We rang in the New Year with Stone Hill Winery’s Spumante Blush sparkling wine and were pleasantly surprised by the bold & bubbly semi-sweet flavors. We don’t typically reach for sparkling wine at the wine store, but we are glad we chose this to toast the New Year. Spumante Blush also won the Bronze Medal in the 2011 Missouri Wine Competition.
About:
Stone Hill Winery is located in Hermann, Missouri and was originally established in 1847. Stone Hill grew to be the second largest winery in the United States, winning gold medals in eight world’s fairs, including Vienna in 1873 and Philadelphia in 1876. By the turn of the century, the winery was shipping 1,250,000 gallons of wine per year. Wowza! Then Prohibition hit in 1920 and all the wine and grapes were destroyed. Jim and Betty Held re-started Stone Hill in 1965 and in 2011, Stone Hill produced 260,000 gallons of wine.
The Varietal:
This semi-sweet wine is made from a blend that is primarily the fruity Catawba grape. According to Wikipedia, “this purplish-red grape is a likely cross of the native American Vitis labrusca and another Vitis species, potentially even Vitis vinifera. Its exact origins and parentage are unclear but it seems to have originated somewhere on the East coast from the Carolinas to Maryland between 1801 – 1819.” Another words, this is one of the first American grape hybrids that was created.
The Pour:
This sparkling wine is pink in color and reminds me of summer strawberries:
The Sniff:
The aroma smells sweet like berries – primarily strawberries, raspberries and a little bit of cherry.
The Taste: The first taste I would describe as very bold fruity flavor, but not too sweet. It starts with strawberry and ends with a dry tang. The flavor is moderately complex, meaning the flavors change from beginning to end. The more you swirl, the more you taste. Plus, after you swallow, it has a long excellent finish. This sparkling wine was cold fermented to retain the fresh fruit flavors and aromas and is best served chilled.
Wine Varietal: Catawba
Wine
Producer: Stone Hill Winery
Price: $10.99
Produced and Bottled: Hermann, IL
Alcohol: 11%
Website: www.stonehillwinery.com
Glass used: Champagne flute
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