The structure
A CPA and audit manager by day, Bri brings rigor to every tasting — the same eye for detail that makes the directory and the picks something you can actually trust.
Our story
Two transplants, one mission
We're Bri & Ian McDaniel — and we believe Maryland makes some of the most exciting, under-the-radar wine in the country. We've made it our mission to prove it.
When we moved to Maryland in 2013, we expected a lot of things. We didn't expect to fall head-over-heels for a wine scene almost nobody was talking about. One tasting-room weekend turned into another, and another — until we realized we were quietly visiting every winery in the state.
So we leaned in. We started taking notes the way we take everything seriously: Briana, a CPA and audit manager, brought the structure and the spreadsheets. Ian brought the curiosity, and started working through the WSET wine education program to put real vocabulary behind what we were tasting. We'd traveled to vineyards around the world — but there was something special happening right here in the Old Line State.
Maryland Wine Compass is how we share it: a continually updated directory of every winery in the state, a monthly set of top picks, the Bottle Review podcast, and — after years of weekends on the road — a travel guide that maps it all in one place.
The curiosity
Working through his WSET certification, Ian chases the story in every glass — the grape, the ground it grew in, and the people who made it.
The journey
How we got here
2013
We move to Maryland and take our first tasting-room trip — and we're hooked.
The quest
Weekend after weekend, we set out to visit every winery in the state.
The compass
We launch the directory, the monthly picks, and the Bottle Review podcast.
The guide
Years of notes become a travel guide to 80+ Maryland wineries.
Our mission
"To inspire and guide wine lovers and travelers through the diverse, fast-growing wine regions of Maryland — one bottle, one winery, one story at a time."