I'm a space cowboy

The boyfriend and I visited The Winery at Wolf Creek last Saturday. This is a local winery we occasionally visit (and where we had our first date!). Every time we go, there's a wine that wasn't previously on the list, which is good because they seem to sell out pretty quickly on some of their other wines by the end of the winter. Could it be because it's so close to civilization and we Ohioans have nothing to do all winter but drink? Anyway, this time, we discovered a little gem called Space Cowboy.

Now, yeah, being Mars Girl and a sometimes amateur astronomer, I admit to being partial to space-themed alcohol, food, theatre, rides, runs, etc., etc. But I was a in wine snob mode and a little incredulous about trying another fruit wine. The little siren in my head was screaming, Sweet! Sweet! Stay away!

However, the spacey name, along with the label of cowboy strandling a peach in front of a star-filled background, called to me so I asked for a sample... and was happily surprised. This wine was very smooth with only hints of peach amidst a base that tasted to me like a semi-sweet Riesling. It had a dry finish.

We drank a bottle and the pleasantness lasted throughout...

A visit to Emerine Estates Winery

A lot of wine snobs will pass up a fruit wine because it generally tends to be overly sweet. I admit that in the past I have snubbed wineries that made fruit wine. However, the day I stumbled upon Emerine Estates in Cherry Valley, Ohio, my prejudice against fruit wine was put to an abrupt end. Jason Emerine, the wine maker and owner (obviously) of Emerine, crafts some lovely sweet to semi-dry fruit wines that do not assault your pallet with sugar and maintain the best aspects of the fruit's flavor. Emerine states the purity of flavor in his wines is due to using organic compounds rather than chemicals in the fermentation process. Having a background in chemistry and physics, Emerine explained that he tries to find natural sources to create the chemical reactions required to make the alcohol component in the wine. He definitely accomplishes this feat.

My personal favorites in the repertoire are: Tropical Paradise, Country Apple Riesling, and Hunters Cranberry. For something special, when you're in the mood for something more unique to bring to a party, the Caramel Apple and Apple X-Cider are really fun, albeit more on the sweet side. If you're a real wine drinker, the Country Concord will annoy you, but delight your "uncultured," once-in-a-blue-moon-wine-drinking friends.

On my most recent visit to the winery (last Saturday), I learned that Emerine is crafting some new traditional wines to capture some traffic from the wine snobs with the distaste for fruit wine. Coming soon is a double Cabernet Sauvignon he's calling Deja Vu. I'm highly interested in this wine and will be returning in a few months when it is ready to try.

He's also been working with a coffee and vanilla flavored wine called Aphrodisiac. I did try this one, but feel it needs more work--the coffee overpowers the lighter spices he added such as the vanilla and nutmeg. If he can figure out a way to tone down the coffee, he might have something. My current favorite coffee wine is a coffee orange wine called Midnight Sun from this winery in Florida. I have faith that Emerine can outdo this beauty with his skills... but he hasn't gotten there yet!

I also discovered that Emerine already makes some traditional wines he won't be selling on his regular menu... he apparently creates wines for another local winery (he can't name who). I tried a Johannesburg Riesling that was out of this world. In fact, I was able to purchase an unlabeled bottle. I'm excited to try it again, as I was a little inebriated when I tried, which never helps in distinguishing the realness of a flavor.

I think that we should expect to see some exciting things from Emerine in the future. He says he has over 100 wine recipes in his head that he would like to rotate on and off his wine list. I'm excited to taste what he has in store!