BALTIMORE — A seat at the bar at the Wine Collective gives guests a front-row view of the inner workings of a winery.
It's harvest season now, so crates full of grapes are being sorted, pressed and made into the company's signature wines and vermouth.
"It provides this amazing gift to people, which is we lift the veil from what’s happening behind the scenes so people get to really know wine and fall in love with it," said Enrique Pallares, co-founder of the Wine Collective.
Pallares opened the winery two years ago with his wife, his brother Felipe and their partner John Levenberg and his wife. It's one of several businesses that make up the Union Collective in Hampden.
"We wanted to create a facility that was by nature collaborative, that had a wine making quality at the very heart of its purpose," said Pallares. "That was very committed to local, sustainability to working and sharing information amongst wine makers and growers to make really top quality wines in Maryland."
The brothers, their sister and parents are from Ecuador. After living in other places around the world and U.S., they came to Maryland. The family opened a winery and tasting room, Casa Carmen, in Chestertown on the Eastern Shore, before the brothers opened the first urban winery in Baltimore.
"We love Baltimore, we love how real it is. It feels like something really special here," Enrique said. "It’s very real in that sense that, what you are getting in places in Baltimore is, you’re getting the first-hand experience of the passion and knowledge of owning it and running the place."
Pieces of the family's culture and lifestyle are woven into the experiences guests have when they come to the Wine Collective, from the tinned fish on the menu to changing the way we view Sundays.
"In our culture, Sunday is not a day you stay at home and get the Sunday blues. Everybody pours out into the streets on Sunday nights for dinner and drinks to celebrate the beginning of the week."
As the Wine Collective toasts to two years in business, they are also looking to the future of wine-making in Maryland and being part of its story and evolution.
"We’re really happy to continue seeing that push of other wineries coming into the state, planting more grapes and being very serious about not just making a little wine for fun, but making really top quality wines that can compete with anybody."
The Wine Collective is open Tuesday-Sunday, hours vary each day. For information about the winery, click here.
