Far Eastern Shore Winery

Far Eastern Shore Winery is a name that we learned has more than one meaning during our recent visit. The owner of the winery is Chinese American and is from Manhattan. His wife is from Shanghai and you'll notice the Asian influence in the décor as soon as you enter this gorgeous tasting room. You will feel briefly transported to Asia while you are visiting this family-owned, boutique, micro-winery. The owner, Tien-Seng Chiu's wife, Tara, is also a graphic designer who works in Western Maryland. So, her drive to the winery after work feels extra far to get to when traveling to the "Far Eastern Shore." The staff who  poured our tasting flights for us was very knowledgeable and willing to share this interesting information with us during our visit. She has been working at the winery for about 4 years and you could tell she enjoyed doing it. We got the white flight and the port-style dessert wine flights to taste through. All of their wines are varying levels of sweet. They don't make any dry wine. The favorite from the white flight was the Lotus Strawberry Lychee made with the gewurtztraminer grape. Typically found in Alsace, France, this is a grape that is naturally very floral, tropical and refreshing. The favorites from the dessert wine flight were the Mandarin and Silk. Mandarin had interesting orange/mandarin flavor, plus chocolate, vanilla and balanced acidity. The Silk was pepperment, cocoa and coffee flavored. This is a winery that can be a bit of a drive if you don't live on the Eastern Shore but they are very conveniently right off of Route 50 in a shopping center with plenty of parking. Most bottles are very affordably around $17. You can also see them at most festivals. We just saw them at Wine in the Woods and know they are planning to be at The Maryland Wine Festival this fall.