Terrapin Station wine: reds or whites in a bottle or a box.
Wine can make a good get-together great; the fine folks at Terrapin Station Winery in Elkton, Maryland suggest forgoing the bottle for a box – of Terrapin Station wine.
Owner Morris Zwick founded Terrapin Station Winery in 2003 with his wife. Both University of Maryland alumni, the Zwicks named the winery after their alma mater’s mascot (and Maryland state reptile), the terrapin.
Terrapin Station makes a variety of wines, but their most popular is the pirate-themed port, Better Red than Dead (BRTD). With a bold style and a touch of chocolate, BRTD is a crowd pleaser, like a good pirate tale.
And, like all good pirate tales, BRTD’s creation is “kind of a long story,” says Morris.
The short version? “My niece coined the phrase ‘Better Red than Dead,’ a play-off the 1950s notion, “Better Dead than Red (communist).”
Because the name had a sea-faring feel, the Zwicks enlisted their friends, pirate-themed band the Pyrates Royale, to co-brand the wine.
“It’s been so popular we’re going to take it national,” says Morris. And for good reason: not only is BRTD delicious, but it also comes in one of Terrapin Station’s pre-tapped boxes.
Approximately the size of a tissue box, the 1.5-L container weighs less than a bottle of wine, but holds twice as much.
The wine box also creates 91 percent less landfill waste and 79 percent less greenhouse emissions than bottle and cork packaging, and requires 77 percent less energy to produce.
Plus, the boxes keep the wine fresh for six weeks or more. Cheers to that!
For more information, visit www.terrapinstationwinery.com or call 410-398-1875.
Chris Milazzo was an editorial intern at Maryland Life. This post is part of a series featuring Maryland wineries. Follow along every Wednesday and visit www.MarylandWine.com to discover more great Maryland wine.
