Winemaking assumes festive air in region

It’s a sultry summer afternoon in Mount Airy, Md., and as the scents of fresh-cut grass, roasted almonds and the tang of wine hang in the humidity, Linganore Winecellars’ annual Bayou Fest is raging.

Beneath a large white tent, volunteers pour wine from colorful bottles sparkling in bowls of ice. People pleasantly jostle for their tastes, like children in front of a toy store window. But the volunteers won’t run out: Linganore, with the largest grape planting of any winery in Maryland, produces between 60,000 and 70,000 gallons of wine per year.

How far the wineries of Maryland and Virginia have come: Maryland, whose first bonded winery, Boordy Vineyards, opened in 1945, boasts 12 wineries offering 140 varieties of wine. In 1979, Virginia had only six wineries; today it has 81.

And how proud they are of the achievement. Virginia will celebrate October as wine month. This weekend one need only stop by the Carroll County Farm Museum in Westminster, Md., to take in the Maryland Wine Festival.

Almost any weekend, for that matter, is good for a trip to a winery. Bump along the back roads past the antique shops, the Civil War markers and the roadside fruit stands, and you’re bound to see the familiar white sign with the bunch of grapes and an arrow that directs you to one of the region’s plentiful wineries.

Much more than grapes and group tours, wineries and their vineyards offer a unique look into this region’s heritage, geography and commerce — not to mention lots of fun. Many inexpensive, even free, viticultural voyages await a visitor in less than an hour’s drive from Washington. Festivals such as Linganore’s Bayou Fest are many.

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Here in Mount Airy, at the foot of the hill, on a stage next to the pony rides and a moon bounce, Leroy Thomas and the Zydeco Roadrunners are playing, complete with a washboard and an accordion painted like the American flag. Oblivious to the heat, couples in flip-flops and tanktops dance in Cajun style, which, like its culture, is a flavorful mix of influences — a teaspoon of jig, a pinch of waltz and a dash of two-step thrown in for good measure.

Linganore’s winemaker Anthony Aellen, 44, hustles together 30 or so people for a tour of the winery, housed in a century-old barn.

“This began as a Baptist dairy farm where they didn’t drink at all,” he laughs. “Now it’s a winery.”

Inside, rows of cylindrical fermentation tanks rise 20 feet to the ceiling, like a silent, stainless steel city. Mr. Aellen shows the group how grapes become wine —first crushed, then gently squeezed in a submarine-like, 5-ton press. The juice flows out and is fermented in the tanks or oak barrels, then is filtered, aged and bottled in Linganore’s new bottling facility.

“I’ve never seen a winery before. It’s really fascinating,” says Faye Barron, 43, of Catonsville, Md. “There is such an art to it. Once you see how wine is made, you can appreciate the heart that goes into it, this thing people love all over the world.”

Mr. Aellen’s parents, Jack and Lucille, bought the Linganore property in 1971. Beginning with handcranked equipment passed down from an Italian grandfather, the Aellens have built the winery into a family legacy. The senior Aellens manage the business while Anthony, who lives several miles away with his family, oversees the winemaking. The Aellens grow 14 varietals (wine grapes) and make 30 types of award-winning grape and fruit wines, as well as mead, a honey wine popular at the Maryland Renaissance Fair.

“My mom is Italian and my dad is German-Swiss,” says Mr. Aellen. “We had always made our own wine; now it’s like a hobby that has gotten grossly out of hand. But it’s been a wonderful way to raise a family.”

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