Maryland Sparkling

On Saturday, May 23, 2026 we did a Maryland Sparkling vertical tasting with food  pairings. Sparkling is a style of wine that has existed for a long time, most famously as Champagne in France, but has in the recent years taken off in popularity in our state. You can make sparkling wine a couple of ways. The traditional method champenoise is how the majority of Maryland wineries are making theirs. All three methods start with a still wine. The traditional method will then have sugar and yeast added to the bottle and then sealed with a cap for a few months until that combination turns to carbon dioxide and makes the wine bubbly. You can then remove that dead yeast and cork the bottle. Another popular method is where you do the same process more or less but in a tank instead of in the bottle. This is how Prosecco is made. Lastly, you can pump carbon dioxide into the bottle similarly to how you would make soda. For our tasting, we had four great Maryland sparklings, Crow Vineyard's sparkling vidal blanc, 61 Vineyard's Drytown, Blackthorne's Bliss and Windridge's Sparkling Portrayal.  We did a  Bottle Review Podcast on Blackthorne's so check it out! For the food, we had caviar,  crème fraiche, crackers, tater tots, fried chicken, steamed Dungeness crab legs with garlic butter, grilled corn and avocado salad, potato chips, strawberries, gruyere, goat cheese and lime aioli. Blackthorne's Bliss was a 2024 vintage made from the chardonnay grape. It was delicate, with notes of lime, almond and melon. It paired best with the fried chicken and tater tots, plus the caviar, salad and gruyere. Crow's Sparkling Vidal had bread aromas along with lemon and pineapple. It paired best with the crab, chips, aioli, caviar, chicken and tots. Windridge's Sparkling Portrayal was a 2021 vintage with bread, lemon and almond notes. It paired best with the goat cheese, salad, caviar and crackers. 61's Drytown is a blend of albarino and chardonnay. It was floral, with additional flavors of  lemon, almond, bread and pair. It paired best with the crab, goat cheese and salad. This  definitely felt like one of our boujie-er tastings and we enjoyed every minute of it. This  state is making some excellent sparkling wines that will not disappoint. Get your hands on some of these and try some of the pairings yourself!