Basignani Winery

We went for a wine tasting, which was a cheese plate and wine tasting with free take home glasses. Our wine server was very friendly and knowledgeable about the winery and their wines. The cheese plate was sufficient, and the samples were a good size. Unfortunately their dry wines with exception of the Lorenzo reserve (the best wine they sell) taste like alcohol. I could not tell the difference in the verietals at all. I love dry wines so I was very disappointed. Their sweet wines are very surgery except for the Marisa Dolce (I did like this one). I was very disappointed in their wines, but the service was good, and the grounds are beautiful.

2.5 stars
I really wanted to give Basignani a higher rating; however, the lack in knowledge of both the winery and wine really impacted our experience. We pre-​purchased a groupon ($ 15): tasting for 2, paired with cheese and 2 souvenir glasses. Although the groupon says reservations required, we called in advance and were told to just come in.
Experience:
Driving into the winery, I was greeted by a small dirt road which led up to a few small stone cottages and the vineyard. It was like I was transported to a little, quaint winery in France.
The tasting experience was led by a young lady who was on the first day of the job. She was friendly and approachable but had minimal training and knowledge of the vineyard and wines. We were able to sample all 10 wines currently in production, and were even asked if we wanted to repeat tastes of any wine at the end. Awesome!
Unfortunately, we were not told any information about the wines (beyond dry or sweet), the lady leading our tasting also wasn’t familiar with the printed out sheet with descriptions of the wines. Basic questions like grape varietals, aging process, style of the winery, terroir, type of oak/​barrels, harvest, etc… were met with blank stares. Although she asked more senior staff working in the tasting room, we couldn’t get an answer and was even asked: «Why do you want to know?». A bit disappointing because when I travel to a winery to taste, I’m going for the experience to hear about the vineyard, wines, terroir, and story behind the winery. Otherwise, I can drink wine in the comfort of my home!
Wines (as with any wine this can vary person to person):
Basignani’s style seems to be focused on creating approachable wines for easy drinking. Out of the 10 wines we tried, we had 3 dry whites, 2 dry reds, and 5 sweet wines. It seemed like Basignani’s signature wines were their sweet wines.
–3 Dry White Wines:
Elena, Seyval, and Chardonnay. These were fruit forward in general and had lots of oak.
–2 Dry Red Wines:
1) 2009 The Cabernet Sauvignon was reminiscent of Napa-​style cabs; stone fruits and ash.
2) 2008 The Reserve Lorenzino was «Bordeaux-​style» (less fruit forward) with a tart mid-​palate; it felt a bit off balance if you ask me.
–5 Sweet Wines:
1) Marisa Dolce was a semi-​sweet red. Meh, I’ve had better.
2) Monkton Moon Delight was very sweet. Pale pink. Mouth full of ripe peach. Sweetness overwhelmed a lot of other characteristics
3) Vidal was off dry with nice minerality, well balanced. Pretty good.
4) 2013 Riesling had notes of honey. Not as crisp or light bodied as most rieslings.
5) 2010 Sinistra was a «Port» style wine. Lacked notes of raisin or dried fruits common to Port, but was very palatable. The tannic structure was prominent, but didn’t clash with the sweetness which was impressive. My favorite sweet wine out of the 5 we tried.
Overall:
Basignani Winery had a great setting. We ended up purchasing a few bottles. I WISH they knew more about their wine, terroir, and vineyard. How they currently run their tasting experience, I wouldn’t be back. Their wines were okay, but I got the impression that the sweetness of the wines and in-​your-​face oakiness of the dry whites were used to hide flaws. Certain wines definitely stood out above the rest. In the end, I might purchase a bottle of Basignani if I see it in the store at a good price, but I won’t be back for their tasting experience.

I’ve been to this winery (2) in the past couple years and it’s been kind gorgeous.
The land is really nice. Its looks like a rustic little Italian town. I’ve been here for the summer live music Fridays and for the winter’s SOUPER Saturday. The wine here is pretty good. Some are a little too sweet for me. Others are a little too bland for me. They do have a nice middle ground that they seem to hit well with some of their wines. The Elena was really good.
I really enjoyed during the summer time, the brick oven pizza was AMAZING. Just if you get a chance to go for a 1^st time make sure it’s a night they have their pizza going. It is simply amazing. I cannot rave about it enough.
The soup I had recently for souper Saturday was pretty good. A cream of mushroom soup and a lentil soup with turkey meatballs. I also had a cheese platter that was $ 10. I would say it would of been a little more worth it if it had a little bit more grapes and crackers on it. The cheeses did look expensive and were pretty tasty.
I will say the only problem I’ve really had with this place is both times they had ran out of items. For the soup they ran out of soup so they refunded my money. My boyfriend and I shared soup between us. Also they ran out of pizza I believe last time I was there. I would say have a little bit more confidence in your business, cause Basignani is doing very well. Make more! People are coming and people like it! And they have very loyal customers like myself and my friends. The staff is eccentric so far but enthusiastic about the wine. I would say the customers that I’ve spoken with LOVE the place which made me excited to come back for more. And what better salesperson than the customers?

