Normally, an apple wine wouldn’t be able to work it’s way into my tasting queue. As much as I like to battle wine-snobbery…I’ll admit to being a bit guilty of it myself when it comes to wines made from fruits other than grapes.

The last apple wine I’d tasted was what…Thunderbird? (it was college, cut me a little slack). Not exactly a great experience as I recall.

But, when my friends at Wolffer Estate sent me a bottle of their 2004 Big Apple Wine, I figured I had to give it a shot. I mean, I’ve written about several of their wines (1 | 2 | 3 | 4) and they are all terrific. And, I’ve praised winemaker Roman Roth numerous times as one of the top winemakers on the Island, if not the best.

Wolffer’s Big Aplle Wine is made from apples grown at nearby White Caps Farm, a family-run orchard in the Hamptons. Much like our microclimate is great for grapes, so too is it great for growing apples apparently.

As you can see in the above picture, the wine is very light golden. Wolffer bills it as "playfull apple wine" and I’d agree with that. It’s nicely apple in flavor with light acidity and a lively feel in the mouth. It is much more refined than I expected…almost elegant even.

Relatively low in alcohols (7%), it’s perfect for a light summer lunch. Both Roth and Wolffer’s marketing director, Kirsten Lonnie, hail from Germany originally…and they suggest serving it with "what we call "Brotzeit" or "Jause" in German — a substantial
in-between meal consisting of great bread, cold cuts, sausages and pickles."

Sounds good to me!

I think it would be great for cooking as well…deglazing a pan to make a quick sauce for over poultry or pork.

Unfortunately for those of you interested in trying some, it’s only available in their tasting room…in limited quantities for $10 a bottle.