Maggie Malick Wine Caves

About

Since ancient times, wine has been stored in natural caves because they provide high humidity, which minimizes evaporation, and cool, constant temperatures – key components of aging wine.

Maggie Malick Wine Cave’s 215-acre property extends up Short Hill Mountain, which is part of the Blue Ridge Mountain range. But its soil is composed of soft shale that won't support a cave in its mountain side. So, we built one.

Maggie's Wine Cave

Wine caves are an integral component of the wine industry worldwide. Ours was was purchased as a "cut and cover" cave kit. 

Our Wine Cave is a versatile space that serves as our tasting room, as well as where we ferment, store, blend and bottle Maggie's award-winning wine. Come and see it for yourself!

History

Maggie Malick Wine Caves is a female-owned, boutique winery in Northern Virginia. We feature award-winning, estate-produced wines on 215 rolling acres in the shadow of Short Hill Mountain in the Between the Hills Valley, near Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, where Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia converge. 

Wine-maker Maggie grew up in Washington State and joined the Navy, where she met husband Mark, a Navy pilot and, later, a commercial airline pilot. Today, when Maggie isn’t in the winery making award-winning vintages, she works as an aeronautical engineer. 

Mark is the winery’s grape farmer and a commercial vineyard real estate agent.

The couple got their start in wine-making when they bought a neglected, Christmas tree farm in Loudoun County. Lifelong wine aficionados Maggie and Mark decided to repurpose the land in 2001 and plant 5 acres of grapes. Today, they have 15 grape varieties planted on 30 acres. 

Maggie took a few local wine-making classes and started reading books to learn how to make small batches of wine in the family garage. Maggie also sought the consult of neighboring winemakers in honing her technique. Gradually, she developed her craft - and an affinity for blending grapes into superior wines. After winning medals in amateur wine competitions, Maggie opened her own commercial winery in 2013.

Opening a commercial winery meant Maggie’s wine-making operation moved out of the garage and into a manmade Wine Cave, covered in 4 feet of earth and grass. The Wine Cave was developed especially for its lower carbon footprint and an ability to maintain a consistent temperature throughout the year for wine making.

Maggie’s first commercial vintage was in 2011. She bottled those wines in the summer of 2013 and opened her winery’s doors that fall. Today, Maggie produces 10-15 different varieties of wine and Sangria.