We typically do VA wineries, since we live in VA, but we were visiting Baltimore for the weekend and decided to try out three wineries. We started this this one and tried two more and can say that the wines here were just ok. The reds were lackluster and bland in color and boldness. The staff was moderately friendly. The husband of the couple who owns the vineyard was very friendly and took the time to chat and explain the history of this vineyard.
The vineyard itself is very pretty. They clearly are quite popular, as they had a lot of staff on hand. We were the first customers of the day and while there, they got rather busy.
We did like a couple of their white wines and did buy a couple. Out of the 3 wineries we visited, this was the best.

When I first went here, I took my mother, sister, and cousin out for Mother’s day with a groupon deal. The deal at the time was the best that they had ever put out. I forgot the price, but it was a wine tasting with 2 places of cheese for a party of 4 plus 2 bottles of wine and 4 glasses of wine to take home. It might have been $ 40 is what my gut is telling me. Ever since this deal, the subsequent deals have never quite been the same, but I will forgive them because I actually really love their wines.
I am not a wine connoisseur. In fact, I have an allergic reaction to dry wines. They induce facial muscle spasms associated with gagging. I believe people call this frowning. In any case, I love sweet wines and the selection at this winery is just right. It’s not overtly sweet, and its not too dry. The Marisa Dolce is my most favorite among the sweet red wines. There’s a touch of something very subtly bitter in the aftertaste that lifts the flavor. I’m not sure what it is, but there’s a good balance at play here. I could guzzle it all day with with a plate of chocolate and their delicious blueberry goat cheese. Their sweet white wine selection is also excellent. The Monkton Moon and Riesling is so refreshing and light. It’s almost like fruit juice, but the alcohol flavor mixes so well. And if you wanted something heavily alcohol with a lot of punch, but still sweet enough to counterbalance the bitterness of the higher alcohol content, I highly recommend the Port Wine. It’s not overtly sweet, but its a good knock out dessert wine. The bottle pricing are also reasonable — less than $ 15 for some wines. I think its well worth the price.
I do recommend the wine tasting deal with cheese plate. The cheese plate itself is small and I can’t help but wish for more, but I will let that pass. I believe you can try a total of 8 of 1 oz wines, 4 of which are set, and the other 4 are your choice. I think if you know what you want to try, you don’t have to limit yourself to the 4 sets that are determined already. The hosts are very well informed and flexible with the 8 different wines you want to try out or switch up. I came here with a party of 12 once and while it was hectic because there were multiple other groups having a wine tasting at the same time. The team were wonderful and helped us coordinate the wine tasting. I’ve been coming back here every summer for the last 3 years and I’ll keep coming back each year.
The vineyard is gorgeous by the way and great for taking pictures. There are also areas to have a picnic if you wanted to relax with a cold glass of wine after wine tasting. This vineyard has various events throughout the year though that include outdoor movie watching and fresh oven made pizzas. It’s definitely a gold mine to explore. The drive here was beautiful as well and very scenic. It’s a gorgeous place to visit and relax during the summer.

The wine tasting was the perfect Sunday afternoon treat. My friend and I aren’t what you would call wine connoisseurs, and we’re total novices when it comes to the art of wine tasting. But the young lady who performed our tasting was friendly and very knowledgeable about the collection of wines we tasted. She described each one and explained what foods go best with each. The wine was accompanied by a plate of various cheeses and crackers that complemented our wine choices. It was a great experience and we look forward to returning in the summer to taste the summer wine collection. Lovely!

4 of us went here for a wine tasting and pizza event. I think it was the Tuscan Christmas. It was really fun! The only complaint I have is that the wine tasting was short and a little rushed. After we did the tasting we bought a bottle and then went into a warm tent to relax and wait for our pizza. They had a guitarist that was very good and a chocolate vendor that had like 20 different chocolate bark flavors and some truffles. I had a really great time!
I’m not sure I would go back just for a wine tasting but I would go back with some friends for another event like the Tuscan Christmas.

