Linganore Caribbean Wine Festival

 With temperatures sweltering on a freakishly hot May spring afternoon, TTR made its way to Mt. Airy, MD for the 2011 Linganore Caribbean Wine Festival. 

After taking the hour plus drive up Route 270 to Mt. Airy, TTR arrived to the vast open land of the Berrywine Plantation/Linganore Wine Cellars. Because this was our first visit to Linganore, we were awestruck by the shear size of the location. The winery sits atop hills and hills of open fields. Breathtaking would only begin to explain the views of this winery.  While taken aback by views, even more impressive were the number of people that made their way out to Mt. Airy for this event. 

Upon entry, we could tell from the shear number of people in line that we may be in for a treat. While we have visited many wine festivals before, never have we been to one that was exclusive to one vineyard. Even with that, TTR always remains unbiased; we entered with no preconceived thoughts and/or ideas. Soon after entering we made our way over to the main pavilion where Linganore had all of their wines available for tasting. Of course this area was packed with patrons doing tasting, buying glasses, or even purchasing bottles to take back to the area in front of the stage where the majority of the people had already pitched their tents, set their chairs or laid their blankets.  Despite the temperature, most people appeared to handle the heat rather well. Our best guess would be this was due to the great music provided by the DC Pan Jammers and the Image Band; but more than likely do to the percentage of alcohol that everyone had consumed during this hot Sunday afternoon.  

While the main focus of this event was the Caribbean music provided by the two live bands and the many different flavors of Linganore wine, one can not go with out mentioning the many vendors present at the winery. Everything from food vendors selling crab cakes and jerk chicken, to hats vendors selling many different types of hats and shades.

All in all the Linganore Caribbean Wine Festival was a great event. TTR will surely be revisiting the Linganore Winery to partake in one of it’s tours to get a better understanding of the process great wine making.  

Be sure to check out the gallery for additional pictures.