Loew Vineyards is celebrating recognition for both its wines and meads.
The Mt. Airy, Maryland, producer entered the TEXSOM competition and heard recently that its Malka (a traditional mead in the Polish style) received a Judge’s Selection (1 of 19 products to earn this medal) while its 2021 Cab Franc earned a platinum medal (1 of 76 to receive this). Three other entries also won awards.
TEXSOM took place April 30 to May 3 at Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas, Texas. The awards drew more than 2,300 entries representing 25 countries and 19 U.S. states.
Rachel Lipman, who is following in her grandfather’s footsteps and carrying on the family tradition of making mead and wine, said Loew is the first winery from Maryland to have received these awards…
Local Wineries Shine At The 2022 Maryland Governor’s Cup Wine Competition
Big Cork Vineyards and Loew Vineyards claim top honors for entries
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Big Cork Vineyards earned the 2022 Maryland Governor’s Cup for its 2021 Siberian Ice dessert wine and Loew Vineyards claimed the Jack Aellen Cup for its non-vintage Klara mead. This year’s competition scored more than 150 locally produced wines.
The competition was judged by 16 judges and included a national collection of sommeliers, industry professionals and members of wine media. This annual competition focuses on Maryland-grown grapes and fruit. The Governor’s Cup is awarded annually to the top-scoring grape wine and the producer of the best fruit wine, mead or cider earns the Jack Aellen Cup. A collection of award-winning wines will be featured in the Maryland Wine Explorer Village at the 2022 Maryland Wine Festival in Westminster, Md., on Saturday, September 17 and Sunday, September 18.
“It was an incredible showing,“ said Kevin Atticks, Executive Director of the Maryland Wineries Association, who was impressed by the breadth of submissions and caliber of judges.
Big Cork Vineyard’s Siberian Ice is a dessert wine produced with a grape blend that includes Muscat Canelli, Vidal Blanc and SK 7753, a hybrid grape originally from Russia. The winery’s head producer, winemaker Dave Collins, credits the SK variety for this wine’s dominant aroma and unique flavor characteristics. Since 2018, wines produced with the unique Russian grape have earned Big Cork Vineyards numerous “Best In Class” awards.
“The SK 7753 grape is versatile and is typically used to produce our Russian Kiss,” said Collins. “We are able to harvest this grape early in the season to produce sparkling wine like Sparkling Kiss, or we can wait until late in the season when the grapes have higher sugar levels. To produce an ice wine such as Siberian Ice in Maryland, the grapes are harvested fully ripe, pressed while frozen, then barrel-fermented and aged. We are very honored to have this wine selected to win the 2022 Maryland Governor’s Cup.”
Rachel Lipman, the fifth-generation winemaker at Loew Vineyards in Mt. Airy, was thrilled that Klara earned the competition’s top award for fruit wines and meads. Klara is a pyment-style dry mead produced with Muscat Canelli grapes and locally-sourced honey. The Tribute Series of wines recognizes generations of the Löw family and Klara is named for the mother of the winery’s late founder—and Lipman’s grandfather—William Loew.
“This recognition is an affirmation of the beauty of our family’s legacy,” Lipman said. “The Tribute Series is a unique way for us to honor our family members and their histories. As a generational winery, our future is shaped by our past; it means so much to my grandmother, Lois, and me that we can tell our family’s stories through the high-quality meads and wines we produce.”
Eight wines received recognition for earning “Best In Class” titles in their entry categories. Double Gold medals were unanimously awarded by judges to 11 wines and gold medals were awarded to 17 additional entries.
