Fiore Winery & Distillery

After a morning of hiking along the Susquehanna River that was cut short due to a few thunderstorms, we decided to duck into a nearby Maryland winery called Fiore Winery and Distillery. Fiore is quite the local gem and has been since 1986. They also have quite the story which all started back in both Italy and Boston. Mike and Rose Fiore are both from different towns in Italy and have lived in the United States since 1962. They bought the farm that is currently the winery in 1977 and after overcoming tragedy and numerous obstacles, planted the majority of their grapes and opened as Maryland's 12th bonded winery. You can still see Rose, Mike and their son, Eric running the winery today. We were lucky enough to be greeted by Rose during our impromptu visit in their cozy tasting room. We were able to try most of their dry wines and also a bourbon and a rye. The favorites were the 2013 cabernet franc, 2017 meritage and 2014 sangiovese. The big takeaway was certainly those vintages. Fiore has done an excellent job aging their wines over the years. The combination of great fruit along with the tertiary notes in each of the aged reds was a real treat. We even left with a few bottles of 1998 chambourcin for $10 each. Of course we were too curious to not. As of today, we have opened one and it held up! It was definitely past its prime but still had a little fruit left on it. Certainly drinkable and not oxidized or vinegary. Over the past 6 months we have also ran into Fiore at the Bel Air Farmer's Market. They had a stand and we were able to buy some sangiovese and chambourcin. We also got to taste some of their sambuca which was cool and I believe the only Maryland winery making it. A nice nod to their Italian heritage. Last thing worth mentioning is their Senior Day Tuesdays. Anyone over the age of 60 drinks for free and wine for everyone is $2!