By Jennifer O’Keefe

Just along the headwaters of Passerdyke Pond sits the beautiful Bordeleau Vineyards and Winery in Allen, Maryland, just south of Salisbury.

It was nearly ten years ago when Tom Shelton, sole proprietor and winemaker of the vineyard, bought the property, not knowing then how he would cultivate the land.

“I grew up on a tobacco farm and found myself wanting to get back to life on the farm,” Shelton said. He had no interest in growing wheat or soybeans but continued with his plan to keep the land agricultural. Shelton found that the land was suitable for growing grapes planted his first acre in 1999. He continued to plant acre after acre of a variety of vines through 2003.

“This year I planted once again and now have doubled the vineyard to 10.5 acres,” Shelton said. Adding more grapevines, however, is not the only addition he has made within the last year in preparation for opening Bordeleau.

“For a long time, I was not sure whether I would have a winery on the property and it was only last year that I got my commercial license,” Shelton said. Renovations to an existing building on the property are wrapping up after several months of construction. The fairly large building has been used for Shelton’s home winemaking all along, but now is entirely dedicated to making, sampling, and selling wine. Two new rooms have been added, including a new climate-controlled barrel room and a bottling room. The front section of the building will be the retail shop for tastings and purchasing of wine.

Shelton is producing eleven wines at Bordeleau Vineyard and Winery. The red wines feature Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, while the whites include Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. The winery is also producing a unique blend of red Chambourcin and white Vidal Blanc. In the coming years, Shelton will be harvesting four more kinds of grapes to develop new wines.

“Although we did not have all of our wines available, the festival went very well for us,” Shelton said. The winemaker was certainly pleased with the outcome and since then, he has bottled much of his product, stocking up for the opening year.

All the racket of construction has made it very difficult for Shelton to get anything done and within the next couple of weeks, he anticipates getting back to a normal life on the farm.

“I don’t necessarily want to be big, I just want to make great wine,” Shelton said humbly as he looks forward to concentrating on winemaking and bottling of all of his wines.

For more information on Dove Valley and Maryland wine, please log onto www.marylandwine.com/mwa/wineries/bordeleau.shtml.