April 8, 2021 / News
Bottling day March 2021
Links Bridge Wine Club
We have just announced the May 2021 Links Bridge Wine Club selection to club members (more details below), and we’re sending this message to our general mailing list just in case some of you might want to join the club.
If you’re already a club member, or if you’re familiar with the club but have no interest in joining, stop here. Otherwise, read on!
This post includes (1) a summary of how the club works, (2) a description of the May selection, and (3) instructions on how to join the club.
We hope to see you soon at Links Bridge Vineyards!
Best wishes, and stay well.
Bob & Joan
1. Here’s how the club generally works:
- If you join the Links Bridge Wine Club, we will provide you with four selected bottles of wine three times each year. These selections may include current wines that we think are especially good, wines reserved for club members, and/or new wines that have not yet been released.
- About a month in advance of the pickup period for a given selection, we will send you an email that describes the selection, the pickup date or period, and a deadline date for making adjustments to the selection.
- The price of each selection will be our normal retail price for the wine less a 15% discount, plus Maryland alcohol tax. For club members we will extend this discount to any additional wines you order along with the announced selection (and to wines you purchase at other times of the year).
- If you wish to substitute a different wine for one or more of the selected wines, you can let us know by the deadline date. We will make those adjustments, and then on the day after the deadline date we will charge your credit or debit card for the adjusted amount due.
- If you wish to opt out of a selection entirely, no problem—just let us know by the deadline date and we will not charge you for that selection.
- If you have not requested substitutions and have not indicated that you wish to opt out, we will charge your credit or debit card for the current selection on the day after the deadline date.
- We hope you will come by Links Bridge during the pickup period for each selection, as we enjoy your company and will often have members-only events on these dates that feature the selected wines, wines still to come, or both, and keep you informed about what’s going on at Links Bridge Vineyards.
- If you’re unable to be here during the pickup period, we’ll hold the wine for you until you can come by. Or, should you instruct us to do so, we will ship the selection to you at your expense.
- Finally, with each selection, we will also include certificates for two of our normal sit-down wine tastings that you can use yourself or transfer to a friend.
2. The May 2021 Selection
Our May selection will include one bottle each of: 2019 Merlot, 2020 Rosé of Barbera, 2020 Albariño, and 2019 Chardonnay.
The pickup weekend for this selection is Saturday-Sunday May 1-2 (11am-6pm). Come on by anytime during that weekend to enjoy a complimentary tasting of the four wines, together with a small collection of complementary foods, plus a little “cheersing.” Of course, if you are unable to come during the pickup weekend, we will hold your selection until you are able to be here.
The deadline date for requesting substitutions, additions, etc. is: Saturday April 24.
Of the four wines listed, the first three are brand new wines from our March 2021 bottling. The last is a wine from our 2020 bottling that we have recently made available on our regular tasting menu. Here are some details:
2019 Merlot. Our Merlot vines were good to us in 2019, producing enough really nice fruit to make about 25 cases of varietal Merlot–our first. This well-balanced and lightly tannic wine was aged in French oak for 18 months. Bottled March 2021. ABV 13.1%.
2020 Rosé of Barbera. This is our second try at making a Barbera rosé, and we are delighted at the way it turned out. Made from a saignée of Barbera grapes from Golden Run Vineyard in Sudlersville, Maryland. The wine is dry and crisp, with red fruit aromas and tastes, good acid, and a lovely salmon/pink hue. It will be a perfect companion on any hot day this summer! Bottled March 2021. ABV 11.8%.
2020 Albariño. Our favorite white grape! This dry white was fermented and aged in stainless steel at the lowest temperatures we could manage in order to keep aroma, freshness, and fruitiness at a maximum. It will pair well with mellow cheeses, all kinds of pasta dishes, and Maryland seafood (especially crab cakes!). Bottled March 2021. ABV 12.3%.
