Professional Fruit Winemaking Guide Now in Print!

This is good news for fruit wine lovers everywhere. After getting too many requests and after successfully making “The Ultimate Fruit Winemaker’s Guide” available as an e-book for over a year and selling several hundreds of copies worldwide, the authoritive guide to fruit winemaking is now in print!

This book is a culmination of a passion for wine that includes 15 years of fruit winemaking experience.

When I started making wines from fruits, there was really no information specific to fruit winemaking except for a few small amateur wine recipe books from the UK. These recipes more often than not enabled the winemaker to make mediocre wines and I feel that these books did not help the bad reputation fruit wines sometimes had.

There are hundreds of wine related books in the marketplace. A lot of them deal with wine appreciation and the many wine regions of the world. Others are technical books on grape winemaking. There are basically no wine books in print that are specifically geared to the modern fruit winemaker.

A lot of experimentation (and some truly undrinkable wines) has been made due to this lack of commercial quality fruit wine information. With time, a deeper understanding of the nuances and techniques of fruit winemaking were developed and this has contributed to fruit wines now often standing on par with their grape wine cousins in some parts of the world.

With the rise in popularity of commercially made fruit wines and for the thousands of amateur and commercial winemakers who enjoy making and drinking well-made fruit wines, it’s about time this came along!

It is my sincere wish that it helps you produce world-class wines and in doing so enhance the public’s enjoyment and perception of fruit wines everywhere.

The book is now available at the following online retailers and can usually be shipped out within a day or so (just click on the graphic below to get more information on ordering a copy:

A sampling of the book is available for viewing HERE.

Happy Winemaking!

NEW ADDRESS FOR DAILY FRUIT WINE

I have recently moved this blog to a new address and web host.

Please click:

www.dailyfruitwine.com

Please book mark that site address.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Cheers,

Dominic

Double Gold for Forbidden Fruit’s “Plumiscuous Plum Mistelle”

The ninth annual Platinum Judging for at WINE PRESS NORTHWEST Magazine just ended. This well known wine competition attempts to identify some of the best of the best in the Great Northwest region. By far, this was the largest judging so far, as a total of 329 entries were entered in this by-invitation-only competition. This surpassed last year’s record number of 259.

All wines in the Platinum earned their way in by winning a gold medal or equivalent in any of about 30 regional, national and international competitions that are tracked track.

So the winners of this competition represents really the “creme de la creme” in the wine world…

I am glad to report that a fortified plum wine made by “Forbidden Fruit Winery” won a “Double Gold” in this esteemed competition. The only fruit wine to classify at this level…

Here is the write up from the judges:

Forbidden Fruit Winery 2007 Plumiscuous Plum Mistelle, Similkameen Valley, $30

This winery in B.C.’s Similkameen Valley is dedicated to producing seriously delicious fruit wines from the estate’s certified organic 147-acre tree fruit farm. The results are usually spectacular, and the names are often amusing. This is a fortified wine made from plums and is a beauty. It smells and tastes like cherries and red plums and is smooth and rich from first sip through the lengthy finish. All-Canadian Wine Championships (gold). (17% alc.)

If you are ever lucky enough to be able to get a bottle of this elixir, you’ll be drinking one of the best wines made in the Pacific Northwest.

pH without Stress

What is “pH”? What does it mean and what does it say about a wine?

A new winemaker eventually grasps the meaning and the importance to pay attention to specific gravity and total titratable acidity. This often occurs after a trail of horrid wines which marks the learning process.

The more a new winemaker starts to study wine, the more the “pH” thing seems to creep up. Then they are told that to truly make better one, one needs to invest in a pH meter and start doing accurate measurements of pH levels, etc…

It can be daunting to a new winemaker as it is expressed in complexities that can instill fear and boggle their minds. Small wonder that some of the more conservative amongst us don’t even want to hear or deal with pH…

Well, the only thing wrong with pH is that we have been trying to understand it.

Like a lot of other things in life, pH is what you make of it. It is easy to learn to use pH, and you don’t really need to understand it. Most of us don’t understand the cars we drive so easily, or the TV sets we so blithely manipulate.

Start by simply recognizing pH as a very important number that can help you to make better wines. True, it doesn’t work like most numbers we grew up with, because what it measures grows greater as the pH number gets smaller. Those of us who have lived long enough to watch what has happened to the value of the dollar bill over the past fifty years can grasp that. As we receive more and more dollar bills they become worth less and less. Not to worry.

