2022 Black Ankle Vineyards Rolling Hills Frederick, Maryland

Notes of lightly smoked cedar lift from the glass alongside classic notes of red currants, dried herbs, and cherry. The palate is serious and stately with pleasantly grippy tannins and good concentration. Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot do the heavy lifting this year and it shows with beautiful brambly fruit accented by sage, tobacco, plum, fresh peppercorn and more currants leading to a snappy, fresh finish.

38% Cabernet Franc, 34% Petit Verdot, 17% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot

18 months in oak barrels

Rarely do we get generosity and high quality in the same year. However, the 2022 vintage gifted us with both! A warm dry summer with just enough rain to keep things humming along was followed by a very dry harvest season, with only one significant rain event. The wines have very good acidity, even better than the 2021's. The reds were uniformly healthy and we got to pick them at our leisure, so we could wait for just the right ripeness levels without worrying about weather events. We got our first wines from Live Edge this year and, while we don't expect the same level of complexity we get from the older vines at BAV, we were happy with the quality of the fruit