About five years ago, we drove to Virginia’s wine country for a day trip. One of the bottles we brought back traveled with us to Fiji, and we finally opened it over the weekend.
I wasn’t expecting much because we don’t temperature control our stored wines, and the humidity of the tropics has not been good for some of the bottles we’ve traveled with overseas. But the white chambourcin from Sassafras Shade Vineyard in Virginia was in surprisingly excellent condition.
It pours as a beautiful golden color and sips very sweet; closer to an ice wine than a riesling. It could be a dessert wine. I tasted heavy fruit notes of apple and pear (although the winery names cranberry in its tasting notes).
White chambourcin is made from the red French-American hybrid chambourcin grape but using the white wine-making process, according to Sassafras.
I would definitely buy more bottles if I ever see it again. An excellent sipping wine.
ATB 