It does help to have some understanding of what pH measures. It has to do with acids. Musts and wines are complex solutions of weak Acids mixed with a variety of other materials. It is essential that we start a wine with its acids just so.

“Total titratable acidity”, which is what you measure with a simple titration kit, is not a measure of total acid, but of the acid that is available to react with the NaOH [Sodium Hydroxide] solution with which we titrate.

It measures that available acid in grams per litre or in percentage. It does not tell us how strong that acid is, and acids vary greatly in strength.

pH is a measure of the acid strength in the must or wine. The “p” in pH is an abbreviation for the Swedish word for power.

It is pH, rather than total titratable acidity, which indicates the ability of a must to resist oxidation and invasion by bacteria, and which determines how much SO² is needed.

pH has its primary importance in checking fruit or grapes for purchase and in preparing musts.

All wine musts that are to produce satisfactory wines have to start with their pH in the range of pH 3.1 to pH 3.55 at the commencement of fermentation. What their pH becomes later is considerably less important.

More particularly, white wine grapes or light coloured fruit wines such as apple wines or ciders should have a pH close to 3.2 (3.1 to 3.3). Red wine grapes or darker fruits such as blackberries should have a pH of 3.3 to 3.4 with pH 3.55 as tops.

Anything started outside the range of pH 3.1 to 3.55 is headed for trouble or will need adjustments before we start to ferment. Below pH 3.1 the wine will be highly acidic. Above pH 3.55 the must will be gravely at risk of oxidation and of invasion by bacteria, and it will be difficult or impossible to control with metabisulphite. There are, at the least, likely to be fermentation by-products that will detract from the wine.

In high quality grapes, picked at the right point of maturity, the pH, total titratable acidity, and specific gravity will all be in their correct ranges, and no adjustment is required. Fermentation should produce a quality wine that fully shows the potential of the grape variety.

This will almost never happen with fruit wines and the fruit must will always need to be adjusted to start off at the required range of acid and pH.

In fruit which are under ripe, overripe, or too heavily cropped, and in most fruit wine musts, the pH, total titratable acid and specific gravity will deviate from their ideal ranges. They may be adjusted to those ideal ranges. They may then produce pleasant and balanced wines.

You may usually expect to be able to raise or lower the pH of a must, but in many musts, and in varying degree, the pH is reluctant to change. It seems to have a mind of its own so again, the best advise I can give in regards to pH, is not to think about it too much, know about it, learn how to adjust it the best you can but don’t stress over it too much…

Let me know if you have questions or comments about pH or your own explanation of it. A lot of this post was taken from this great source of information for amateur winemakers.

Happy winemaking!

Fruit Wines are Healthier than Grape Wines – ORAC Values

Well, a new year has started and these days there is a lot of planning going on having a better 2009 than what 2008 was, resolutions, health or fitness regimes, etc…

I think a very good and easy to keep resolution would be to start drinking more fruit wine in 2009. There are many reasons for this. The first obvious one is that fruit wine tastes good and is a great alternative to having grape wines all the time. They are fun to make (if you are into winemaking) and they are good on the environment (if you buy locally made fruit wines as opposed to imported wines or make the wines from locally available fruit).

One of the most important reasons to start drinking more fruit wine this year is also because they are very good for your health.

Eating a healthy diet and having an active lifestyle are critical for maintaining good health. Fruits and vegetables provide vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other nutrients essential for a healthy diet and also provide a natural source of energy. In regards to fruit wines, the real health property that sets them apart from grape wines is that they can have a very high ORAC content.

What is ORAC? It stands for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity and is a method of measuring antioxidant capacities of different foods. It was developed by the scientists at the National Institute on Aging in the USA.

This is too large a subject to discuss in a simple blog entry but drinking wines has been proven to be very good for health, especially the health of the heart, brain functions, etc. Wines with a good source of polyphenol antioxidants such apples, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, cranberries, grapes, pears, plums, raspberries, and strawberries provide huge health benefits and should be part of a healthy diet.

Which wine have the highest count of ORAC?

The following wines and their ORAC content shows that wines made with Aronia (Chokeberry) are the healthiest wines to drink. More than 4X that of regular red wine!

