Hmm, much like the book review section of this site, things here are piling up for review. I guess I've just been doing too much drinking lately. Several wines, a couple treats from Charbay, a vodka or two -- plus my super special selection of "things I drank while watching the Bollywood film Disco Dancer," which in itself should be classified as a sparkling wine, or possibly a dangerous hallucinagenic.

I reckon I'll just start at the top of the list and work my way through, one delicious beverage at a time. And the top of the list happens to be a couple offerings from a winery in my home state of Kentucky. I know, I know. That's bourbon country, you exclaim, and I'm not going to argue. Especially not when I have a smooth, smooth glass of Woodford Reserve sitting on the desk next to me. But Kentucky is no one-trick pony, and as a crusader in the name of stateside fruit wines, I was excited to pick up a couple bottles from Castle Hill Farms, situated in the lovely rolling hills of Versailles, Kentucky -- which sounds suitably French until I mention that we pronounce it "vur-sales." You may say to yourself, "Silly hillbillies, can't pronounce Versailles." I would simply counter by saying, "Silly Frenchmen, filling a word with a bunch of letters that aren't even pronounced. They got what they deserved, as far as I'm concerned."

Castle Hill Farms, unfortunately, doesn't seem to have much a web presence that I could find, nor are there very many articles available online pertaining to their tasty goods. A shame, I would say, because from what I've had, this is a winery that definitely deserves a lot of attention. On the other hand, they seem to put out a limited number of each of their signature bottles every year, and it's already hard enough for me to track it down, so the last thing I need is more people out there scouring the wine shops of Kentucky. Whatever the case, don't bother going to castlehillfarms.com or castlehillfarm.com, because you can't make good wine out of what you'll find there.

With that lack of reference material established, we'll proceed based entirely upon my tastes and some facts I just decided to make up. Castle Hill Farms seems to specialize in crafting wine from the raspberry and blackberry, though they also offer a dry Riesling, and likely some other things I don't remember off the top of my head because I didn't have arms enough to carry them all during my last Kentucky shopping spree (yes, I leave New York City to go on shopping sprees in Kentucky). I picked up three bottles from the sophisticatedly-named Liquor Barn on scenic Hurstbourne Avenue: a black raspberry wine called "Black Raspberry Knight," a blackberry "Peasant Meade" (Castle Hill Farms really is a castle, after all) and the Riesling. Incidentally, my Kentucky wine spree also netted a bottle from Equus Run and a bottle from Huber's Orchard and Winery, which technically is in Indiana, I know, but man, you have to taste their fried chicken and fried biscuits with apple butter. Best in the world. I'll get to the other wines later. I just want to show off that Kentucky, or what I'll refer to as Kentuckiana, actually has a fairly thriving little wine country that I hope starts to attract a little more of the recognition and respect it deserves.

This review will be of the Black Raspberry Knight and the Riesling. I did drink the blackberry meade, but honestly, that came at a point in the night after a couple bottles of the Black Raspberry Knight had been emptied, so I was in no condition to engage in critical analysis. Luckily, I have another bottle waiting to be broken out during the next Derby Party. And no, just to fill this post with tons of Kentucky-related booze tangents, I'm not making mint julep this year. After several years of working toward mastering them, I hit the nail on the head last Derby, only to discover that the party was full of a bunch of lightweights who couldn't handle the glory. Every year, I have two pitchers left over that, in the name of not being wasteful, I have to drink all by myself. So this year, if you are in attendance, you're getting wine. And Knob Creek, straight up.

So, where was I? Ah yes, Castle Hill Farms Black Raspberry Knight. Let me sum it up this way. You know when you're little, before you've actually had wine, and you have this idea in your mind of what wine tastes like? But then, of course, you drink wine for the first time, and it's not the fruit juicy blast you'd expected? Well, children of the world rejoice, because Black Raspberry Knight tastes like you think wine should taste! Not that I'm encouraging underage consumption of wine and spirits (or ever reminiscing about my first glass of scotch). I'm just saying that Black Raspberry Knight may lack the subtle sophistication aficionados demand of the finest red wines, but man alive does it ever taste good. If you have people who are unaccustomed to drinking wine, this is the perfect option for them. Not only does it go down easy with a splashy, refreshing berry taste and bouquet, but since it does taste so deceptively innocent, they'll tend to drink a lot of it and then, oh ho ho, my good friend! What fun you'll have then!

At the same time, this is not what I'd call a sweet wine, at least not in terms of the type of sweetness one associates with wine, which I've stated before doesn't particularly appeal to me most of the time since it ends up tasting like I just swallowed a mouthful of wine-flavored syrup. Black Raspberry Knight possesses the crisp sweetness of fresh juice or, perhaps more accurately, an exceptional sangria, not the least bit cloying or overpowering. As an accompaniment with any meal, or as a dessert, or by itself on a cold winter night, or warm summer day, with ice, without ice, or pretty much any time, anywhere -- this is the perfect wine. I'd adopt it as my house wine if only I could find it in New York. Instead, I'm forced to stock up with as much as I can during my annual trip down to visit my parents. I could simply ask them to buy it and set it aside for me, but that tends to result in my mother calling up to explain how there wasn't a single bottle on the shelf. But then, when I do get down there to visit, I discover the only reason there were no bottles on the shelf is because she already bought them all and hoarded them for herself. Someone needs to get Castle Hill Farms on the web, because now that it's legal to mail order wine, I have my money ready and nowhere to spend it.

In other words, Castle Hill Farms Black Raspberry Knight is not exactly a wine lover's wine that showcases the strengths of traditional red wines, but as a fruit wine, it's tops in my book. One of my absolute favorites, and one of the most versatile bottles in my ever-growing, poorly stored collection.

Having been so impressed by the Black Raspberry Knight that I was forced by journalistic integrity to continue my research through a second bottle, I was excited to uncork their dry Riesling. All things considered, a crisp, dry Riesling is my ideal wine. That may sound odd from someone who just a couple paragraphs ago wrote that he didn't care for sweet wines. Riesling, at least in the United States, is often pegged as an exclusively sweet or semi-sweet wine, but this just isn't the case. A significant and ever-growing body of Rieslings (which have really been perfected by the Germans, Alsace-region French, and curiously, the Australians) are as dry as the Sahara and recognized as some of the best dry whites in the world. And those are the ones I like. Well, maybe not the ones that are considered the absolute best in the world, since $30 is about my price limit for a bottle of wine, and even that much has to be justified by a remarkably special occasion like Rosario Dawson or Gina Torres calling me up and announcing that "we should hang out some time."

I had faith that Castle Hill Farms wasn't going to let me down. And they didn't. Their Riesling lacks the uniqueness of the Black Raspberry Knight, but that's neither here nor there, because this is an outstanding and thoroughly enjoyable white wine that manages to boast a subtle tartness without being tart (huh?), if you know what I mean. Very easy to drink, crisp and completely refreshing with citrus flavor and, so help me, a very faint hint of chocolate. I could just be insane, though, since the day before I drank this, I was gorging myself on those little liquor-filled bottle-shaped chocolates, which perhaps don't warrant a full review but are never the less highly recommended by Teleport City. Castle Hill Farm's dry Riesling is delicious all by itself, but when paired with a little chicken dish I whipped up, becomes even stronger. But I'm not coming over to cook for you. You'll have to handle that on your own.

Castle Hill Farms -- you've done bourbon country's wine country proud.

Labels: Drink