It had a nice nose of white fruit like pears but in palate the sweetness was too much for me.
WINE DETAILS:
Grape: Vidal Blanc
Alcohol: 11.5%
Wine: Autumn Late Harvest
Vintage: NV
Winery: Simmons Winery
PDO: none
Location: Columbus, Indiana, USA
Date: 8/8/21
Distributor: Total Wine
Curious Synonyms: Vidal, Vidal 256
Nerd Alert: Vidal is a hardy hybrid grape that is grown mainly in Canada and the northeastern United States. It’s thick skin, strong resistance to cold and high natural acidity made it the perfect candidate to champion the ice wine category. The grape was developed in the 1930s by French wine grape breeder Jean Louis Vidal by combining Ugni Blanc and Rayon d’Or.
Personal Note: For a while I thought I’d end this 4th milestone with no american wines. Then, a surprise visit from the midwest provided me with a new grape. Yes, I had heard of Vidal Blanc. Mainly on account of their ice wines, even though I have yet to try one. But from Indiana; that was unexpected. Like most of my wines that are not available here, I owe it to friends and family that think of me and my project and make space in their bags.
I started reading about the winery and it seems it’s more of a brewery than winery. I have a fascination for Late Harvest wines since some of them are the closest I get to my beloved Spatleses and Vidal Blanc is not an easy to find grape down here. Also, I knew nothing about Indiana. This state has an AVA (American Viticulture Area) called Indiana Uplands established in 2013. However this winery is in Columbus and that falls outside of the AVA by a very brief distance. Which is why this wine is non vintage (rules and stuff).
As per the wine, listen I’m not going to sugar coat it, it was a simple wine. I’m even inclined to say that it had added sugar (alhtough I have no evidence). It had a nice nose of white fruit like pears but in palate the sweetness was too much for me. It did feel long on finish and I didn’t get tired of it’s aroma. It was an inexpensive wine, from a new location, with a beautiful label, from a grape I needed for the list. But I don’t think this is Vidal at its highest expression, so I’ll reserve my right of a redo of the grape.
Thoughts?
#roadto500grapes #wines #vinos #wein #krasi #wijn #winelovers #singlevarietal #singlevarietalwines #winestagram #winegrapes #winelearning #winedrinker #winegoals #winenerd #winegrapenames #winetime #winetasting #drinkwine #ilovewine #wineconnoisseur #wineporn #whitewine #vidalblanc #simmonswinery #columbusindiana #indianawines #americanwines #uswines
*Sources for the wine facts are from: Wine Searcher, Wikipedia, Vivino, wine.com, and the wineries websites.