The berry listed in order of Antioxidant levels per 100 grams

1. Aronia (15.8K ORAC)

2. Elderberry (14.6K ORAC)

3. Cranberries (9.5K ORAC)

4. Black Currant (8K ORAC)

5. Blueberries (6K ORAC)

6. Blackberries (6K ORAC)

7. Plums (6K ORAC)

8. Glass of Cabernet Sauvignon (5K ORAC)

9. Glass of red table wine or Chianti (3.8K ORAC)

10. Red grape Juice (1.2K)

Aronia (chokeberry) wines are the healthiest wines of all with elderberry wine coming very close behind.

With that in mind, lets raise a glass to our health (just make sure its a glass of fruit wine). Here’s a toast to a great year ahead for fruit wines and all who enjoy them!

Vermont Mead Makers Getting into the Spirit

BY JAMES ASKEW
Before the French chemist Louis Pasteur, there were the gods, and the mysterious means of turning honey into wine was seen as a gift from the heavens. Long-ago English speakers, both enamored of and bemused by the act of fermentation, dubbed the process simply “god is good.”

We have come a long way from the work of Pasteur and his unlocking of the mysteries of yeast, and yet the making of mead (commonly called honey wine) remains the same as it has been for millennia — a complex act of nature, held in reverence around the world.

In Vermont, mead makers, from amateur home brewers to small-scale commercial producers, are experimenting with the age-old elixir, adding a touch of Green Mountain flavor.

It’s part of a recent renaissance for the brew, says Todd Hardie, owner of Honey Gardens in Ferrisburgh, which produces raw honey, mead and other natural honey products. In a climate ill suited to grapes for wine and barley for beer, mead — like Vermont cider — holds a particular appeal.

Some 1,200 beekeepers large and small tend 9,000 hives and produce 700,000 pounds of honey a year in this state, according to the Vermont Beekeepers Association.

“I think people are hungry for the old traditions,” says Genevieve Drutchas, a mead maker in Putnamville, just north of Montpelier. With the honey produced locally and the process of fermentation unchanging, Drutchas thinks Vermont-made mead appeals to the “buy local,” back-to-the-land ideals that permeate the state.

“I think it satisfies that part of our selves,” she says.

Drutchas’ husband, Rick, is a longtime commercial beekeeper and the owner of Bee Haven Farm in Putnamville. For the past 18 years, he has collected, bottled and sold all his own honey, gathering it from hives spread across the Champlain Islands and distributing it to markets throughout the region. Lately, the recently married couple have been brewing up a new idea: their own brand of honey wine.

“Over the last couple of years,” says Rick, “we’ve worked out some pretty nice recipes.”

With just a few five-gallon jugs fermenting in their kitchen, the couple are still experimenting, perfecting their recipes and trying them out on their friends.

“It is a fun thing to do,” says Genevieve, “and it is fun to sample it and share it with our friends and try to make it better.” Within a year or so, the couple hope to have their new venture buzzing right along.

Like many people around the world, Genevieve Drutchas’ connection to honey wine is born from folklore and legend. Considered the oldest alcoholic beverage known to humans, mead appears in classic works from Plato to Dostoevsky. Genevieve smiles warmly as she remembers her own childhood images of red-capped, industrious gnomes brewing their elderflower mead. The images, she says, came from an old book her father gave her and have stayed with her through the years.

Over at Honey Gardens Meadery in Shelburne, herbalist and mead maker Andrew Wolf traces his modern meads back to ancient herbal medicines. “Methyglyn,” he notes, the Welsh word for mead, is derived from the combination of the Latin root of “medicine” (“medicus”) and the Celtic word for liquor (“llyn”), translated as medicinal liquor. Today, the term methyglyn refers to mead with spices.

“Right now,” says Wolf, “I am working on a heart-healthy combo, something that can be grown in Vermont.” Nettles, hawthorn berries and roses are just a few of the ingredients he’s considered.

Honey Gardens, which buys all its raw honey from beekeepers in New York and Vermont, presently produces several types of mead: traditional; blends with black currant, blueberry and elderberry; sparkling (dubbed Melissa); and sweet (called Melody).

Mead’s flavor can vary widely, from very dry like some white wines to quite sweet, like a dessert wine. It can be slightly malty, reminiscent of beer. It all depends on the yeast used, the amount of honey and the length of time it’s left to ferment.

