Elk Run Vineyards

Very cute, small winery! Super fun time at wine down Friday :) Friendly and helpful staff is always great too!

Took the wine 101 today. Very informative –I had no idea about this winery and the history. It was very interesting. I assumed the wine would not be good and I was pleasantly surprised. Will definitely be back to enjoy this local winery practically in my back yard!

Made a quick stop while we were in the area. Loved the wine, service was friendly, and will definitely return again.

It was a rainy Saturday afternoon, but there was a steady stream of customers at Elk Run. Lisa was an awesome host and made the experience worth the 5 star rating. $ 10 gives you 6 different wines to taste from a list of about 15 dry and sweet wines. I tend to favor sweeter wines and walked away with Sweet Katherine, Annapolis Sunset, and Vin de Jus Glacé — highly recommend!

Awesome! I had a wine tasting LivingSocial deal. The owner was very friendly (and so were the cats!). I really liked the Chardonnay. Would recommend!

I absolutely LOVE this Elk Run Vineyards. I go there a few times a year to taste the wines and listen to music. The wines are fantastic, with my two favorites being the Liberty Tavern Chardonnay and the Liberty Tavern Cab. Their Rose is also excellent — very light and a great summer «deck» wine. The setting at Elk Run is awesome — there is plenty of seating outside where you overlook the grape vines and rolling hills and the mountains in the distance. Spending an afternoon at the winery is definitely a treat!

Lisa assisted us with the wine tasting on a Friday afternoon, and four of us were perfectly happy with the experience.
After some disappointing experiences with other wineries in the area, I liked how Lisa presented the wine to us, and, although I did not instantly fall in love with their wine, I did like their Carb. Franc & Carb. Sauvignon
I did not get to visit all the wineries in the area, but based on my experience, I think Elk Run would give you a decent wine tasting experience.

Great experience! We loved the tour by Neil and the tasting! Lisa served us at our tasting, and we enjoyed the wines and experience. Go visit them!

Sweet, neighborly place. We’ve been here a couple of times for events and a couple other times for a plain old tour and tasting. I love the supersized, super-​friendly resident kitty and the pourers, mostly family of the owners, who are professional and unrushed about their craft.
With a minor upgrade — more seating, more food options — this could become the kind of place we stop by for a leisurely meal. As it is, there’s no point in going except to purchase wine, which (if I’m honest) isn’t my favorite. There are one or two I can drink, but the others are all way too sweet. Maryland wine is like that, though, and there are many who love it. At Elk Run the wine is at least high-​quality and won’t give you that killer headache the next day!

Nice venue, good wine, and good jazz. I enjoyed the hayride tour of the vineyard. But there is no shade and more food vendors are needed. Only food available was pizza and, fries.
The venue was almost in the vineyard which means full summer sun. I past the EMT’s on the way out.
I guess it was like a picnic in the park but the folks i spoke with had been to other vineyards and expected a little more.

The wine is terrific, and this was a return visit for us. We felt a little like a hassle for the pourer, but once we got our bottle to go outside, we were really content. Try the sangria!

Came here for a groupon deal with my mom. We walked in and were a little ignored, I had to make it obvious what we were here for. Once I showed them the groupon on my phone, our tasting started. The groupon was for a tasting for two and then 10 bucks off a bottle. The tasting went just fine… their german wine (can’t recall the name) was wonderful. But otherwise, none of their wine is outstanding or memorable. The woman went through the list fairly quickly and didn’t chatter much. That was both welcome so my mother and I could talk and kind of eh since we wanted to know more about the wines.
Their sangria is great so we ended up buying a bottle and enjoying it outside. I will give it to them, the outside patio area is lovely.
I think for the price, they should throw in a pairing as well. But considering I went on a groupon deal, no real complaints!

Visited the tent at the great grapes festival in hunt valley. Horrible rude service and crappy wine. Gross

I’ve visited a few wineries and have really enjoy the experience. This winery is very «homemade». The grounds and shop need a make over and overall good cleaning. This place has a lot of potential but its condition is something I’d make the trip for again.
The wines are great and tour is really interesting. The tasting was basic and she read off the sheet and didn’t engage as much as I had hoped felt like I was at a bar not a wine tasting. I like hearing about the wines and what I should be looking for. In this case I think they deserve an A for effort but hope they improve, they have a great little business that could be huge!

