P L E N T Y SUMMER 2019 Plenty Summer 2019-joomag copy | Page 15

ROCKLANDS wine: Hand crafted, small
batch wines that connect to the land
TJ Fleming, head winemaker who
arrived at Rocklands in 2012,
stands in a room on the far side
of the bank barn. He’s dwarfed by
huge steel casks of wine await-
ing an upcoming bottling . TJ has
midwifed the Rocklands’ ever-
expanding vineyard, now in its
eighth season and spreading out
over nine acres. He is excited that
in two days a mobile bottling truck
will pull up to bottle, label and box
3,000 gallons of wine. It’s a big deal
and a dramatic departure from
the time-consuming hand bottling
operation of past seasons.
Wineries like Rocklands have
to be nimble as well as experimen-
tal. Nothing is static; adaptation is
required. TJ explains, “Conditions
are always changing. Take our
traditional Springhouse white. It’s
always been Chardonel, 100 per-
cent. But this year we didn’t have
enough Chardonel so we brought
in some Seyval Blanc, another
Wine labels artfully capture a timeless
pastoral essence and are individually
block printed by a family member.
hybrid, that we blended with it.” It
was a rough growing season for the
winery in 2018 with over 71 inches
of rain—twice the normal rainfall.
“We harvested about 6.5 tons of
grapes, about half of what we were
hoping for,“ laments TJ. “This year
we’re hoping for 14 tons from our
acreage.” A good yield per acre? A
modest three tons, to control qual-
ity and not overcrop.
Rocklands’ winery has rela-
tionships with other grape growers
and vineyards, which is typical for
a small operation in a region like
Maryland. Ultimately if Rocklands
can’t be exclusively a Maryland
winery with Maryland grapes,
then a regional winery moniker is
fine. On another level TJ aspires to
producing wines with terroir (from
the French meaning the natural
environment in which a particular
wine is produced). “As a winemaker
I want to get as close to terrior as
possible, so the wines express the
taste of the place.”
Depending on availability,
Rocklands Farm Winery serves up
to ten offerings of delightful reds,
whites and a rosé. New releases
of 2018 Farmhouse, 2018 Monocacy,
and 2018 Anna’s Rosé are now part
of the mix. Loyal customers often
opt to become Wine Cellar Club
members. Winemaker TJ chooses
the wines, recent or unreleased,
that pair best with the upcoming
season for year-round quarterly
distribution. Options are available
to have wine shipped or picked
up at the winery. For more infor-
mation visit: club.rocklandsfarm-
md.com.
Free winery and vineyard tours take
place every Saturday and special events
like barrel tastings are very popular.
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