In addition to his professional work, Wolf is an avid home brewer, cooking up concoctions from a chocolate oatmeal stout to a hard apple cider made from windfall fruit he collected along Main Street in Cambridge, near his home.

“Brewers are environmental engineers,” he notes, “making conditions just so, to produce just such an effect.”

Whether one is brewing mead, wine or beer, there is one other, very important player in this grand dance of fermentation, perhaps the most important player of all: yeast. Part of the plant kingdom, yeast is a microscopic fungus that uses enzymes to metabolize sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Enter, again, Louis Pasteur.

In the mid-1800s, Pasteur isolated yeast and determined that it alone was responsible for the illustrious elixir known as alcohol. Vermont Homebrew Supply in Essex has some 50 strains of yeast on offer, capable of producing everything from champagne to chardonnay, lager to pale ale and, of course, mead.

Before Pasteur, yeast was an unknown entity in the fermentation process, floating freely in the air we breathe. Many regional producers of wines and beers around the world still use this “ambient” or “wild” yeast to produce a flavor particular to that area. But, says Wolf, most brewers won’t take that risk. Even if local yeast is used, it is cultured, to give the brewer more control over the finished product.

“We have Shelburne yeast, here,” says Wolf, “but is it good? Maybe or maybe not.”

Along with converting sugar to alcohol, explains Dave Blumenthal, a home brewer in Montpelier, different strains of yeast metabolize sugar at different rates, creating a dry or sweet brew, while leaving behind varying levels of byproducts, such as ester, which also affect the taste.

Blumenthal laughs as he explains that he is a “certified beer judge,” tested and certified by no other than the Beer Judge Certification Program. To him, all the science of brewing comes down to one essential question: How does it taste?

Tucked neatly into the corner of Blumenthal’s kitchen, four plastic jugs, holding five gallons each, represent the entirety of his homebrew operation. The only other telltale sign of Blumenthal’s passion for his potions is the mildly incongruous sight of beer taps protruding from his kitchen counter.

Presently, Blumenthal is brewing up hard cider, rye ale, India pale ale and a merlot wine made from a kit containing juice concentrate and yeast. In the past, he has tried his hand at mead.

Wolf says making mead at home is reasonably uncomplicated. He first dilutes the honey with water (four pounds of honey to five gallons of water for one recent batch), then heats the mix to 160 degrees to kill the wild yeast. Then he lets it cool to about 100 degrees, pitches in the cultured yeast and transfers it to a bucket to ferment, leaving it for up to a year.

Brewing, Wolf says, can be as simple or as complicated as you make it. “All you really need to brew is a bucket,” he says, adding with a laugh, “I’ll do some fancy things, too, like shake the bucket.”

The rest is up to nature.

Massive Dragon Fruit Project planned in Vigan, Phillipines

VIGAN CITY, PHILLIPINES — The city government formally launched the massive planting of dragon fruit with the distribution of 3,000 cuttings of the plant to farmer leaders on Monday.

City Mayor Eva Marie Singson–Medina spearheaded the distribution of cuttings to 28 of the 39 barangays in the city in a simple ceremony in front of city hall.

Medina expressed optimism that the planting of dragon fruit is expected to open the door for another job opportunity and income generating activity for the farmers in the city.

The 28 recipient barangays were considered, being farming communities where most of their residents depend mostly on agriculture.

The city government is targeting an aggregate one hectare area in Vigan to be planted with dragon fruit under a program designed by the city government.

“The dragon fruit-bearing plant is easy to grow but it could give long–term benefits to the farmers as this is a perennial plant that can thrive for 50 years,” she said.

This means that harvest time for the farmers will be made continuously for 50 years, Medina said.

She said dragon fruit is the main ingredient in the processing of one of the most expensive wines in the world, “the dragon fruit wine.”

Medical experts also proved that dragon fruit, belonging to the cacti family, is an excellent anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, anti-rheumatism and anti-diabetes and can prevent high blood pressure, urinary tract infection and constipation.

City Agriculturist Cecilio Acena said that the initial recipients of the project were the 25 presidents of the existing city’s farmers associations.

“Each recipient received 100 cuttings. The cuttings were purchased by the city government at P200 per piece,” Acena said.

While the city government provided the planting materials, the farmers’ equities for the project are the land, labor, organic fertilizer and care and maintenance.

