Wines You Need to Be Drinking: Boyd Cru Wines

Vidal Blanc is magical in this bottle

I hope your Labor Day weekend has been restful. I’m off today to Portugal for my annual food and wine trip with Up in the Air Life.

For paid subscribers, my Portugal guide is dropping in the next few weeks.

Now on to the wine.

Vidal Blanc, a grape that should be on your radar, but it may not be. Hybrid grapes have been around for awhile and in the hands of the right winemaker they are singing, lively, and fascinating. Before you get all up in arms about the word “hybrid,” they are more than what you may be thinking. Vidal Blanc is made from the vitas vinifera (traditional) wine grape Ugni Blanc (the main grape of Cognac) and the hybrid Rayon d’Or. Over the past few years I have been exploring various hybrids in wine and have fallen hard for a few.

But, I digress.

Let’s talk about Boyd Cru Wines. The Community Vidal Blanc from Maryland is an absolute show stopper. Let’s back that up again. The wine is from Maryland. Yes, Maryland makes really great wine and what Jon’ll and Matthew Boyd are doing over at Boyd Cru Wines will continue to change the landscape of Maryland wines in the way Old Westminster has done. I took a bottle of this wine to enjoy with my BIPOC TexSom family last week in Dallas and hit was a hit.

Although, Boyd Cru Wines are new to the wine game they have come out of the gate on full blast. The Living Legacy Red Blend is everything I want in what I like to call a “chillable red.” It goes down smooth and easy. It has well balanced tannins and you may find yourself like I did looking at the blend of barbera, malbec, merlot, and cabernet franc. It is not a simple wine, but rather a thoughtful blend where all the components work together. I dare say this is a year-round red.

Boyd Cru Wines are a small production wine company therefore, when it’s gone, it is gone until their next production. Their rosé sold out before I could get my hands on a bottle, but I can only imagine the goodness coming from the bottle. I can only hope they make another vintage because I will be waiting with baited breadth.

Boyd Cru Wines are the first African-American family owned wine company in Maryland. Why didn’t I lead with this statement? Because I want you to be enthralled by what they are doing. Being Black is a bonus for you to support them. Be the first to be in the know. Very soon they will be known around the world for making exceptional wines from Maryland.

Boyd Cru, wines you should be drinking. 

Some of my TexSom family at this year’s conference.