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!
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6 comments:
Hello Mars Girl. My name is Erin and I am a friend of Frank's and got wind of your blog that way.
I have a somewhat unusual question to ask you. Recently, my sister Alanna died. The night before she died, she wrote a word on a white erase board and gave it to me. It was puzzling really. She actually called me into her hospital room to give me this word.
The word was "luciere" and when I asked her what it was for she could not tell me and she was not sure if the spelling was correct.
When I looked it up on the internet it came up as a wine and a winery in France.
I have never had wine (besides church wine)and have not aquired a taste for it. The night before she wrote the word down, I was discussing the benefits of red wine with my dad and had a thought to try it.
So, my question is two fold: 1. Do you know where I could get Chateau Luciere wine and 2. Can you recommend a red wine that would be good for a first try?
I have a sweet tooth and I don't really like bitter things. Not sure what else I could tell you that may help in my quest. Thanks for pondering my question.
Erin,
I dont know much about French wines (yet!). I'm more of an expert on the American wines. I'd suggest going to a wine shop somewhere (you're in Columbus so I'm not familiar with that area) and seeing if you can find the wine you're looking for there. If it isnt available there, an employee at a wine shop might be able to help you special order a bottle and you might consider that if it's not too expensive to do so.
A word of caution, though, for your sweet tooth: European wines tend to be dryer. You see, wine drinking is mostly an art of dry wine... The drier a wine, the more it brings out those other "flavors"--the raisins, the pears, the oakey descriptors all the bottles acclaim. In sweet wines, the sugar overpowers the unique bouquet of the wine. That's usually why wine snobs "poo-poo" the sweeter wines. But, as you become a wine drinker, your tastes become dryer and dryer... I know I've certainly become a dry wine drinker and I didnt start that way!
As for starter wines, a good merlot is always what I suggest to beginners because it's not overpoweringly dry--kind of semi-dry--and most people, even those who dont drink wine as regularly as I do, can handle them (and even enjoy them!).
Now, my suggestion is the wine that I still enjoy a lot--Columbia Crest merlot. You can find this wine in just about any grocery store wine section or wine shop. It's really cheap, too--about $5.99-7.99/bottle. It's really pleasant, IMHO. I used to buy it buy the case at one point in my life, because I liked it so much and it fit into my budget.
Another good one to try, also the same price range and easy to find, is Turning Leaf merlot. This is also a nice wine, but I do like Columbia Crest better.
As you get used to drinking these, you can try a Cabernet Sauvignon, which is a little dryer.
I dont know if this helps any!
Sorry to hear about your sister. I think I read on your blog that she was battling cancer? That's really unfortunate... =( I will keep you in my prayers!
PS -- I just realized that I suggested exclusiving red wines, which shows my bias... I'm not much of a white wine drinker, so my exertise is a little low. However, I can make a few suggestions here on ones I like that I know my other non-wine drinking friends have had...
If you have access to Ohio wines (some stores sell them around here, I dont know about Columbus), Chalet Debonne's Vidal Blanc is very good. It's semi-dry and I can enjoy it with my friends who have a sweeter pallet. I think Ferrante does a Vidal Blanc too..
A lot of people like Rieslings. You have to be careful with this though because traditionally, Rieslings (from Europe) are dry. People in the US mistakingly think that all Rieslings are sweet because the American versions are. There is one that I cant remember the name of... I just know it comes in a blue bottle and it has a big sun drawn on the label... You can find it just about anywhere in the wine section, and I know this one is also sweeter. I wish I could remember the name pf the producer...
Hello Mars Girl,
Thanks for the info. "Luciere" remains a mysery to me. Maybe I should go to France--hmm.
I like the idea of red wines since they seem to have more health benefits so I have no issue with a one sided suggestion.
I appreciate your offering of a place to start. I was not kidding when I said I have not sampled wines.
Thanks for the well wishes and prayers regarding my sister. It is weird to have someone very close to you die that is younger than you. She was/is a special person. I say is because I have a sense that folks live on after they die and I have had experiences that give me reason to believe that. I have not felt her presence yet, but I suspect I will. I do feel the presence of my mom quite often. Call me crazy - but she is there. I wrote a blog post about that called "Spiritual Happenings".
Anyway, thanks for the advice. Frank does not usually imbibe but I think I can coax him into toasting my sister with her suggested wine :-)
Erin, life out of order (ie, death so young) is always difficult... which I know quite well, being a widow. It doesnt make any sense and it's really hard to keep a spiritual base in the darkness of all the suffering...
I don't know if I've experienced feeling the presense of someone I have loved who died... I do have an experience which I discussed on my other blog with my husband after he died, but I'm too torn between logic and feeling to know if it was really him I felt or just me wishing it was. The entry is "The healing power of music."
I had a powerful dream about my grandmother last week... I was not able to be at her bedside as she died because I was out of town. But we had a great relationship, she and I. And everyone at the funeral service was telling me that they wished I'd been there. So one night last week, I actually had this dream that I *was* at her bedside with everyone else from my family. And she opened her eyes and looked right at me and said, "I love you."
They say that the dead can return to you in dreams... I've been thinking that that dream was her way of telling me that I was with her at the bedside in spirit AND that she loved me. I was going to blog about the experience, but I haven't gotten around to finishing it. Maybe I will later...
I am sorry to hear for your loss. I can only imagine what it has been like for you, losing someone so dear.
I have lost my sister and mom in a relatively short time. And, it leaves me scratching my head wondering why? But, the world keeps turning and I am adjusting to this new situation.
I hope for you the best as you navigate through this stuff.
Thanks for the info about wines. I have not yet ventured out. I have been busy, busy, busy.
Happy biking! Erin
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