Layton’s Chance Review
We had the opportunity to visit Layton’s Chance Vineyard & Winery near Vienna, Maryland
on our way to Assateague Island National Seashore. http://www.laytonschance.com/
This was our first experience using Harvest Host, http://harvesthosts.com/ and we were
their first Harvest Host participant.
I had exchanged emails with Pam Payne prior to our visit to
make sure that we would have a spot and she responded very quickly to let us
know that we would be welcome to spend the night with them.
We parked the rig in their overflow parking area on a very
nice grass field about 100 yards from the winery.
We then went to the tasting room to check in and, of course,
do a little wine tasting. There was some
initial confusion due to the fact that we were their first Harvest Host guest,
but Pam arrived and sorted things out quickly.
We were here on a Saturday afternoon on one of the first
nice days we have had in months. The tasting
room was quite busy.
Wine tasting was the first order of business, so we got
right to work by tasting 12 of their wines.
A very busy Tammy Jones took very good care of us in that regard. We discovered that they were offering a tour
of the vineyards and winery, so decided to take advantage of that to learn more
about the operation.
The farm has been in the Layton family for over 50 years and
they planted their first vines in 2007. The
vineyard was laid out in a very organized fashion. Their vines include Chambourcin, Vidal Blanc, Traminette, and Norton grapes.
The wine making operations were set up very nicely and Joe Layton gave us an excellent tour.
We then headed back
to the tasting room to make our wine selections and try out the rockers out on
the front porch.
We headed back to the trailer to have a light dinner and a
glass or two of our new wines. We like
to take a little walk after dinner and we were surprised to find that there was
a Nature Walk Trail. The trail wanders
along a creek and then out and around the farm for well over a mile or so. This included a section where they are
planting new vines, all perfectly laid out.
Our first Harvest Host experience was very enjoyable and we
would highly recommend that folks stop by Layton’s Chance if they happen to be
in the area.