2019 Chardonnay. Fermented and aged in stainless steel for 8 months, this dry white with its beautiful balance of flavor and acid was awarded “double gold” at the 2020 Maryland Governor’s Cup Competition. “Double gold” means that every Competition judge agreed that the wine rated a gold medal—so we are pretty proud of this. But we invite you to judge for yourself! Bottled April 2020. ABV 12.9%.
After the Links Bridge Wine Club 15% discount and Maryland’s 9% alcohol tax, the price of this selection for club members is $94.50.
As always, you may substitute other wines for those in the selection, add extra wines (also at the member discount), or both. Just email us at linksbridgevineyards@gmail.com by the deadline date, Saturday April 24, and let us know what you’d like to do.
On the day after the deadline date, we will charge your credit card on file for the May selection, adjusting for any substitutions you have requested or other instructions we have received from you. (If you are a new member and do not have a card on file, we will send you an invoice which you can pay electronically with a credit card, and we’ll ask that you place the card on file for future distributions.)
3. How to Join the Links Bridge Wine Club
We invite you to join the wine club simply by purchasing our May selection.
To get this started, send us an email before the deadline date (Saturday, April 24) at linksbridgevineyards@gmail.com. Use WINE CLUB as the subject line. Please include in your email:
- Your name, mailing address, email address, and phone number.
- Whether you would like to make any substitutions or additions. (For information about our other wines, look at the “Our Wines” page in our website—just click here.)
On the day following the deadline date, we will send an invoice to your email address that bills you for the May selection, adjusted for any substitutions you requested. This invoice will come to you from Square, the same well-known point-of-sale system that we use for transactions at our tasting room. You will be invited to pay this invoice online with a credit or debit card.
At the same time, Square will also present you with the option to save your card details in order to facilitate subsequent wine club transactions. We will need you to do this in order to make our wine club system work. Please note, however, that your card information will be housed securely with Square rather than at Links Bridge Vineyards.
Once you’ve purchased the May selection and placed your card information on file with Square, you are officially a Links Bridge Wine Club member. (And our communications about subsequent wine club selections will be a lot shorter!)
Continued …
March 27, 2021 / News
Hello all,
This message has two parts. First, we want to let you know that we will be open for our regular hours (11am-6pm) on Saturday April 3, but will be closed on Easter Sunday April 4.
Second, we also want to let you know that yesterday (Friday) was our bottling day for 2021. It came after a couple postponements having to do with the availability of corks. But it was a good day, and we’re very pleased with the new wines we’ll have available over the coming year. New 2019 reds include Cab Franc, Merlot (our first), new editions of Monocacy and Pileated, and an appetizing Norton. We also have a fresh and fruity 2020 Barbera. New 2020 whites are Albariño, Chardonnay, Vidal Blanc, Muscat Blanc, plus two experiments, Vidalia and Multiflora (Not that every bottle of wine isn’t an experiment!) Finally, we have a Rosé of Syrah and a Rosé of Barbera that we hope you will enjoy on a hot day by the river. We’ll be releasing all of these wines as the summer progresses.
Best wishes!
Bob & Joan
Continued …
March 4, 2021 / News
Open on Weekends Again!
Hello all,
We are delighted to let you know that beginning this weekend (March 6-7), Links Bridge Vineyards will once again be open Saturdays and Sundays, 11am-6pm, and by appointment on other days.
We hope you’ll soon come by for a visit! We’ll be serving our usual 7-wine tastings, wines by the glass or bottle, and two new charcuterie platter options. (You’re also welcome to bring snacks or a picnic of your own to enjoy with your wine.)
We’ll have all the outdoor seating you could want, with no reservations needed. For the time being, though, we will be limiting indoor seating to two parties at a time, with all the appropriate social distancing. So if you you’d like to sit inside, please call ahead (301-466-2413 or 301-602-5733) to make sure a seat will be available. We’re also asking all of our customers, outdoors or indoors, to “mask up” when not actually seated at their tables.
The picture above shows what Links Bridge Vineyards looked like just a week ago. The one to the left shows what we hope it will look like as soon as it possibly can. Right now, things are somewhere in between. The weather is variable, the grass is beginning to look green, and the shrubs, trees, and vines have that “I’m thinking about April and May” kind of look. That’s what early March is like. But March is also (drum roll)…
Maryland Wine Month!
