Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/210765
WineEast TECHNICAL REVIEW Ready for the 21st Century Boordy Vineyards undergoes renovations for 'Landmark Project' By Linda Jones McKee K en G arrett The new wine production facility at Boordy Vineyards was completed this September, just in time for the 2013 harvest. W hen the Deford family bought Boordy Vineyards from Philip and Jocelyn Wagner in 1980, moving the winery from Riderwood, Md., to their farm in Hydes, Md., the winery came with two horizontal basket presses, three small stainless steel tanks, some large barrels, a couple of pumps, a six-spout filler and a corker. Today the original barn at the Deford farm is still in use as the brand's main tasting room, but the entire winery—including vineyards, production facility and marketing orientation—has undergone a complete makeover. This September, when Boordy officially opened its new 11,500-square-foot wineproduction facility, 45 acres of vineyard had been replanted, and the entire line of wines had been updated to move the winery into the 21st century. According to Robert B. (Rob) Deford III, president of the familyowned winery, these changes were the result of a coordinated plan, known at the winery as the "Landmark Project," to raise the entire winery to the level of a top-quality wine producer. This project was the culmination of years of change, renovation and modernization that span the past 33 years, since the Defords took over Boordy Vineyards. The early days of Boordy Vineyards Wagner, a career journalist with the Sun papers in Baltimore, Md., was a foreign correspondent based in London, England, in 1936-37. During visits to France, the Wagners learned more about grapegrowing— specifically the French-American hybrid varieties. On return trips home to Maryland, they surreptitiously placed cuttings of those hybrid vines in their luggage and then planted the vines in an experimental vineyard at their home in Riderwood. After the vines were established, Wagner made wine from the grapes on a trial basis, as his goal was not only to find varieties that were disease resistant and cold tolerant but also had good potential wine quality. The nursery operation gradually expanded, and the Wagners sold hybrid cuttings across the country. The wines produced from their hybrid vines helped to demonstrate that quality table wines could be produced from those grapes, and in 1945 the Wagners officially opened Boordy Vineyards as the first commercial winery in the state. They wanted to produce good, affordable wines that people could drink as a regular part of their meals. The success of Boordy Vineyards led many others across the country to follow the Wagners' example and plant vineyards based on French hybrid vines. By the 1960s Wagner began to look for cooperators who would grow Maryland grapes to supply his expanding winery. Robert B. Boordy Vineyards owners Rob and Julie Deford headed the 'Landmark Project' at the winery. 72 W in es & V i ne s D EC E M be r 20 13