Old Westminster Winery: Family-Owned Maryland Winery, Farm Dining & Visitor Guide

Old Westminster Winery sits in Westminster, Maryland, about 35 miles northwest of Baltimore in Carroll County, founded by siblings Ashli Johnson, Drew Baker, and Lisa Hinton. The winery combines Maryland-grown wines with seasonal wood-fired food, private cabanas, and a farm setting that treats the visit as a full sensory experience rather than just a tasting. Reservations are required. This guide covers the siblings behind the winery, the adventurous wine list, the food and cabanas, the wedding-venue appeal, the drive from Baltimore, DC, and Annapolis, and how groups can enjoy the whole afternoon without a designated driver.

Visitor Details

What Makes Old Westminster Different

The Siblings

Old Westminster is founded and run by three siblings: Ashli Johnson, Drew Baker, and Lisa Hinton. The family operation is not a marketing story; it is the structural reality of how the winery functions. Ashli makes the wine, Drew grows the grapes, and Lisa runs the business. Each sibling's expertise feeds the others, and the result is a cohesion between vineyard, cellar, and visitor experience that wineries run by investors or corporations struggle to replicate. The winery's own site, oldwestminster.com, is the place to book and to confirm current offerings.

Maryland-Grown Wines

Old Westminster is committed to Maryland-grown fruit: estate grapes from the Westminster vineyard plus sourced fruit from partner vineyards across the state. The wines reflect Maryland's terroir rather than importing juice from other regions and bottling it locally. For visitors curious about what Maryland wine can be at its best, this is one of the benchmarks. The portfolio includes Albariño, Grüner Veltliner, skin-contact whites (orange wines), Cabernet Franc, Blaufränkisch, pétillant naturel (pét-nat sparkling), and seasonal releases.

That range is deliberately adventurous. Old Westminster does not make the same five varieties as every other regional winery, and its style leans toward natural winemaking techniques — minimal intervention, native yeasts, and respect for the grape — that produce wines with personality rather than formula. The Maryland Wine profile of Old Westminster Winery places the winery within the state's broader wine scene.

Wood-Fired Food and Private Cabanas

The seasonal food program pairs wood-fired pizzas, charcuterie boards, and seasonal dishes with the wine menu. The food is not an afterthought added to sell more bottles; it is a curated pairing designed to show how the wines work at the table, and the wood-fired oven produces the char, texture, and flavor that only live fire creates. Cabana reservations provide semi-private outdoor seating with dedicated service. A cabana gives a group its own space, its own pace, and its own wine-and-food journey, which open tasting-room seating cannot match.

A Planned Outing, Not a Pour-and-Go

Reservations are required, and that single rule shapes the whole experience. This is not a winery you drive to on a whim. It is a planned outing where every element — the flight, the food pairing, the cabana, the farm atmosphere — is curated for the visit. That intentional design is what separates Old Westminster from the pour-and-go model many regional wineries follow, and it is why the day feels like an event rather than a stop. Book early for weekends and holidays, confirm group size when you reserve, and let the winery know if you are celebrating something so the team can plan the table.

The setting matters as much as the wine. Old Westminster is an actual working winery on actual farmland, and the vines, the cellar, the wood-fired oven, and the cabanas are operational elements rather than props. Visitors who spend an afternoon here are not on a stage set; they are on a farm, and the difference is something you notice quickly. It is a place to slow down, order another plate, and talk, which is why the best visits are long ones.

Getting to Old Westminster

The drive from Baltimore through Reisterstown and Owings Mills into Carroll County passes from suburban strip malls to rolling farmland within about 20 minutes. For groups visiting the winery, the drive is part of the transition: leaving the city behind and arriving at a working farm where the wine, the food, and the setting all connect to the land. Carroll County is a rural, agricultural county that is increasingly recognized for quality winemaking, and Old Westminster is a large part of why.

The Wedding and Event Venue

Old Westminster's farm setting, vineyard views, and curated hospitality position it as a distinctive wedding and event venue. It offers what couples seeking a farm-to-table vineyard wedding in Maryland are looking for: authenticity rather than staging. Unlike purpose-built event barns dressed up as farms, this is a real farm winery, and wedding guests experience it as one. Couples should contact the winery directly about dates, capacity, and packages.

A Carroll County vineyard 35 miles from Baltimore means guests need planned transportation, and a rural venue with a single access road makes coordination even more important. Our wedding limo services cover hotel-to-vineyard shuttles from Baltimore, DC, or local hotels, along with bridal-party vehicles and the getaway car. Guests who drive to a vineyard wedding and then drink wine for four hours need a plan for the return trip; professional transportation solves it for every guest at the same time. A shuttle service running a loop between hotels and the vineyard keeps the evening on schedule and the roads safe.

The Carroll County Wine Day

For groups of four to six, a wine tour vehicle handles the countryside drive while the group focuses on the afternoon. The per-person cost buys a day at one of Maryland's most intentional wineries without anyone watching their pour count for the drive home. Because the winery is built for lingering — long flights, wood-fired food, cabana service — a typical visit runs two to three hours, and having a driver on call means the group can stay for one more plate instead of watching the clock.

A good Westminster afternoon might begin with a late-morning pickup from Baltimore or Annapolis, a leisurely lunch of wood-fired pizza and charcuterie, a flight chosen with the staff's guidance, and a slow return as the light fades over the farmland. Pair the visit with a stroll through historic downtown Westminster if time allows, but leave room in the schedule: the point of the day is to settle in, not to rush through. And because the wines range from bright orange wines to structured Cabernet Franc, it is worth ordering broadly and sharing, so everyone in the group tastes more of what the siblings have made.

Planning tips are simple. Reserve a cabana if your group wants privacy, especially for birthdays and anniversaries. Dress for a farm: comfortable shoes, layers, and clothes that can handle a breeze across open fields. Ask about seasonal releases, since small-lot wines often sell out. And arrange the return ride before you arrive, so the last glass is a pleasure rather than a decision. For couples making a date of it, a sedan or SUV is plenty; for celebration parties of eight or more, a larger vehicle keeps the group together from the first pickup to the last drop-off.

Who Visits Old Westminster

The audience mixes wine enthusiasts who follow natural and low-intervention producers, food-focused friend groups who come for the wood-fired kitchen, couples planning anniversaries and birthdays, and wedding parties scouting a farm venue. Because the winery leans adventurous, it also attracts visitors who are tired of the same five varieties at every regional tasting room. For many of them the draw is the sense of discovery: orange wines, pét-nat, and Blaufränkisch are not what most people expect from a Maryland farm. That curiosity is best served by an unhurried visit and a ride home that someone else is driving.

Why Natural Winemaking Suits a Maryland Farm

Maryland's climate is humid, with warm summers and variable falls, which makes consistency a challenge for growers. A winery that leans toward minimal intervention has to be honest about each vintage: some years are bright and crisp, others richer and rounder, and the wines are allowed to show it. That honesty is part of the appeal. Visitors who taste a skin-contact white or a pét-nat here are tasting a specific year on a specific farm, not a standardized product built to taste the same every season.

It also explains why the siblings' division of labor matters. When one person grows the fruit, another makes the wine, and a third runs the business, decisions about picking dates, fermentation, and release timing stay close to the land. For guests, that translates into a tasting where the staff can tell you not just what a wine is, but why it tastes the way it does this year, which is the kind of conversation that turns a first-time visitor into a regular.

Frequently Asked Questions