Route One Fun

Fun Along the Route 1 Corridor

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Shipping Container Full of Wine Gets Ready in Hyattsville

If you’ve recently traveled along Route One in downtown Hyattsville, you may have noticed a big ol’ shipping container resting in the parking lot of the vacant-though-beautifully-colorful garage at 5334 Baltimore Ave (across from YES Organic Market). More recently, you may have noticed the container now has the letter “H” artfully emblazoned on its side. So, what’s the container’s story and why have I seduced you here with the draw of wine in a big ol’ box? Well, because makin’ wine is exactly what the magical container is fixin’ to do!

Shipping Container Full of Wine in Hyattsville

Some time ago, Nathan Zeender (head brewer and co-owner of Right Proper Brewing Company) decided he wanted to build an off the grid, self-contained and solar powered mobile winery – the Hibernaculum Chamber – to produce low-intervention wine and cider. He enlisted the support of lifetime bud Bret Stevenson (Hyattsville 💓 resident, Maryland based polymath, levitator and dude who’s skilled in the building and repair trades) to help with the container’s build out right here in Hyattsville.

Hibernaculum Winery Hyattsville Frederick County
Buds Nathan & Bret, hard at work. 📷 Hibernaculum Wine Instagram

Q & A with Hibernaculum Wine

I caught up with Nathan and asked him a couple of really hard questions.  Like:

What are you doing here? He politely shared that they’re building a hibernaculum chamber that will serve as a mobile winery, entirely solar powered and not connected to utilities. Nathan grew up in Hyattsville and Bret now lives here, so they’re familiar with the area and invited anyone interested in the project to stop on by for a chat / look-see. He anticipates they’ll be wrapped up by the first week in July. After which, they’ll be trucking the mobile winerty to the property of Distillery Lane Ciderworks in Frederick County, Maryland.

 

Hibernaculum Winery Hyattsville Frederick County
A peek inside the magical chamber! 📷 Hibernaculum Wine Instagram


What type of wines or ciders will you be making initially? “The focus will be on living wines and ciders that are native yeast fermented, unfiltered and we will not be adding sulfites.”

What’s the genesis of the name, Hibernaculum Wine? “Hibernaculum is a quiet, dark place for a hibernating animal like a bear, bat, snake, etc.  It references the seasonal and low-impact nature of this project.” I totally knew that. 😜

Parting words? “We encourage anyone interested to support our Kickstarter campaign and help spread the word through their community and personal networks.”

Done and done! Can’t wait to try the Route One blend. Just sayin’! 🤣🍷👍

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