From: South Mountain Vineyard, Maryland
Price: $30
Serve with: Grilled meat, roast poultry, hard cheeses
This is not only the greatest Maryland wine I've tasted in 30 years of sampling the home state product, it's the best red wine from the Eastern United States I've ever encountered. That's not just my view: Boordy's cab franc took Best of Show in the recent Eastern Seaboard Wine Association competition involving wineries from 12 states.
This wine is as smooth, elegant and complex as a top-flight St. Emilion from France, but it has a character all its own. The black cherry flavors and herbal notes are penetrating and persistent. Any Maryland wine lover with a decent budget and a spark of interest in local wine will want to stash away several bottles to share with friends from California and Europe.