“The dragon fruit will grow excellently in the city as the plant can best grow in the sandy loam soil, which this is the soil structure here,” Acena said.

According to him, the plant will bear fruits eight to 12 months after planting.

Acena sid that the marketing of dragon fruit is not a problem due to its high demand even though it costs high.

New Fruit Winery Opens in Sanibel, Florida

For some, it may be hard to imagine for anyone who enjoys the occasional glass of wine that any fruit other than the grape could be used to produce a high-quality bottle of wine.

However, if you pay a visit to one of Sanibel’s newest retailers — Sanibel Tropical Wines — it seems that almost any fruit can be harvested, pressed, aged and bottled as a fine fermented beverage.

The store, located at 2340 Periwinkle Way, Suite C-1 in The Village Shops, offers an assortment of 36 different wines created from a wide variety of common fruits, including blackberries, blueberries, cherries, raspberries, cranberries, strawberries, peaches and — of course — grapes.

They also carry wines fermented from exotic and Florida native fruits, some of which may sound to bizarre to be believed: orange, grapefruit, banana, mango, pineapple, tangerine, tangelo, watermelon and coconut.

But, as they say, the truth is in the taste. And at Sanibel Tropical Wines, owners Ben and Vicki Miles encourage their customers to come in and sample every wine that they sell.

“We’ve loved meeting lots of new people,” said Ben Miles, a former director of engineering at a caster company. “I enjoy watching them try our wines for the first time, seeing them have this ‘Florida experience’ of something different and unique.”

The Miles’ moved from their home in Marshall, Michigan to Sanibel just six weeks ago, and opened their business last Friday. In the first few days they’ve been open, they have won over several “first-time” wine buyers with their special vintages.

“We call them ‘un-serious’ wines because they’re made to be fun,” added Vicki Miles, who has previously worked at a health food store and has more than 20 years of retail experience. “They’re great conversation starters, too.”

Among the featured wines they carry is Midnight Sun, an orange/coffee bean flavored blend which won a silver medal at the Indiana International Wine Competition; Millennium Gold, a strawberry cream sherry that is oak aged for more than four years; Hurricane Class 5, a white sangria which won a gold medal at the 2008 Florida State Fair; Coco Polada, which combines the flavors of oranges, coconuts and pineapple; 40 Karat, a semi-dry white wine similar to a Chardonnay made from carrots; Mango Mamma, a four-time Florida State Fair gold medalist; and Hot Sun, a smooth white wine with a slight tomato taste and a hint of peppers.

“They’re a great alternative to traditional wines,” said Ben, who noted that all of their products are made in Florida by a vintner headquartered in St. Petersburg. Each bottle is priced between $17.99 to $25.99, with the exception of Millennium Gold, priced at $34.99.

In addition to their wines, Sanibel Tropical Wines carries an assortment of bottle stoppers, glass danglers, wine chillers, decanters and related accessories. In the next week or so, they will also carry a line of Chocolate Garden Truffles, which Vicki boasts as “the most decadent thing ever!”

“They’ve been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show,” she explained, adding that a pair of truffles sell for about $9. “They’re not sold through stores anywhere, so we’ll be their exclusive Florida retailer.”

Sanibel Tropical Wines is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. For more information, call 472-3398, e-mail info@sanibeltropicalwines.com or visit their Web site at www.sanibeltropicalwines.com.

Hard Cider – warming up winter

photo by: Kirk McKoy

By Jean T. Barrett – Apples and pears are transformed into sublime, complex alcoholic beverages.

This is the season when food and wine articles in the national media suggest that the advent of colder weather calls for seasonal dishes (daubes, pork roasts, apple desserts) and richer, heftier wines (Zinfandel, Barolo, Port) to stave off winter’s chill. True, except that our version of “chill” can be downright temperate; before heading to the farmers market and the wine shop, I sometimes still have to slather on sunblock and grab my wide-brimmed hat. Such is the disconnect at this time of year, when instincts and habits tell us to braise lamb shanks and pull out the Cabernet, but the Southern California weather often refuses to cooperate.

There is a beverage that suits our local version of the season, though, combining the traditional flavors of fall with the refreshment and lightness of beer, and that’s cider. Not the chilled, brownish-colored stuff from the supermarket, but alcoholic or “hard” cider. Hard cider is made from fermented apple or pear juice or, in the case of some large-production brands, juice concentrate, and the finished product has an alcohol content ranging from about 3% to 8%.