Went here with my mom using a groupon deal and we were not disappointed. It was a hot day but everyone working was helpful and in good spirits. I mentioned to my mom how it would be a lovely place to come on a fall afternoon, especially since they have food you can buy!
We had a tasting and cheese pairing. I loved that some wines are per-​selected but that you can also pick some of your own. Our lady truly was engaging and explained things to us without making us feel dumb. We also did not feel rushed. I left with a bottle and it was a great deal to also be able to take the glasses as well.
My mom and I both discovered red wines we didn’t think we’d like and really enjoyed our time here. I’ll be back!

I learned about this winery from a Unilocal event actually, they were providing wine pairings with caramels so they only brought red wines and while I am not a fan of red wines all the time the flavors intrigued me so much that I had to go to the winery to check out everything else they offered. I should also mention that I was quite impressed by the two women who were at the event providing the pourings — turns out one of the women was the owner — that doesn’t happen often but that goes to show you the type of dedication the family has to the success of the business plus I love family owned businesses and I love strong females even more!
I chose to visit the winery on a very wet, Saturday afternoon and though the weather was not ideal the company and the outdoor accommodations made the afternoon quite a success. I loved that they offer cheese pairings with the wines and I also like that 3 of the wines are pre-​chosen and then you get to pick 3 additional wines — what a great deal!
After tasting the wines, we decided to sit outside under the tent (dry from the rain storm) and enjoyed a bottle of, believe it or not, rose wine! Their whites are good but I think their blush and reds are really where it is at so if going to the winery — bring a little picnic, try their pairing and then sit back and relax on their patio and if it’s not raining go sit under a tree!

Rude workers. Snobby patrons. The only reason this winery has one star is I can’t give it a lower rating.
We arrived with reservations and a relatively large group of 15 or so for a farewell party. Everyone had money to spend and wanted to enjoy our time, but the owner (or wife of the owner) was downright rude about our group and acted like we were putting them out. The other patrons acted like we were crashing a private party.
On top of all that the wine was not good. I went prepared to purchase a case or more, and bought one bottle to drink while we were there only because I was out of beer and there wasn’t other wine choices for us. I would have preferred a bottle of Apothic Red at $ 8/​bottle to the bottle of weak «Marisa Dolce» that we bought at almost $ 20.
Don’t waste your time with this winery. Find another in NOVA or MD that at least has decent customer service and an appreciation for business.
Oh, if you do visit this place, be prepared to use a porta-​potty even though they had an indoor bathroom. Or maybe it was just our group, but they didn’t allow my wife to use the indoor facility. WTF?

Interesting winery outside of Baltimore. Went with 2 of my girlfriends on a Saturday afternoon. It was very crowded and confusing when we got inside. You have to go straight to the register in order to get instructions on how everything works. That’s okay because when it was finally time for our tasting Danny made up for it. He was great and so funny. He gave us the history of the winery. I got the Marisa Dolce.
I will be back in the summer to try to the brick oven pizza.

What a great find! Had a tasting for reds & sweet wines (loved Marissa dry & sweet versions). John gave tasting presentation with good info without being too overwhelming. I learned a lot about wine in general.
I came on a weekday so it was quiet. But they have space for larger crowds, seating area for lunch & quite a line up for activities including brick oven pizza day (mmmm). Will definitely go again to Basignani Winery!

I found the Travelzoo certificate and thought it would be something fun to do. It was! Driving south on I-​83 from PA, we got off the interstate early and took some beautiful back roads to the winery.
I thought the tasting room was very cozy. It is dusty, which I think is kind of weird and some skylights in the roof would really brighten the place up, but I liked the atmosphere. It wasn’t too busy when we arrived so we had no problem getting a «server» to walk us thru our selections. Brenda was a lot of fun to talk and joke with.
Our cheese plate had nice size chunks/​slices of brie, parmesan, asiago and a figgy goat cheese. How can you go wrong with wine and cheese I ask you?
I tried all their reds. I’m accustomed to PA wines which generally are very sweet. And I thought this winery had more balance in their wines. My personal favorites were the Marisa which was their sweetest red and their Cabernet which had the most incredible fresh, jammy, fruity smell. Just delicious. We had quite a bit of cheese left over after the 8-​tastings we each had, so my bf bought a glass of wine and we sat outside with their border collie and enjoyed a gorgeous autumn day.
When it was time to check out I got my free bottle of wine. I could have had their Lorenzo Reserve, but I preferred the Cab, and since the Cab was cheaper, they had no problem switching it for me. We ended up buying a bottle of the Marisa, the Marisa Dolce and the Cab. We really enjoyed our visit and we’ll go back in the spring when the buds are blooming on the back roads of Carroll County.

