Even very occasional readers of this blog have surely noticed that I don't discuss wines very much at all. I'm definitely a beer first, hard liquor second, and wine a distant third sort of guy. But, I'm making a rare exception today. Because I noticed something unusual in the wine section--one made using cranberries and not grapes. The fact that it was also made in New Jersey was a nice bonus, since I like to promote my home state's wares when feasible. Anyway, the cranberry wine I'll talk about was from the Tomasello Winery.
The vineyard at the Tomasello farm started back in 1888. But for a long while it was just used for and by the family itself. All of this changed in 1933. In February of that fateful year, Frank Tomasello heard that the U.S. was going to repeal Prohibition. Therefore, he wasted no time--he jumped into his vehicle and drove down to Washington, D.C. despite a snowstorm. He was one of the earlier applicants for a license, as he was the 68th in the nation. Then, in June of 1933 New Jersey passed the 21st Amendment, repealing Prohibition in the state. And so the Tomasello Winery was in business. The company's first products were a Ranier Red, a Ranier White, and a Ranier Rose. (Ranier was the maiden name of Frank's wife.) In the 1940's Frank's son, Charles and Joseph, joined the family business, and helped introduce sparkling wine. By the 1960's half of all Tomasello wines sold were of the sparkling variety. Later, Charles made Tomasello the first winery to plant the French-American grape hybrids developed by Cornell University's Extension Station. Charles Jr. and Jack came on and introduced the Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon varieties. As of now, Tomasello makes just under 50 kinds of wine, and exports them to 37 U.S. states, and parts of Canada and Asia. It's the only third generation, family-owned winery in New Jersey, and is the second oldest winery in the state (after Renault). Creating a winery in the Hammonton, NJ area was no coincidence, as folks had noticed that the area was perfect for growing grapes long before. The neighboring town of Vineland is named after this attribute. (Although ironically the founder of that town was staunchly anti-alcohol.) This part of New Jersey is part of the Outer Coastal Plain viticultural region, which is similar to France's famous wine-making Loire Valley. It has the right kind of soil (sandy and loamy), a slightly acidic soil pH, and a longer growing season due to the proximity of the warmer ocean currents. Additionally, cranberries are not the only atypical source of wine that Tomasello uses. It also makes concoctions made from peaches, apples, blackberries, raspberries, huckleberries, tangerines, pineapples, grapefruit, pomegranates, and even watermelon.
Tomasello Winery, cranberry wine: The color of this wine, not shockingly, was red, and the odor was of cranberries. And the taste was....like cranberry juice. Since I enjoy cranberry juice, this was a positive. It was good, and tart. I didn't really detect the alcohol content much at all. It was rather weak for a wine, being only 9% alcohol, but still. So, if you like cranberry juice, I would highly recommend this. It was basically cranberry juice for adults. A neat alternative wine--I would buy this again, and will probably try other "offbeat" fruit wines from Tomasello.
Some final tidbits about cranberries--I learned that 97% of the world's production comes from three nations--the U.S., Canada, and Chile. Also, recently the rumor about cranberries providing protection against UTIs (urinary tract infections) was found to be valid, at least for certain groups of people (primarily younger women and children). Furthermore, I was excited to read that there had been something called the Great Cranberry Scare of 1959. Alas, instead of being something absurd and dramatic, such as giant cranberries ripping the faces off of folks, or cranberries that caused hallucinations and insanity for consumers, it was when the cranberry market in the U.S. collapsed due to crops being tainted by a particular herbicide. So, it was undoubtedly tragic and damaging for cranberry farmers, but not a suitable subject for a fun and cheesy horror movie or anything.
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