This sparkling tasting room is not only vast and bright, thanks to large windows overlooking the vines, but also green. Mark and Vicki Fedor were the winemakers for Corcoran down the road but after 2007 turned their attention to making small batches of their own wines (try the petit verdot, the winery's estate-grown, award-winning offering). In 2011, the Fedors opened North Gate on a quiet plot where they had been nurturing vines. The tasting room was built to green specifications, with a bartop made of recycled wine bottles and electricity generated in-house.

What makes a tasting here stand out? For a pittance of $5, you can add three artful truffles from Frederick's the Perfect Truffle to your wine tasting. Each confection has been picked by Vicki Fedor and the chocolatier to match the wines. Recently, the pairings included such sweet finds as a speckled white-chocolate ganache truffle heady with vanilla bean (paired with the winery's 2011 viognier), and a tart, cherry-puree-filled dark chocolate (matched with a 2009 Meritage).

--Lavanya Ramanathan (Aug. 17, 2012)