Good but not stellar. On the day we went it was a touch overcrowded and loud as hell as we had a birthday party happening in the tasting room combined with a bridal shower rolling through. The wine is good but not the best we had through the day.

I went to Basignani with groupon deals for the first few times and finally decided to join their membership last Sunday. Piccolo is the best deal for your money, we bought a case of Piccolo plus a bottle of Marissa Dolce, since one of our friend love sweet wine. People are super friendly there, no pretentious. This is my favorite winery in Maryland and also not too far from downtown Baltimore. Give it a try!!!

Tasty wine. Has something for everyone: dry whites, dry reds, semi-​sweet, and sweet wines. We like to visit on Fridays during the spring through fall for the tasting, music, and brick fire pizza events. Try the new port, it’s a hefty 20% abv but its a nice middle ground of bold flavor with some sweetness. We will keep coming back.

We had a fantastic afternoon here, but I’m not sure how much the winery had to do with it, besides providing a shaded pavilion and some drinkable refreshment!
Came here with friends on a Sunday. The place was packed, probably because the Groupon expired the following week. Lots of kids, older and younger couples — very diverse and courteous crowd.
The tasting room was REALLY dusty and disorganized, so much so that I had to consciously fix my attention on the glass in front of me. I’m not a clean freak, but they must have had a thousand old bottles lining the walls, and each one thickly blanketed with dust. Ew.
A pleasant surprise: the wines were not as cloyingly sweet as most Maryland wines are. We liked several of their drier offerings, especially the Elena and Marisa blends. Even the Marisa dolce, a sweet wine, was more like port than grape juice. For $ 5 we tasted fourteen wines, which was very generous. Their sangria, which is very popular, is way too sweet — it’s made with sugar, orange juice AND Sprite.
The girl who poured our tastes was really sweet and knowledgeable. She gave suggestions and trivia about each vintage. The Groupon came with a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, which was our least favorite, but she said there was no way to exchange or upgrade to a different bottle.
For $ 11, we bought a cold bottle of Elena and brought our humble picnic (cheeses and crackers) to a pleasant patio down the hill from the tasting room. We sat in comfortable chairs for several hours, talking and laughing as we watched other customers picnic on the lawn, kids throw softballs and two border collies roam in search of scraps. It was a comfortable setting, though I don’t think I would return; there are plenty of good places to picnic and better wines can be had for less money elsewhere.

We are not professional wine tasters but had a nice experience tasting the products of this small Balco Winery. The road is winding and somewhat confusing but we drove very slowly and did not have a problem finding parking at the back of the retail store. For $ 5 you get to sample the good, bad and bitter wines of this producer. We liked only two of the wines we tasted (thank goodness for that crock on the counter to dump the excess grape juice) and found many of them bitter and not worth spending $ 15 or more since there are many other wines in the same price range that are much better. Yes the place is dusty and very small. There are many old dusty bottles displayed in the tasting room on the shelves but that did not bother me as we tasted for 20 minutes, asked a few questions, and left with a bottle of Monkton Moon, a blush wine suitable for a nice summer dinner at home. The grounds and the new piazza are very nice and there are shaded areas to picnic and drink wine (it’s $ 5 a glass). Or you can come when they have outdoor movies and hand made pizzas on the wood fired oven which looked very authentic based on the photos we saw. The movie and pizza meal is a Friday night event and you can check out the particulars on the website.
We had a lovely time exploring this winery — there are no tours– but it was a nice escape from the usual Sunday places — such as the harbor area or Annapolis. There were no dogs around when we visited,

The wines taste bitter except for the sangria which is mixed with fruit juice and frozen fruit.
The tasting room has a dog that roves it and is in dire need of a good dusting.
DO NOT come here if you hae bad allergies.

Everyone has a different palate. I can’t say this is the greatest wine ever because that would simply be one man’s opinion.
I have been drinking wine from Basignani for years and I really enjoy it. The Marisa is a very good Red if you enjoy BOLD red wines. Now if you like very good blended wines try the Lorenzino Reserve that is IF they have any. It usually sells out pretty quickly and is in high demand. It’s a beautiful menagerie of Cab Sauv, Cab Franc and Merlot.
The other great part of the winery is the atmosphere, if you enjoy a friendly tasting room and some good grub when they have events come here and enjoy, I know I do!!!