The winery scene around Frederick is trending up. There are new wineries, and better wineries with really good wine popping up across the Maryland region all the time. This makes Frederick yet another great place to live or visit. There may not be a better winery to visit near Frederick than Black Ankle Winery.
Black Ankle has it all when it comes to an amazing winery experience: high-quality wine, a beautiful setting, unique events, a fabulous wine club, and an overall special place to visit.
The Setting at Black Ankle Winery
Black Ankle Vineyards is very likely not a place you drive by and discover while on a weekend outing from Frederick. Its location about 15 minutes north of Mt. Airy is secluded, to say the least.
But its remoteness will be one of your first impressions of the place. It’s a stunning oasis of vineyards in the middle of rural Maryland. The setting is spectacularly beautiful, and the proprietors have taken full advantage of its location in the winery’s design. They’ve turned it into a place wine lovers want to visit.
Nicole and I fit that category, and we are always drawn in by the beauty, uniqueness, and character of the Black Ankle Vineyards. The setting of the place first got our attention before we ever even tried their wines.
For us, wine is always about a ‘place’: the landscape, the environment, the climate, and Black Ankle gives you that feeling as soon as you arrive.
Turning into the Black Ankle driveway, you immediately feel a sense of ‘somewhere’. Rolling hills of vineyards, open meadows, and a winery with architecture that blends with the setting. Overall, it’s stunning and beautiful, both an escape from rural Maryland and very Maryland all the same.
Black Ankle Winery Basic
- Location: Black Ankle Road, 15 mins north of Mt. Airy
- Distance from Frederick: 16.5 miles, ~28 minutes
- Hours: Monday to Thursday: 12-5pm, Friday and Saturday: 11am-9pm, Sunday: 11am-6pm
- Tasting Reservations: Recommended, Here
- Food: Good Selection of Winery Fare, Food Trucks on Weekends
- Events: check calendar here
The Wines from Black Ankle: A Little California From Here in Maryland
The vibe, setting, beauty, etc., are all important in a winery, especially for first impressions. But the foundation for a great winery for repeatable visits has to be a great wine. Here again, Black Ankle delivers.
Oenology experts will disagree, but I’ve always considered being a successful winemaker in a place like Maryland especially challenging. This is not California, Italy, Spain, or Chile, places with built-in environmental and climate advantages for making great wine.
Nicole and I have visited our fair share of wineries in Maryland. You can find some excellent wines here, certainly ones that we continue to buy and drink. But you will also find many mediocre wines.
I’m not an expert, just someone who has tried a lot. But consistency in wine making is clearly more difficult in a region like Maryland.
Black Ankle wines are probably the best we’ve had in Maryland. There a great variety at Black Ankle, interesting reds and whites. They specifically do lots of blends with catchy names like Passeggiata (red blend) which will leave an impression on your pallet and you mind.
Many of the wines are Bordeaux or other old world grapes like Sauvignon Blanc and Albarino (whites), and Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot (reds). They are sturdy and complex, and (this is my personal opinion) but taste very California. They hold up great with food, and are worth stocking up on in your wine reserve for drinking any time of year.
I’ll freely admit that while I drink a lot of Maryland wine, I don’t ‘stock up’ on much of it. But I’ve stocked up plenty of Black Ankle. We’ve been members of their wine club since the first day we visited.
Visiting Black Ankle Winery
More than the quality of the wine, what we love most about Black Ankle is how pleasant a place it is to visit. It feels special even as you approach it through dense woods, it opens up to rolling hills of vineyards and get you excited to explore the place..
This is a place that you can tell has been designed for visitors. The winery building itself super interesting, built to be energy efficient and using locally grown and gathered materials.
Inside is a cozy place with tasting rooms, fireplaces, interesting earthy furniture, and places to hang out. We’ve taken our family there for outings during the cold holiday months.
The front of the winery is where the main action is during milder weather. It has a large patio with sweeping views of the vineyards and surroundings. This is a happy place for us to hang out, sip wine and eat, and visit with friends. This area is usually hopping on beautiful weekends.
You are also free to roam the property and vineyards (at least no one has every stopped us!).
Black Ankle does a great job serving tasting flights and cheese snacks, and weekends usually mean food trucks on property.
The Extra-Special Events You Can Join at Black Ankle Winery
If you’ve read this far, it’s obvious we are big fans of visiting Black Ankle, and we highly recommend it to Frederick residents and visitors. But I’ll also encourage you to explore Black Ankle in more depth.
Check their events page, as Nicole and I have attended several very cool special events at Black Ankle. This includes periodic wine dinners, catered by local chefs (like Hooch and Banter), where amazing food is paired with generous portions of Black Ankle wine, all served communally.
Special tasting events, wine release celebrations, and an ‘Uncorked’ creation allow you to design an experience according to your vision are also available.
Why You Should Join the Wine Club at Black Ankle
If upon visiting Black Ankle, you decide that this will be a place you visit frequently (like us), then consider joining their wine club.
The Black Ankle wine club is similar to that of many wineries: you commit to buying a certain number of bottles per quarter (usually 4, 6, or 12) for added benefits. These benefits include free tastings when you visit, discounts on all purchases, and access to special events.
Look if you are going to buy wine anyway, join the club and get some added benefits. Its quite fun showing up on a beautiful day for a visit and learning “you have wine to pick up today”.
Some Personal Recommendations
Make a table reservation in advance. Its not always necessary, but on nice weekends it can get crowded.
Try to visit Black Ankle for a sunset….beautiful.