Maryland Wine Month is the first month of the year when it’s just warm enough to feel comfortable with the weather, but not so comfortable that you can’t give your full attention to the wine. It is the ideal time, in short, for a first visit of the year to any number of Maryland’s 90 or so wineries.
Enjoy!
All the best,
Bob & Joan
Continued …
February 1, 2021 / News
Greetings all,
Due to continuing Covid-19 concerns, we have reluctantly decided to continue our winter policy of “wine tastings by appointment only” through the end of February. As always, we are also happy to provide wine to go at the tasting room, or wine for home delivery. Just give us a call at 301-466-2413 or 301-602-5733 to arrange any of the above.
We look forward to seeing you soon–hopefully in February, but if not then, during Maryland Wine Month, which begins March 1st!
All the best,
Bob & Joan
Continued …
December 16, 2020 / News
All,
We are changing over to our winter schedule here at Links Bridge Vineyards, and we’re writing to let you know.
Between now and the beginning of February, we will be open by appointment only. If you’d like to come by to taste some wine, or buy some wine to go, just give us a call at 301-466-2413 and we can set up a time that works for all.
From the beginning of February onward, we’ll be back to our normal weekend schedule, opening Saturdays and Sundays, 11am-6pm, and by appointment on other days.
As we write this, snow has begun to fall here at Links Bridge. We’re expecting something like a foot or so today and tomorrow, so talking about winter hours seems appropriate. But more importantly, it brings to mind the upcoming holidays. We hope yours are happy and memorable, and we look forward to seeing you in the new year!
All the best,
Bob & Joan
Continued …
November 10, 2020 / News
Bottling 2017 “River Rocks,” January 2019
Links Bridge Wine Club
We have just announced the December Links Bridge Wine Club selection to club members (more details below), and we’re sending this message to our general mailing list just in case some of you might want to join the club.
This post includes (1) a summary of how the club works, (2) a description of the December selection, and (3) instructions on how to join the club.
We hope to see you soon at Links Bridge Vineyards!
Best wishes, and stay well.
Bob & Joan
1. Here’s how the club generally works:
- If you join the Links Bridge Wine Club, we will provide you with four selected bottles of wine three times each year. These selections may include current wines that we think are especially good, wines reserved for club members, and/or new wines that have not yet been released.
- About a month in advance of the pickup period for a given selection, we will send you an email that describes the selection, the pickup date or period, and a deadline date for making adjustments to the selection.
- The price of each selection will be our normal retail price for the wine less a 15% discount, plus Maryland alcohol tax. For club members we will extend this discount to any additional wines you order along with the announced selection (and to wines you purchase at other times of the year).
- If you wish to substitute a different wine for one or more of the selected wines, you can let us know by the deadline date. We will make those adjustments, and then on the day after the deadline date we will charge your credit or debit card for the adjusted amount due.
- If you wish to opt out of a selection entirely, no problem—just let us know by the deadline date and we will not charge you for that selection.
- If you have not requested substitutions and have not indicated that you wish to opt out, we will charge your credit or debit card for the current selection on the day after the deadline date.
- We hope you will come by Links Bridge during the pickup period for each selection, as we enjoy your company and will often have members-only events on these dates that feature the selected wines, wines still to come, or both, and keep you informed about what’s going on at Links Bridge Vineyards.
- If you’re unable to be here during the pickup period, we’ll hold the wine for you until you can come by. Or, should you instruct us to do so, we will ship the selection to you at your expense.
- Finally, with each selection, we will also include certificates for two of our normal sit-down wine tastings that you can use yourself or transfer to a friend.
2. The December Selection
Our December selection will include one bottle each of: 2016 Cabernet Franc Bin 10, 2019 Albariño, 2019 Vidal Blanc, and 2017 River Rocks.
