many years ago, i had a bottle of mixed (grape) shiraz and cherry wine-it was from a small vinyard in Sonoma. it was fantastic! Are there any really good fruit winces? i had some pear "champagne"that was quite good. Anyone have some good labels to sample?
There are no good fruit wines in Great Debates.
Personally I like elderberry wine, damson’s not too bad either. I would recommend both. Strawberry is ok, but too sweet for me. I tend to like red wine with lots of tannins.
Other than that you can make wine out of almost anything, when I was younger my parents made a wine from rose petals and it was great, it even (somehow) developed bubbles like champagne.
I tend to buy elderberry wine from here.
But I suspect if you live in the USA shipping costs would be astronomical. However, if you look at the wine section it will give you a good idea of the types of wine available. I would assume similar wines are produced in the USA.
Are There Any good Fruit Wines?
“Philip is so insensitive!”
Well, yes, but fruit (other than grapes) are usually turned into other kinds of spirits: hard cider, for instance, or orange liqueur.
Blackberries make a very nice wine, but I am familiar only with homemade varieties.
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To Cafe Society.
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I had two good blueberry wines in Maine. I don’t know that I’d drink them every day, but they were better than “novelty”, if that makes sense.
Nashoba Valley Winery in Massachusetts makes several good fruiit wines which are rather dry. (Nashoba Valley Winery is nowhere near Nashoba Valley Ski Area, which confused the heck out of me. Also, I don’t recommend them if you’re ghoing apple picking. But their wines are great.)
There are Loganberry wineries in Washington State that turn out pretty good wines. Again, not “fruity”, as you’d expect. If someone hid the label, you might think it some sort of grape wine.
The Cape Cod winery makes all-grape wines and grape-cranberry blends.
Why is cider (which love so much) not a wine?
No, they are evidence of man’s inhumanity against man.
Most are way too sweet for most wine drinkers, but there are a few relatively try versions, like the ones from Nashoba. Still, the wines aren’t very complex and will never be confused for fine wine.
I don’t know. Nashoba Valley (in my post above) makes, among other fruit wines, an apple wuine. It is wholly different in look, color, and alcohol content from cider.
So a nice British cider is not a wine because it is too sweet?
Beats me. I never said so. And I don’t know British cider. I do know the apple wine I’ve had is very different from American cider, and I don’t know how it got that way.
I notice, though, that that site doesn’t explain the difference between Cider and Fruit Wine, if there is one.
I will be back in the US in a couple of weeks. I will find a store that has Woodchck brand apple (and Pear!) cider.
Woodchuck. Look for the marmoset on the label!
I know, but since fruit wine is just wine made with fruits other then grapes, there should be a difference. I believe most fruit wines still use a grape base with added juice from other fruits. Cider is all apples.
The Plymouth Colony Winery here in MA (http://www.plymouthcolonywines.com/) has a GREAT cranberry wine and a cranberry mead they call Red Gold. So good! I have to check when they open for the season and stock up.
ETA: Paul, Woodchuck is a favorite of mine. Anything pear flavored is rare to see, so I likes. Thankfully one can find it often here and sometimes even on tap. That’s usually just the cider though.
If you can find it, get yourself some Ace Pear Cider (aka perry). It’s righteous.