called Friday Night Flights starting next week, the 17th, from 5 to 7 p.m.

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Black Ankle and Serpent Ridge Winery (Westminster) are among various Maryland wineries looking for volunteers to pour during the upcoming summer festival season. Best place to start is the site for the Association of Maryland Wineries for a list of wineries near you. If they need help, you'll likely find that request on the winery's home page. E-mail Tracy at tracy@blackankle.com if you'd like to assist Black Ankle and volunteers@serpentridge.com if you want to assist Serpent Ridge. Those folks are asking for the following: Name/Contact Info/Date and shift you would like to volunteer, First (11:30 a.m.-3 p.m.) or second (2:30-6 p.m.). Time slots will be filled on a first-come basis and we will need to know if you would like to volunteer by May 1.