Catoctin Breeze Vineyard — Attraction in Thurmont

"We are getting ready to kick-out a family." This was the response I got from a tasting room worker when I asked what the problem was(they did not know it was MY family.) Apparently they do not allow children at this winery. Which is unnecessary in my opinion. My children were sitting at a picnic table reading and quietly building a puzzle when they were "spotted" as intruders. It was my fathers-day outing by the way. And I had just indicated that to the tasting room worker. My wife had ordered food from the food truck. I was doing a wine tasting and ready to enjoy some jazz music. I am not sure what reason they have to prohibit children. Every other winery in the county promotes a family atmosphere. But there is no reason to sound so smug and empowered to "kick out a family." I am a Certified Sommelier and a wine collector. I would likely have bought a case of wine and joined the wine club. I indicated that I wanted to try every wine they make and they could charge me appropriately. Its the 2nd closest winery to my home and could have been a regular stop for my "family." There was no consideration that my children were well behaved and enjoying the music. No offer to make an exception since we were already there. Nope, we had to go. Very sad. Nearly ruined my fathers day. So we waited to pay for our food as I felt bad for the food truck folks. We spoke with a nice couple there for the jazz that agreed our children should have been welcome. I hope this winery gets some better perspective. Maybe check your address before you decide to be this pretentious. And find some customer service training or better people. I will not be back. Nor will I recommend any of my wine enthusiast friends to visit....

Mixed review. The wine is decent. The service was decent.

The services offered are a tour on Fridays and Saturdays. Or $20 wine tastings of four pairings. It seems like the location focuses on reds. But you had to have the tasting at the bar countertop. You couldn’t sit at the other seats in the tasting room. And you certainly couldn’t leave to go outside. This is something I see at certain wineries, but there are also more of them that do offer a flight that you’re able to take with you somewhere else. Or the server comes to you outside.

But the location! It had recently rained a few days ago, and the ground was still pretty moist enough where the chairs were sinking into the grass. Many of the outdoor seating areas were so overgrown with weeds that they were up to your knees when you tried to sit outside of the primary seating area. The tables that they had out there were sitting in water and overgrown grasses.

There is a lounge that is upstairs, but it doesn’t offer views of the vineyard.

And then the main seating area is not covered with gravel or Cement. So you’re sitting in the grass with sinking soil…

I would suggest that they manicure their seating area as much as they did the flower gardens leading up to the house. Also, add bay windows to the upstairs sitting area. And...

We decided to stop here after reading about the vineyard in Wine Enthusiast and wow it did not disappoint. It's a textbook boutique winery and vineyard, and so with the small scale, you should expect to pay a little more than you might be used to paying at larger operations. The wines, however, are sublime. They expressed the local terroir quite well, making the tasting a truly worthwhile experience to get to try familiar varietals expressing the Maryland soil and climate. You cannot overlook the production, of course, so hats off to the vigneron here. The service in the tasting room was also top notch. I appreciate it when the person taking you through the tasting knows the wine and wine making process well enough to talk in depth about it and to compare the offerings to other examples. It's remarkable to find a winery of this caliber in Maryland. I'm sure we'll be...