The Port of Leonardtown Winery officially opened May 21 and many turned out to toast the long-in-the-making project. With funding and support from the St. Mary’s Board of County Commissioners, the Town of Leonardtown, the Md. Agricultural and Resources-Based Industry Development Corporation and the Southern Md. Agricultural Development Commissioner, the winery is an investment many are glad has come to fruition.

Department of Community and Economic Development Director Bob Schaller said, “The Southern Md. Wine Growers Cooperative is really the main ingredient.” He explains how these 15 volunteer members dedicated innumerable hours and personal gifts of money and grapes to make sure the project progressed.
 
Caroline Baldwin, the Co-op Board’s current president, said the winery gave out between 450 and 500 free glasses at Friday’s event. Co-op members filled glasses with the winery’s six available wines and answered questions about the product and process behind each variety.
 
Attendees toured the facility, which was once a State Highway shop, and mingled while jazz musicians played.
 
Leonardtown Mayor J. Harry Norris declared, “It’s a great day for all of us.” Norris, the commissioners and Delegate John Wood, Jr. championed the partnership that will encourage both agriculture and tourism in St. Mary’s County.
  
Schaller called the venture, and upcoming ones like it, “the future of agriculture.”
 
To make their memory of the winery’s original toasting, Commissioner Dan Raley joined Leonardtown Administrator Laschelle McKay in a grape stomp. 
 
Kevin Atticks, Executive Director of the Md. Wineries Association provided the oversized wine glass for a grand toasting and said, “Port of Leonardtown Winery’s first vintage is excellent, raising high the expectation of wines to come.”
 
The Port of Leonardtown Winery is open Wednesday through Sunday from 12 to 6 p.m. and until 9 p.m. during Leonardtown First Fridays. Just off Rte. 5 and next to McIntosh Run, a canoe/kayak launch and wildlife sanctuary, the winery is conveniently located near shopping and restaurants. For more information, visit www.portofleonardtown.com.