ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 25, 1995                   TAG: 9510250020
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BETH CRITTENDEN
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

APPLE WINE IS A FUN FALL DRINK - CHILLED OR WARMED WITH SPICES

The scents of wood smoke and apples are in the air, pumpkins decorate front porches, the morning grass is covered with frost. It's fall in Virginia and time for harvest and crush in Virginia's wineries. And grapes are not the only fruit being harvested.

Some Virginia wineries are making and marketing apple wine from their own or nearby orchards. And while it certainly does not hold the variety and complexity of traditional wine from grapes, , either chilled or warmed with spices - kind of like apple pie in a glass.

Kathy Riddick is a co-owner of Wintergreen Vineyards & Winery in Nellysford. She said that the company's process of making its Mill Hill Apple Wine is similar to that of using grape varietals. The apples are harvested in the fall, then put into cold storage to wait until after the January and February bottling of its earliest release grape wines.

A blend of 80 percent Winesap and 20 percent Golden Delicious apples is used to create the balance between sweet and tart that winemaker/co-owner Mike Riddick looks for. The Winesap apples are harvested small, hard and tart to contribute the levels of acid for the mildly tart apple flavor, and the Golden Delicious apple, which is one of the sweetest varietals, adds the natural apple sweetness.

The apples are pressed at a cider press and pumped into barrels to transport, then into stainless steel tanks for the fermentation process. Champagne yeast, a more aggressive yeast to aid in fermentation of the pressed juice, is added. Apple juice takes longer to ferment than grape juice, and Wintergreen's final product is sweetened a little to bring it to about four percent residual sugar.

Rockbridge Winery in Raphine changes its blend of apple varietals yearly to the tastes of winemaker Shep Rouse. Rouse is consistent in his use of Golden Delicious apples, again for the natural sweetness, but has used Winesap, Maiden Blush and others in the past to achieve the perfect blending for Rockbridge Apple Wine. He uses American oak for the aging and fermentation process for added interest and complexity of the apple wine, which is produced with fairly low alcohol and only about two percent residual sugar. Shep's partner and wife, Jane Rouse, has served the wine warm, spiced with allspice, orange, honey and cloves or iced as a dessert with apple pie or an aperitif.

``I don't usually match it to foods, preferring to drink the apple wine by itself, but sometimes I've served it with pork or other apple dishes,'' she said.

|n n| October is Virginia Wine month and there's a lot to see as you visit some of the 46 Virginia wineries marking the occasion with harvest festivals, fall color celebrations and barrel tastings. In November, harvest festivals give way to holiday open houses and celebrations. In fact, the ``Virginia Wineries 1995 Festival & Tour Guide'' lists 42 winery events from now until the end of December. For a free copy of the guide, call (800) 828-4637.

Wine events close to home include a Virginia Wine and Food Festival sponsored by the Voluntary Action Center in Blacksburg on Nov. 5. Eleven Virginia wineries will pour samples and several New River Valley restaurants are donating hors d'oeuvres for the benefit event. Tickets are $12 at the door or in advance by calling 552-4909.

The annual Smith Mountain Lake Beaujolais Nouveau Tasting is planned for Nov. 19 at the Resurrection Catholic Church in Moneta. Members and friends of wine clubs from Roanoke, Smith Mountain Lake and Lynchburg will gather to taste the new releases from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Everyone is welcome, but reservations and the $10 tasting fee are required by Friday, Nov. 10. Call 992-3285 for more information.

To end the month and kick off the holidays, the Roanoke Valley Wine Society's Champagne and Sparkling Wine Party will be held Nov. 30 in the upper room of Corned Beef & Co.

Outstanding apple picks:

These Virginia apple wines are available at local wine shops or at the wineries themselves.

Jefferson Vineyards Apple Wine (Charlottesville; (804) 977-3042 or (804) 977-0800)

Mountain Cove Vineyards Apple Wine (Lovingston; (804) 263-5392 or (800) 489-5392)

North Mountain Vineyard & Winery Spiced Apple Wine (Maurertown; (703) 436-9463)

Rockbridge Vineyard Apple Wine (Raphine; (703) 377-6204)

Wintergreen Vineyard & Winery Mill Hill Apple Wine (Nellysford; (804) 361-2519)

THE WINE LIST runs once a month in the Extra section. Beth Crittenden is a local wine wholesaler as well as wine educator, writer and founder of the Roanoke Valley Wine Society, which meets for wine-tasting programs on the fourth Thursday of each month. Call 992-3285. 


 by CNB