THE DRY COUNTY WINE REVIEW: THANKS-AGAIN-ING EDITION
Hannah and I attended a dinner party last night with some friends. They had procured a fresh turkey and the obvious move was to have Thanksgiving again. And thus Thanks-again-ing was born. Since they said they had all the food covered, we were just to bring some libations.
I had been looking for my opportunity to break out the blackberry and wild-berry wines. They were the two wines this summer that, when we bottled them, tasted like grape wine. More specifically, like natural wine. For all the time I spend ranting about how we should drink more local wine and that you can make great, naturally-fermented wine from things other than grapes, I have yet to prove it to anyone besides my loving and patient fiancé, Hannah.
First, we opened the blackberry wine I'd harvested and fermented in July and it was nearly glowing in the glass. It reminded me of syrah from the Ardèche. It was light and almost effervescent, floral and refreshing and most importantly, everyone was enjoying it. Obviously, since the Food Network wont get on the ball and actually create that smell-o-vision they're always blabbering about, I can't share it with you, dear reader, but I'd pin it against any young natural wine out there with confidence. Although I had my doubts about the wild-berry wine––comprised of blackberries, rabbit-eye blueberries and black raspberries––it was similarly delicious! It was even lighter, but equally as alive.
I could have easily come all the way to Kentucky and failed - riding this hunch which assumed I could make dry, natural wine from any fruit. But as we passed the two bottles around the table until they were spent I felt exhilarated and inspired. Watching people not only indulge your whims but enjoy them is quite unreal.
At one point, Hannah leaned in and said, "We'll definitely have to cultivate those blackberry briars now," and I realized berry wines were going to be a staple in our life. Again, this was precisely the reason I came to Kentucky, I just couldn't believe it was someone else suggesting it.