This is a two star review based on a couple items. The wine was good, the location was pretty, the puppy in the tasting room was adorable, and the slightly older woman doing the tasting for the couple next to us was so personable. I think judging by past reviews we all had the same younger girl doing our tastings.
It’s a shame but the customer service she offered was atrocious. If it wasn’t for what was mentioned above this would have been a one star review. We were greeted immediately by her coming in and shown the tasting menu and described our options. We each choose what we wanted to do. She went to the back, we assumed to get glasses or something. A solid ten minutes later she wasn’t back up front and we were still awkwardly sitting at the counter like soooo…
Another couple even walked in and started their tasting in that time. When she did reappear we started our tasting. There was zero explanation just pours. When we said thank you, there was no response no you’re welcome which just seemed cold and awkward. Despite this we each got a glass and sat outside to enjoy it.
It’s a shame because Elk Run is relatively close to our house and we would have loved to stop in periodically but based on this experience I am not sure I would. There are a cluster of about four vineyards in the area. This isn’t the prettiest view or my favorite wine and was by far one of the worst experiences we have had tasting at any of them.

While the wines may have been good to very good, our overall impression was lessened by the young lady doing our tasting. It seemed as if she was too good to be there like she was bothered or put out. Her overall knowledge of their product line was slim to none. In other words, she didn’t seem like she was the least bit interested in selling us anything or our enjoyment of their products, much less working & earning a wage. I have to agree with Tochi K’s review.
Their Annapolis Sunset wine was excellent & we bought 2 bottles

There Sangria is all they have going for them, and for a vineyard that is not a compliment! Mediocre-​to-​bad wine, run-​down soulless kinda place, and horrible staff.
Even when it is pretty empty and the staff just stands around; they don’t greet you and just look at you as you walk in – you have to work to get their attention and tell them you want a tasting. Then it just gets worse.
Pours come with zero explanations about the wine or vineyard – it is just pour and pour again as quickly and as little as you can. Twice the server poured new wine into my glass when I had not finished the prior sip and glass clearly had other wine! She offered no apology and acted annoyed when I asked that she re-​pour it.
They offer 2 tastings: $ 5 for their standard tasting and $ 8 for a select one (your chose any 6 from 15). My husband did one, I did the other, and we shared tastings. Our surly and lifeless young blond server (who acted like we were bothering her from starring mindlessly at the wall) told us they were «out» of their 2006 Method Champenoise Blanc de Blanc «for the day» when we chose to sample it. I asked what that meant: did they just not have bottles in the tasting room today or were the out of the wine? Our server responded with, «we run out and are making some more»! I kid you not; according to her, they were making more of a 2006 wine :-). I thought about returning her rudeness by laughing in her face but couldn’t be bothered. Perhaps her understanding of wine making mimics that of grape juice making, which might explain why their wines taste bad.
The tasting room does not make you want to stay there. It is kind of run-​down and has no character. The whole place and experience was a bit of a joke. I am really trying MD wines, but sometimes you make it so so hard!
Oh and the sangria? It’s good as long as you Just don’t think of it as sangria and instead think spiked fruit punch with no visible fruit.

Purchased a Groupon for the Jazz Festival and decided why not. The festival was not great and neither were the wines. Really small crowd for the festival. The online program had Kirk Kadish performing but instead it was a women and guitarist that sounded nothing like jazz… more like bad lounge act.
They had no recycling available! All those glass bottles and no recycling… that is just unforgivable.
We got a free bottle of Sangria with the Groupon. They didn’t even take the time to put a label on the bottle. Don’t know how it tastes as it was made using one of their dessert wines and I am not a sweet wine drinker.
Being able to do the free tasting was not a problem as the festival was so lightly attended. None of the wines impressed me. All I can recall is sweet. Beyond the free tasting list, you could pay $ 1 each to try the others. My other half did pay to try the Port and remarked that it wasn’t bad.
The festival area offered views of the fence, road and the few exhibitor tents. It was not a relaxing space to enjoy the afternoon. We left after 30 mins and went to another winery to enjoy the views with a good bottle of wine.
I’ve been to other winery festivals in the area and this left a lot to be desired.
We didn’t go to the actual tasting room so I can’t speak to it.

Meh. I’ve experienced better. Way better.
We worked through their tasting and most of the wines were mediocre. The staff wasn’t very friendly or engaging. If anything they were a bit rude. We had a group of ~10 people and when we arrived the staff ignored us for a while. Finally someone asked if we were there for a tasting and then went to the back to find someone to pour the wines. The pourer wasn’t much better, she did pour the wines, but didn’t do much else to introduce the wines or try to engage us. Not worth stopping by here if you’re doing Maryland wine tasting.

Back when I lived in Frederick I used to always buy Elk Run’s resilings. So when I came back to Frederick to visit after many years I wanted to finally stop buy and buy a bottle or two.
It’s a sweet little place that yes, is a bit dilapidated. But that should never turn one off! The gentleman behind the counter was nice, not over friendly, but answered all of my questions during the tastings. I got 6 for $ 5. The resilings are not quiet as good as they used to be, but the Annapolis Sunset is really great! My one disappointment is that usually tasting fees are waived if you buy a bottle of wine, or at least over a certain amount. I spent $ 50 on wine (only two bottles!) and still had to pay the tasting fee. I know this is a small business, but it’s a nice, small reward to give your paying customers.