DiGrazia Vineyards – The Speciality Wines

Marguerite Barrett

Contributing Writer

After a brief detour to celebrate Open That Bottle Night, we return to DiGrazia Vineyards and the final category of wines on their wine list: The Specialty Wines.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, DiGrazia separates their wine list into two categories: Table Wines and Specialty Wines. There are 10 wines under the Specialty category, ranging from sweet fruit wines to fortified wines such as Ports and dessert wines with brandy. Because a tasting includes only 6 wines, Christy and I shared our tastings and between us sampled 6 of the 10 wines in this category:

Yankee Frost Described in the Tasting Notes as a “sweet Vignoles,” this is a smooth, sweet wine with an interesting blend of fruit. The nose is very subtle, no one single note really pops. The wine is also nicely balanced; we certainly detected notes of fruits and berries, but everything was so well blended that you aren’t struck by any particular note.

White Magnolia (White Port) This is a very interesting wine; the tasting notes describe it as a “rare example of this Portuguese inspired classic wine.” I must admit it was the first time I’d come across a white port. It has a beautiful nose – rich and deep, with lovely soft notes of pear. The wine is also smooth with notes of pear, and the brandy adds a richness and depth that would be lacking if this were just a fruit wine. Because it’s a white, the port is lighter than what one typically finds in a Port, but no less complex for that. I really liked this and starred it as one of my favorites.

Winterberry A fortified wine, but not a Port – the Winterberry is a “blend of white grape, raspberry, honey and Citrus brandy” according to the tasting notes. I found the wine to be very sweet, with strong notes of raspberry in both the nose and in the mouth. The brandy makes it richer, but it was still a bit too sweet for my taste.

Wild Blue One of Dr. DiGrazia’s passions is the links between wine and health, and a number of the DiGrazia wines are high in anti-oxidants. Wild Blue is the shining star in this category. This wine has 6,000+ phenols per ml, by far the highest of any wine produced in the US. The wine itself is a brandy-fortified blueberry wine. A very sweet wine, the blueberry is quite strong in both the nose and in the mouth, and the color is that lovely blue-red you often get from blueberries. Fans of fruit wines will definitely like this wine.

Signature Blacksmith Port Another one of my favorites from DiGrazia. This is a smooth, rich, and fruity port with notes of cherry. According to the tasting notes, it is “aged in smaller barrels” and is a limited release “available only at the winery.” The most expensive of the DiGrazia wines at $40, if you like Port, it’s definitely worth a visit and a tasting.

Autumn Spice This was a great choice to end the tasting – a fascinating wine, I can only describe it as pumpkin pie in a glass. “White grapes fermented with sugar pumpkin, hoey and spices,” it is glorious. The first thing you notice about the wine is the color – a gorgeous deep amber. Then there’s the nose – strong, but not overpowering – rich, layered, deep and smooth. There are strong notes of nutmeg and cinnamon and subtler notes of the pumpkin and honey. In the mouth, the flavors are nicely balanced, and while you can certainly detect the notes, not one registers as a definite keynote. It really is pumpkin in a glass – a very decadent wine.

Unfortunately that concluded our DiGrazia tasting. We spent a bit more time with Dr. DiGrazia talking about the wines, and left with a promise to connect again soon to start a new series for Vino Verve on Wine and Health. Look for details on that soon!