Stonehaus Farms Apple Wine

Stonehaus Farms Apple Wine

Okay, we're wandering a little out of our usual drinking pattern here, but don't jump to conclusions: this may be apple wine, but it's no Thunderbird (not, we hasten to add, that we know what Thunderbird tastes like). We visited Stonehaus Farms during a 2003 visit to the Kansas City area. We were intrigued when we discovered that wineries existed in Missouri (apparently they exist in all 50 states!), so we made a point to visit some. Most of them are on the other side of the state, near St. Louis, but there are several near Kansas City, and we were pleasantly surprised--not by the wine, so much, as by the ambience of the wineries. Aside from the unusual varieties of wine being made (Concord, Norton, and various fruit wines), the wineries could have been located in any of the other wine regions we've visited, such as the Okanagan, the Niagara peninsula, or Sonoma.

Anyway, we tasted this apple wine at Stonehaus Farms in Lee's Summit, and were impressed enough to buy a bottle, which we finally got around to opening this week. Not surprisingly, the main flavor to be found in this wine is green apple. In fact, that's pretty much the only flavor to be found in this wine--but you know, that's OK. We've both had grape wines made from classic varietals that were less drinkable than this. It's very dry and food-friendly (OK, it went with chicken, which is not a terribly complicated food to match, but still...).

We've never been much for fruit wines, but between this and a very nice locally made pear wine Margaret Anne discovered in Spearfish, South Dakota, on the same trip, we may have to rethink that.