The pickup weekend for this selection is December 5-6 (11am-6pm). Come on by, taste some wine, and chat with us for a while. As our small granddaughters would say, it will be a good time for some “cheersing!” (If you are unable to come by during the pickup weekend, we will of course hold your selection for you until later. Or if you request us to do so, we will ship the selection to you at your expense.)
The deadline date for requesting substitutions, etc. is Saturday November 28.
Of the four wines listed, the first is an old favorite. The second and third will be released for the first time as part of the December selection. The last is also one that we have not yet released, but we will make it available before the December wine club distribution in case anyone needs a bottle or two for Thanksgiving. Taking them in that order:
2016 Cabernet Franc Bin 10 ($28). We are down to about fifteen cases of this popular red and it will disappear soon from our menu. As most of you already know, it is a medium-bodied cab franc with notes of pepper and red fruit. We hate to see this one go, but we have some good reds coming to replace it in the spring! ABV 12.5%.
2019 Albariño ($25). After the near-continuous deluge of 2018, our 2019 albariño harvest was small—but the vines put their heart and soul into making seven cases of wine. This albariño is delicate in fragrance, fruity in taste, and silky in texture, making it Joan’s favorite of all our 2019 wines. We’ve been saving it for members of the wine club, and we’re thinking of keeping some of what’s left after our club distribution for another kind of distribution: Christmas presents. (And possibly for a little personal consumption!) ABV 12.7%.
2019 Vidal Blanc ($20). Pale gold, with an aroma of honeysuckle and a taste of melon, this Vidal reminds us of lunch in a summer garden. (Joan says “Bob wrote this, so take it with a grain of salt!” But speaking of salt, casual empiricism tells us both that this wine pairs very well with Tostitos and a spicy guacamole.) This is a wine we hope you will love. ABV 13.2%
2017 River Rocks ($35). This is our first try at a sparkling wine made using the “traditional method,” and we are very excited about the result. We made the base (Vidal Blanc) in fall 2017, harvesting the grapes a bit early in order to create a bone-dry wine with relatively low alcohol and good acid. In January 2019 we added a bit of extra yeast and sugar and bottled immediately. The secondary in-bottle fermentation thus begun added additional alcohol, a lot of bubbles, and (over time) a nutty, yeasty taste to the wine. In October 2020, after aging the bottled wine on its lees for another 23 months (and coddling it considerably), we began disgorging the old yeast remains and leveling up the bottles. The final sparkling wine is dry, packed with tiny bubbles, and delicious (we think) to drink either in a celebratory toast or with a wide variety of foods. We hope you’ll like it as much as we do! ABV 13.5%
After the Links Bridge Wine Club 15% discount and Maryland’s 9% alcohol tax, the price of this selection for club members is $100.06.
As always, you may substitute other wines for those in the selection, add extra wines (also at the member discount), or both. Just email us at linksbridgevineyards@gmail.com by the deadline date, Saturday November 28, and let us know what you’d like to do.
3. How to Join the Links Bridge Wine Club
We invite you to join the wine club simply by purchasing our December selection.
To get this started, send us an email before the deadline date (Saturday, November 28) at linksbridgevineyards@gmail.com. Use WINE CLUB as the subject line. Please include in your email:
- Your name, mailing address, email address, and phone number.
- Whether you would like to make any substitutions. (For information about our other wines, look at the “Our Wines” page in our website—just click here.)
On the day following the deadline date, we will send an invoice to your email address that bills you for the December selection, adjusted for any substitutions you requested. This invoice will come to you from Square, the same well-known point-of-sale system that we use for transactions at our tasting room. You will be invited to pay this invoice online with a credit or debit card.
At the same time, Square will also present you with the option to save your card details in order to facilitate subsequent wine club transactions. We will need you to do this in order to make our wine club system work. Please note, however, that your card information will be housed securely with Square rather than at Links Bridge Vineyards.
Once you’ve purchased the December selection and placed your card information on file with Square, you are officially a Links Bridge Wine Club member. (And our communications about subsequent wine club selections will be a lot shorter!)
Continued …
