Fruit Hills Winery “Two Shades of Red”

Happy Thanksgiving!  With all of the turkey and trimmings for the typical Thanksgiving feast it’s always a challenge to think of wine pairings. Many will go with a standard white wine, perhaps a Chardonnay or Pinot Gris, but it’s always a more interesting challenge to pair a red wine. Many will opt for a nice Pinot Noir or perhaps a Rhône blend, but today I’ve gone for a local Indiana wine, the non-vintage Fruit Hills Winery “Two Shades of Red” which is a blend primarily of Cabernet Franc that’s a bit lighter so as not to overpower the star of the feast.  This wine is one of the few that Fruit Hills produces from local grapes, in this case from southwest Michigan near the coast, so let’s see how this one tastes!

The wine is somewhat lighter in color, similar to a Pinot Noir.  The nose is a pleasant combination of leather, green grass, strawberry and blackberry.  The taste is a lovely rush of fruit up front, black cherry, blackberry and plum that transitions to some notes of tobacco, floral and strawberry midpalate.  The finish is quite nice, with soft tannins providing for a short, but very smooth and dry finish.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 7.5, it’s quite pleasant particularly given that Indiana isn’t exactly a hot bed of red wine production.  This wine is very nice with Thanksgiving turkey, with a nice balance of fruit and dryness to compliment a classic turkey dinner with all the trimmings.  Cheers!