Most mass-market hard ciders are not very interesting, but a select number of producers are using artisanal techniques and varieties of fruit bred specifically for cider, yielding juice with higher acidity and tannins, which makes a well-structured drink with the complexity and depth of a fine microbrew.

Since the flavor of lighter ciders is akin to off-dry white wines or sparklers, they make ideal aperitifs, brunch drinks or simply to savor on their own. Sweeter, richer ciders are terrific with cheese or apple pie.

Distinguishing a quality artisanal cider from a commercial, large-production bottling is easier than it might seem. Price is one indicator; better ciders usually cost upward of $10 for a 750-milliliter bottle, and some are $20 or more. But the ingredients’ list tells the real story. Here’s one from a popular pear cider made in the U.K.: pear wine, water, high fructose corn syrup, carbon dioxide, caramel color, citric acid, sodium metabisulfate (to preserve freshness).

Contrast that with the ingredients list from a bottle of cider produced by Wandering Aengus Ciderworks of Salem, Ore.: fermented apple juice from certified organic cider apples. Which would you rather drink?

Devoted following

Quality hard cider has a cultish following in Europe, particularly in France’s Normandy region and in the U.K., where pubs offer cider on draft along with ales and lagers. It’s also popular in apple-growing regions of the U.S., such as New England, New York and the Pacific Northwest.

But in Los Angeles, cider tends to be the poor stepchild. Since it’s not wine or beer, few retailers pay it much attention. I asked the manager of one wine shop how many ciders he carried. “We don’t have any,” he said with a shrug. On my way out, I decided to check the beer section for nonexistent ciders. There, right up front, was a nice little selection.

I recently sampled 22 hard ciders, apple and pear, available at local retailers. Many were eminently forgettable or actually unpleasant, but I did find several terrific examples. Here are four producers to seek out (buying information in sidebar):

Inspired choices

Eric Bordelet was a sommelier at l’Arpège, a Michelin three-star restaurant in Paris, in 1992 when he decided to return to his roots, quite literally, and manage his family’s orchards in Normandy. Bordelet brings a wine sensibility and a commitment to organic and biodynamic farming to the production of apple and pear ciders.

His Sidre Doux, with an alcohol content of 4%, is styled like a lightly sweet, toffee-scented, apple-y dessert wine. Bordelet’s Poiré Authentique is a fresh-tasting, blossom-scented pear cider, while his top-of-the-line Poiré Granit, made from the fruit of 300-year-old trees, is more vinous, with complex aromas of pear skin and spice. Note that these ciders are vintage-dated and that the year is printed on top of the cork.

Manoir du Parc is another Norman product, this one from an estate called La Brique in St. Joseph, on the Cotentin peninsula. Manoir du Parc produces a well-regarded apple cider, but locally, I have found only the Poiré, a superb example in a light-bodied style (3% alcohol) with aromas of ripe pears and clean, refreshing flavors.

Wandering Aengus Ciderworks is owned by Mimi Casteel and Nick Gunn, who got into the cider business about four years ago (Casteel’s parents own the neighboring Bethel Heights Winery). Casteel and Gunn use artisanal methods and traditional varieties of cider apples to produce three ciders, the most appealing of which is Heirloom Blend, a sweet drink with a tart acidic backbone that’s like biting into a dead-ripe, fragrant apple.

The semi-dry is more austere and wine-like, with fresh, juicy flavors. The dry cider is too dry for my taste; the naturally strong acidity of the cider tastes sour without a counterbalancing sweetness.

Rustic and robust

J.K. Scrumpy sounds like a cutesy name created during a 1960s ad agency brainstorming session, but it actually is an authentic, organic farmhouse cider produced by the Koan family of Almar Orchard in Flushing, Mich., about an hour north of Detroit.

“Scrumpy” is a British term for a rustic style of cider, and “J.K.” stands for Jim and Karen Koan, the proprietors, who produce just one bottling, a robust, unfiltered, sweet drink with a 5.5% alcohol content and the crisp taste of fresh apple cider.

This style of cider takes well to mulling (heating with mulling spices), so keep some on hand for when those fiercely cold winter storms move into the Southland.

Mijiah Fruit Wine Commercial

This wine looks very yummy…I love the bottles! I will look for this wine and let you know what I think. If anyone out there has had it, let me know!