Furnace Brook Winery and Hilltop Orchard: Richmond, MA

7:25 PM Unknown 0 Comments

Britt and I had just finished lunch in Bennington, VT on our Berkshire/Green Mountain road trip. Every Sunday, since just after we started dating, Britt and I have had a wine and a dessert and we have not missed one Sunday since we started. We found a winery in the Berkshires called Furnace Brook Winery at Hilltop Orchards. 



The orchard is beautiful, especially in the afternoon. We were greeted by a really friendly employee who helped us with our tasting. We were told that we could pick six wines so Britt and I picked different wines so we could taste twelve total. The great thing is that they have both wine and cider to try so we made our picks and got our first wines. 



I chose five wines and a cider: Chardonnay, Dry Riesling, Pinot Noir, Shiraz, Ice Wine, and Cidre Special Reserve. The Chardonnay was dry, less oaky than most, and finished nice and buttery. I liked the Dry Riesling because it wasn't sweet and acidic as most that I have had. It was nice, dry, and crisp which left me refreshed and without a chest full of heartburn. The Pinot Noir would be a great wine to have with dinner as it was nice and light but was not a wine I would drink on its own. The Shiraz was juicy but not too sweet and it had a nice spice to it that didn't overpower the other flavors. The Cidre was really good and one of my favorite ciders that I have ever had. Most of the ciders out in the mainstream market are much too sweet and can lead to tough mornings the next day. All of the ciders that we tried at Hilltop were dry and crisp so you would be able to drink them throughout the night without the sugar getting to you. I usually don't enjoy overly sweet wines but I make an exception when it comes to Ice Wines. This Ice Wine was different than any other I had due to the apples used to create it. I definitely enjoyed it and would recommend the apple Ice Wine to anyone who loves Ice Wines!

Britt chose four wines and two ciders: Riesling, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon Zinfandel, Johnny Mash Dry, and Johnny Mash Hard Cider. I tried all of her wines as well minus the Cab (She drank it all before I got a taste). I thought the Riesling was too sweet for my liking but Britt really enjoyed it. She said the Cab was good but the Zinfandel was her favorite and the Merlot was in second place for wines. The Merlot was almost silky. It finished dry and we could picture ourselves having a few glasses at dinner. The Old Vine Zinfandel had incredible flavor. It was velvety and rich, Britt described it as almost buttery and fat.  


We ended up purchasing Britt's favorite wine, the Old Vine Zinfandel, a six pack of the Johnny Mash Original Hard Cider, and of course, six cider donuts to bring home. The cider donuts didn't make it back home but the wine will be enjoyed with a nice dinner and the ciders will be used to enlighten our friends drinking the sweeter variety. 


We learned during the tasting that all of the grapes were imported to Furnace Brook Winery and then processed on site but all of the cider products and the Ice Wine was grown in the beautiful orchard outside. The Ice Wine was made from the nectar of the apples after it is frozen the process is called cryo-concentration according to Hilltoporchards.com. One tenth of the juice becomes the nectar that they ferment into the Ice Wine. We also learned that there is a hiking trail on the property and that they do apple picking in the fall. We will definitely be back to try out the trail and get some more wine and cider (and cider donuts!)

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, cotur acing elit. Ut euis eget dolor sit amet congue. Ut vira codo matis. Sed lacia luctus magna ut sodales lorem.

You Might Also Like

0 comments:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)