2022 Maryland Governor’s Cup Awards
Best In Class Award Winners
White Blend: Robin Hill Farm & Vineyards Vintage Blend 2021 White: Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard Vidal Blanc 2021 Rosé: Cabin Vineyard Breeze 2021 Red Blend: Port of Leonardtown Winery Old Line Red 2019 Red: Links Bridge Vineyards Cabernet Franc 2020 Off-Dry: Links Bridge Vineyards Vichard 2021 Mead: Loew Vineyards Tribute Series: Klara Dessert: Big Cork Vineyards Siberian Ice 2021
Double Gold Medal Winners
Big Cork Vineyards Cabernet Franc 2020
Big Cork Vineyards Siberian Ice 2021
Big Cork Vineyards Vidal Ice 2020
Cabin Vineyard Breeze 2020
Cabin Vineyard Breeze 2021
Crow Farm & Vineyard Vintners Select White 2021
Links Bridge Vineyards Cabernet Franc 2020
Port of Leonardtown Winery Cabernet Franc 2020
Robin Hill Farm & Vineyards Vintage Blend 2021
Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard Penelope 2021
Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard Vidal Blanc 2021
Gold Medal Winners
Big Cork Vineyards Merlot 2020
Big Cork Vineyards Muscat Canelli 2021
Big Cork Vineyards Russian Kiss 2021
Cabin Vineyard Red 2019
Catoctin Breeze Vineyard Estate Syrah 2020
Layton’s Chance Vineyard and Winery Ridgeton Red 2021
Links Bridge Vineyards Vichard 2021
Loew Vineyards Tribute Series: Klara NV
Loew Vineyards Tribute Series: Malka NV
Port of Leonardtown Winery Captain’s Table 2021
Port of Leonardtown Winery Old Line Red 2019
Port of Leonardtown Winery Vidal Blanc 2021
Port of Leonardtown Winery Vintner’s Select Red 2020
Port of Leonardtown Winery Viognier 2021
Robin Hill Farm & Vineyards MD-32 2019
Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard Circe 2021
Windridge Vineyards Albariño 2021
All additional awards may be viewed on the Maryland Wineries Association Governor’s Cup website. To learn more about Maryland wine competitions, their results and the state’s wine industry please visit marylandwine.com. The Maryland Wineries Association invites the public to explore local wine at events like the 38th Maryland Wine Festival. Tickets to this upcoming event are now on sale and can be purchased at Eventbrite.
About the Competition. The Maryland Governor’s Cup Competition awards the best Maryland wines produced from grapes, fruit, and honey grown within the state. Red, white, rosé and sparkling wines compete for the Governor’s Cup. Fruit wines, meads, and ciders produced in Maryland are judged at this competition and vie for the Jack Aellen Cup.
About the Jack Aellen Cup. The Jack Aellen Cup specifically highlights the top-scoring fruit wine, cider or mead. The cup is named after Linganore Winecellars founder, Jack Aellen, who pioneered wines made from fruit and honey in Maryland. The “Jack Aellen Cup” is presented annually alongside the Governor’s Cup.
About the Maryland Wineries Association. The Maryland Wineries Association (MWA), formed in 1984, is the non-profit trade association that represents more than 85 member wineries in Maryland. MWA’s mission is to develop and expand Maryland’s grape and wine industry – through education and promotion.
Lois Loew and her granddaughter Rachel Lipman (Courtesy of Rachel Lipman, via Baltimore Style)
Growing up, Rachel Lipman thought you needed white hair and a mustache to be a winemaker. Today, the 29 year old is one of the youngest Jewish winemakers in Maryland.
At Loew Vineyards in Frederick County’s Mount Airy, the fifth-generation winemaker is maintaining a 150-year-old tradition that was nearly extinguished by the Holocaust, but revived by her grandfather.
“It’s history in a bottle,” says Lipman, a member of Beth Sholom Congregation in Frederick.
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Loew Vineyards Featured on Mead House Podcast, Episode 216
From the Mead House Podcast:
Our guest in this episode comes from a family who has been making mead for 5 generations. Now mind you, that dates back to around 1870. Her family has been making mead for over 40 years continuously, and she’s been here before back on episode 213. We’ll welcome Rachel Lipman of Loew Vineyards in Maryland back to the house in a bit and talk nothing but mead.
We had planned for our usual two other segments, however, we were so engrossed in conversation, she stayed and helped us close the show out! Thank you, Rachel!
Photo via Kveller, photo by Jonna Michelle Photography.
“Twenty-eight-year old Rachel Lipman cares deeply about preserving her Jewish family’s fifth-generation wine-making business, Loew Vineyards, but she’s also keeping an eye on the future. As one of the youngest winemakers in Maryland — if not the youngest — she’s pushing through boundaries in a traditionally male-dominated industry.
But that’s not all. Lipman is also educating customers about her family’s extraordinary legacy of producing unique wines — a 150-year-old family tradition that was nearly eradicated by the Holocaust.
Among the 14 wines currently available on the Loew Vineyards website, four of them are not wines in a traditional sense. Rather, they are meads, or honey wine. Meads are made with fermented honey — and therefore well-suited for the upcoming High Holidays. Among the available varieties include cyser (mead with apple juice) and pyment (mead with grape juice)…”
Direct-market farmers are often creative in their efforts to provide unique products and experiences for their customers, and this is evident in the offerings at Loew Vineyards in Mt. Airy, Maryland.
“While the selection of our wines has varied some over the years, there is one constant — meads — which are wines made with honey. This is an homage to my grandfather’s family legacy and the honey wines that were made in Europe at least since the mid-1800s,” said Rachel Lipman, fifth-generation winemaker in her family. “Currently those meads include a pyment — which is a blend of honey fermented with the juice of the grapes — and two cysers, which consists of honey fermented with apples.”
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