Nestled in the rolling hills of Poolesville, in the middle of the Montgomery County Agricultural Reserve, The Crossvines vineyard opened in summer 2023 and has become a highly-praised staple of the area over the past year. The culmination of ten years of development, The Crossvines is meant to renew and expand the state’s wine industry—and people can taste the fruits of their labor at the vineyard’s on-campus restaurant, The Farmhouse Bistro.
Even the vineyard’s name is uniquely Maryland. The Crossvines shares its name with the plant Bignonia capreolata, which is native to the state and is known as a climbing plant that ascends trees so its buds can soak up sunlight.
The vineyard was birthed from the Montgomery County Revenue Authority, which also owns the property.
“The county asked us to do a project that would assist the wine industry in Maryland,” recalls Montgomery County Revenue Authority Director of Operations Wayne Rohauer. “So Crossvines was born, and we work in conjunction with the University of Maryland College Park. They help us with research on our vineyards, as well as the viticulture [the study of growing and harvesting grapes] program at UMD.”
In addition to The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at UMD lending its aid to Crossvines’ operations, the vineyard provides an opportunity for students interested in entering the wine industry to get some hands-on experience.
“We tap into the academic side of things for guidance on some of the different things we might need along the way, and we want to be a way for students interested in entering the industry to help grow themselves in the industry,” explains Tyler Henley, The Crossvines’s winemaster.
Henley adds that it’s difficult for prospective winemakers to enter the industry, as it can be challenging for them to secure all of the resources they need to start making their own wine. Currently, the vineyard has six clients who use the property for their winemaking efforts.
We’re eliminating some of the barriers for entry for people who want to enter the industry,” he says. “The goal is to empower people to start wineries, and make things easier in an industry that’s pretty tough to get started in.”
The Farmhouse Bistro actually opened before the winery itself, holding its ribbon-cutting ceremony in July 2023 after over a year of construction. The winemaking division followed a month later.
Restaurant guests can sample the multitude of wines produced on-site, as well as dishes that make ample use of the Agricultural Reserve and the many crops produced there.
The bistro’s general manager, Tim Gonzales, is a former U.S. Army soldier who used his GI Bill benefits to attend the Culinary Institute of America. He previously managed a winery in Hudson Valley, New York, and he was drawn to The Crossvines due to its location in the Agricultural Reserve and its access to local farms.
Notably, at the time of interviewing, Gonzales had only just started in his current position at The Farmhouse Bistro, having worked there for less than a week.
The Farmhouse Bistro’s menu is fairly small, but intentional: every dish is chosen with one of the vineyard’s wines in mind and is meant to pair well with an associated wine.
“There’s a saying that what grows together, goes together,” Gonzales notes. “And the wine we produce changes from year to year, so we taste the wine and develop the menu based on that. The food needs to complement the wine, and the wine needs to complement the food.”
The menu’s small size is actually a boon to the restaurant.
“We have a small enough menu that we can really perfect everything we’re doing,” says senior sous-chef Marguerite Bottorff. “Almost everything is popular.”
Some of the most well-liked dishes include the Farmers Market Salad with grilled apples and goat cheese, the Farmhouse Fried Chicken, the Rockfish with ancient grains and sweet potatoes and the Fig and Prosciutto Flatbread, which was added to the menu just recently.
Among golfers who spend the day on the vineyard’s golf course, the Farmhouse Burger is very popular.
“When you spend three to four hours on the golf course, of course you get hungry,” Gonzales says. “The Bistro is a good place for them to come and refill.”
Parents looking for a good place to have a nice family dinner might be interested in the bistro’s “Kids Eat Free” deal, where the kids’ menu is free from Wednesday through Friday for children 12 and younger.
“People think of a winery or a vineyard and they don’t think of them as kid-friendly. We don’t want that, we want them to feel invited. We want people to feel like they can come here and have a family meal,” Gonzales adds.
The Crossvines has faced its fair share of challenges since it opened—a tornado ripped through the property and destroyed several trellises in early June—but it’s also been met with widespread acclaim from the community. The Farmhouse Bistro ranked ninth on USA Today’s 2024 Best New Restaurants list, and was named Best Restaurant in Montgomery Magazine’s Readers’ Choice awards.
The staff also note that they have felt very welcomed in the Poolesville community. Because of The Crossvines’ partnership with local farms like Lewis Orchards, they have been able to include other nearby businesses in their success as well.
“It’s lovely to be able to drive into town and source our ingredients directly … it’s a nice way to promote the community around us,” Bottorff says.
Hi. Ate you doing anything special for Father’s Day for families?