WBW: Maui Blanc

O`ahu, Hawai`i. We've got world class beaches, sunsets so beautiful as to make grown men cry and more tropical fruit varieties than you can imagine. But wineries? Not a single one. Lenn explains this month's Wine Blogging Wednesday theme, Drink Local, Real Local,

This time around...there's only one rule: Drink a wine from the winery nearest to your apartment/house/shack/bungalow/flat/tent. Wine is being made in every state and just about every country so it's time that the "eat local" movement be extended to vino for WBW.

Lacking any truly local options on O`ahu, I expanded my search to include the neighboring island of Maui. Tedeschi Vineyards sits on the slopes of Mount Haleakala, deep upcountry. When the vineyard was first planted in 1977 on a portion of historic Ulupalakua Ranch, the winemakers had to wait several years before their vines would mature to fruition. In the intervening time, they experimented with other types of wine, and developed their popular Maui Blanc wine from pineapples!

To the eye: Crystal clear and a very pale yellow. If it were any more pale, it would be clear. The bottle indicates that caramel coloring has been added, so perhaps in unaltered form it looks like water.

To the nose: Ripe, almost overripe pineapple is dominant. Have you ever picked through a pile of pineapples, where one or two had leaked juice and that juice had fermented in the sun? It smells like that. Underneath, we could detect pear and caramel notes. It made me think of a warm pear dessert drizzled with caramel. Normally I'm not able to get this specific with my notes, but the smells connected directly to specific sense memories.

To the mouth: The wine assaults the front of the tongue with sweet pineapple, and then finishes crisper and medium dry. Imagine, if you will, an average dry table wine, into which someone has poured a good splash of canned pineapple concentrate.

To the wallet: About $10.

I have no idea how pineapple wine ages--I suspect you want it as fresh as possible. The bottle we purchased gave no indication of date, but didn't seem to have aged (for better or for worse). Overall, I wasn't impressed with this wine. It gets points for the novelty factor, but that novelty wears thin after a few sips. Serve it with a spicy Hawaiian Fusion meal to complete an island themed dinner.

Tedeschi Vineyards does produce several drinkable, although not exceptional, red, white and sparkling wines. I've tried samples of most of them, and would drink them again if the price were right. If Tedeschi isn't your style, there's a second commercial vineyard in Hawai`i. Volcano Winery is located on the Big Island.

[This post arrives several days early because I'm heading out on a short trip to the island of Moloka`i. There are no vineyards to be found on Moloka`i either.]

Brian, Maui Blanc and I surfing local.