The most unusual bottle of wine I ever had

[pkbites]

We bought some Jalapeno wine at a cute little winery down in Comfort, Texas. It’s quite unusual. My wife uses 1 teaspoon of it to spice up bloody marys.
The most bizarre wine I ever had was at a tasting at the Three Cellars in Franklin. IIRC it was from northern Europe and was supposed to be a wintergreen flavored wine. I swear it tasted like Pine Sol. I wish I could remember the name of it!:smack:

[psycat90]

@pkbites

We bought some Jalapeno wine at a cute little winery down in Comfort, Texas. It’s quite unusual. My wife uses 1 teaspoon of it to spice up bloody marys.
The most bizarre wine I ever had was at a tasting at the Three Cellars in Franklin. IIRC it was from northern Europe and was supposed to be a wintergreen flavored wine. I swear it tasted like Pine Sol. I wish I could remember the name of it!:smack:

I’ve had a chili wine before, it was unusual, but not bad.

Maybe Retsina? It’s popular in Greece, and has pine resin added to the must. My experience with it is pretty much just like yours, tastes like Pine Sol.

[psycat90]

PS - **Kyla **- V and I have all next week off and no plans. His son will be here…sometime, but we haven’t made any particular plans for when he is here anyway, outside of maybe a trip out to Occidental for dinner.

You are welcome to come up to visit any time you like. We could hit El Coqui and just catch up, and you can sample the stuff we’ve got going in the garage. I’ll even send you home with a bottle or two.

[psycat90]

@pulykamell

You can brew up to 100 gallons of beer or wine for one person, or 220 gallons per household with more than one adult, for your own personal use in most states in the US.

per year!

Chicago has a pretty healthy wine making tradition, especially among immigrant populations. Every year, around September or October, there’s at least two open air grape markets in the Chicago area that sell crates of grapes from California (and perhaps other regions) for winemaking.

There is a good bit of interesting history that goes along with that tradition, most of it surrounding Prohibition. The price of grapes sky rocketed under Prohibition, from less than $10 per ton to over $120. And most of it was thick skinned varietals like Alicante Bouchet being shipped from CA by refrigerated rail cars to Chicago and New York, where wholesalers bought it right off the train, then sold it in immigrant neighborhoods for home winemakers.

Someone had recently asked about a book detailing alcohol consumption, or something similar, in the US prior to Prohibition. I think it was in a recent beer thread, so I didn’t make this recommendation as it’s soley about wine. But Thomas Pinney 's books, A History of Wine in America, Volume 1: From the Beginnings to Prohibition and** A History of Wine in America, Volume 2: From Prohibition to the Present**, are excellent resources for some fascinating and rich wine history.

[fubbleskag]

@TheMerchandise

I just bought my friend Hot Sun wine from the Key West Winery, which is jalapeno and tomato flavored. I brought back a bottle last time I was there and he’s been raving about it since last February.

This reminded me of one of my favourite wines to pick up whenever I’m back home visiting my family:

The Flame
A very unique aperitif wine, a combination of sweet, hot and spice. A late harvest Gewurztraminer, peach/apricot fruit and a pepper! A conversation piece, a true seafood and meat companion or try it with chocolate dipped strawberries. A true challenge for any wine lover that leaves you wanting more…a culinary wonder. Serve it ice cold.

It smells and tastes sweet, until you swallow - then it’s hot.