Wine Tasting Club – Fruit Wine
So, if fruit wine isn’t actually made from grapes, what does go into it? According to Wines of Canada, which is the organization that oversees all wine production in Canada in its various forms, fruit wines are made from any harvested product from apples to rhubarb and dandelions to ginseng. Impressively, there are more than 160 fruit wine producers operating throughout Canada. Not sure where to find the one nearest to you? Check out your province’s or territory’s website. If you still feel you’re on a wild goose chase, check out www.winesofcanada.com/fruitwines.html.
Fruit wines are as complex in flavour and bouquet as wine made from grapes, so seek out the wineries flavour profile if you’re not sure how to enjoy it. The one that really stands out for me is Alberta’s Field Stone Cherry Fruit Wine. Fruity but dry, it tasted like the ripest cherries with a slightly bitter finish that lasted and lasted.
Fruit wines pair really well with any course. Like wine, the sweeter the fruit wine the more it works with tangy or spicy food. Any natural sweetness in the fruit wine (even if it’s produced in a dry style) will do a great job of pulling out the deeper flavours of a dish. They also come in as many styles as regular wine. Look for iced fruit wine, fortified fruit wine and sparkling fruit wine. Try these combinations:
Apple wine aged cheese.
Cherry wine with pork dishes.
Peach wine will cool the heat of Indian or Thai dishes.
Try these:
Pearsuasion, Forbidden Fruit Winery, BC $17.95
Strawberry Fields Truffle, Scotch Block Winery, ON $13.95
Rous Brook Rhubarb, Lunenberg County Winery, NS (contact winery for pricing)