great frogs

Founded by Don and Barbara Segal and currently owned by Nathanael and Andrea O' Shea, Great Frogs Winery has been around growing grapes for wineries for a number of years until they got their license as a winery and started growing grapes for their first 2011 vintages. They have been winning awards for their reds including meritage and powatinika ever since. Due to a very damaging tornado in 2020, Maryland almost lost this winery. A corner of the old barn was taken off and fermentation tanks and other pieces of furniture were lifted, thrown around and severely damaged. Most devastating for that season was probably the 400 vines that were destroyed. The good news was that no one was hurt and they were able to re-open in 2021. Ian and I were lucky enough to pay them a visit on December 2, 2023. We split a guided flight that included 2 ounce pours of 6 different wines. The first was a white blend and the other 5 were red blends. Our favorites were the Home cabernet sauvignon, petite verdot blend and the meritage. The Home was dry and fruit forward with notes of blueberry, tart cherries,  and licorice. It was a dark inky color. The meritage had smoky, leathery aromas, blackberry and plum on the palate, medium acidity and a full body. Good tannins with a great peppery finish made for a great wine with a lot of complexity. Located outside of Annapolis, with a decent sized property with rustic barns, lots of tables and their cute gold frog logos, pay this winery a visit and enjoy the lovely atmospere of this great winery.