7171 E. Lake Rd., Appleton, NY 14008
Web: Cranberry/Winery at Marjim Manor
Rating:
[learn more]See More Restaurant Reviews For:
Drinks Wine
Unexpectedly, the cranberry - a tart, bitter little fruit - has given our Bubbly column its best overall week yet. In prior weeks, we've looked at blueberry, raspberry, and cherry wines from local and nearby vineyards, any one of which we would have expected to be better than the common cranberry. But when we poured our cranberry glasses, we found ourselves for the first time liking every version we tried, though as the tasting continued, we found that some were better in certain ways than others. And on recommendation from a local shop, as well as out of interest, we also tried two sweet reds this week - one described by its maker as ideal for consumption with "wings, pizza, mozzarella sticks, and friends." Read on for the details.
Even though Lockport, NY-based Niagara Landing Wine Cellars' Cranberry Wine (750ml, $10) was the weakest of the cranberry wines we tried this week, we want to be clear: we actually enjoyed it, though not on the strength of its nearly absent cranberry flavor. Though it had the lowest alcohol content - 8% - of any of this week's cranberry wines, the taste of alcohol was one of the most prominent, creating a sweet, slightly lighter than port-style drink with an indistinct cranberry flavor far in the background. It was the first of the cranberrys we tried, and initially, we were really pleased with it - as a drink - but the more we tasted of the others, the less we thought of this one. It merits a 1.5 star rating on its merit as a cranberry wine, but as a fun drink without reference to cranberry, it would certainly rate higher.
Appleton, NY's Winery at Marjim Manor yielded the Cranberry Crescendo (375ml shown, $7.50; 750ml, $13), which had the highest alcohol content of the group at 12%, and a similar but superior flavor to the Niagara Landing version: again, it possessed only the essence of cranberry rather than a dominant tart and bitter flavor, and it was quite like the Niagara in viscosity - both are a bit thin - but there's a little more cranberry in evidence here. Despite the 12% alcohol, which we found to be a little too strong, this flavor isn't as overpowering as in the Montezuma below. If it wasn't for the close to ideal balance of our top pick this week, this version would have been easier to recommend; it's a pleasant if not strongly cranberry option, and worthy of 2 stars overall.
We were previously unimpressed by Montezuma Winery's take on blueberry wine, but we liked its Cranberry Bog (750ml, $13), which at 11% was the second strongest of the bunch in alcohol content, and certainly the first in alcohol taste. Here, the taste of cranberries only hits after the alcohol subsides, but unlike the Niagara Landing version, there's a strong cranberry flavor: it tastes like a powerful, alcoholic cranberry juice cocktail. While it does leave a bitter aftertaste and the alcohol was a touch overpowering in our view, we liked the level of sweetness and slight tartness; it's intended to be served chilled and works well that way. It's worthy of 2.5 stars overall.
Our top pick of the week, and one of our very favorite fruit wines to date, was again from Tomasello - a New Jersey-based winery that has really made a positive impression on us from bottle to bottle. Its Cranberry Wine (500ml, $10) is in the middle of the pack on alcohol content at only 9%, but won us over with its superb cranberry flavor: made from 100% cranberries, this tastes like a smooth, true cranberry drink with just enough alcohol to distinguish itself from the non-alcoholic version - the least noticeable alcohol of the bunch. Tomasello's take is essentially a very refined cranberry juice cocktail, offering the most tartness without much bitterness. We felt that it was very worthy of 3.5 stars, and would pick it over most of the fruit wines we've tried in past weeks; it's just wonderful, though more expensive than the other options given its smaller quantity.
We stepped out of the "fruit wine" category to try two other wines this week, though we'll preface this discussion with our standard disclaimer: we don't claim to be experts of any sort on traditional grape wines, and our views on this particular subject are the opposite of "sophisticated" in the sense that we don't put dry wines on a pedestal; we tend to prefer sweeter wines, and don't make any pretense of needing an expensive bottle to enjoy a drink or a meal.
Just for fun, we went with a sweet, inexpensive red wine recommended at Premium Wines & Spirits: Fulkerson Winery offers the rock-inspired Red Zeppelin (750ml, $8). As it turns out, there are at least two Red Zeppelin wines in the marketplace, this one produced in Dundee, New York, and the other one from California; due to an apparent trademark conflict, the New York version is sold outside NY State as "Fulkerson Zeppelin." We were amused and intrigued by the bottle, which implored "wine people" to "LOOSEN UP!" with this bottle, which is made to be served chilled and enjoyed with "wings, pizza, ribs and friends." So we did so at a recent party, and though no one was blown away by any specific characteristic of the wine - it's a typical red, rich and strong, only with more than a bit of residual sugar that makes it enjoyable with or without the Bocce's Pizza we were eating - we liked it. You can taste the 12% alcohol in every sip, which wing fans may well appreciate if their tongues have otherwise been rendered limp by spice. If you're looking for something fun and sweet to go with your take-out order, it's worth trying; we felt that it merits 2.5 stars.
The other bottle we purchased on recommendation was Lodi, N.Y.-based Wagner Vineyards' Alta B (750ml, $7), a similarly inexpensive sweet red that was supposed to go well with the same sorts of fun local foods. Purplish in color, Alta B is prefaced by a sour smell, hits the mouth with the flavor of stale, leftover grapes, and finishes with a bitter, artificial taste. It didn't match well with our foods, and was unanimously disliked by everyone at the table who tried it - the degree of dislike varied from the majority view of half a star to one star. Just for kicks, we refrigerated the remainder of the bottle and tried it again, finding it less offensive when chilled, but as a straight-out-of-the-cupboard or -rack table wine, we'd pass.
Next week's Bubbly will discuss some of our discoveries from a recent Niagara Wine Trail tour - we look forward to sharing all the great local wines we discovered with you, then.
