After 8,000 Years of Being Single, the Grape Has Finally Found a Date

It's challenging to label this relationship right now. In the case of apples and grapes, it's neither grape cider nor apple wine, as this relationship is far more balanced than those names suggest. It's not fruit-nat or co-fermentation either, as these relationships are far more intriguing and varied than those terms imply. It's also worth noting that this isn't a passing fad or craze. The grape's newfound relationship is here to stay and offers a wide range of benefits for all.

Some might be apprehensive about their beloved grapes mingling with apples, cherries, and, heaven forbid, peaches in the press. However, the use of other fruits is neither a new phenomenon nor something that seeks to stifle an existing market. Mixing fruits allows producers to not only overcome some issues arising in certain climates but also to rethink their perspectives on terroir. After all, fruits growing on the same estate share the same soil, they see the same sunrise behind the same hills as the vines below them, they experience the same rain and the same wind. The people conducting these experiments are already noticing the difference.

The great asset of the grape is its ability to hold such a wide spectrum of polyphenols. It is certainly true that even the most flavorful apple would struggle to contain anywhere near as many combinations of tastes and aromas that are slowly teased out of a grape in the fermentations proceeding each harvest. However, after being introduced to one another, the collection of compounds is greater than even the most verbose of grapes can conjure up. Remember that all these flavors have come from the same land. The “wine-tinted” spectacles that we use to experience areas such as Piemonte are slowly being changed and we can now see wine-growing areas in a new light. This light is allowing us to create a more holistic picture of regions, showing us the full potential of the same soils and microclimates. Going beyond the driver of terroir, mixed fermentations also introduce a hoard of ‘new’ wild yeast strains into the mix. Not only does this cut a new facet of our concept of terroir but also introduces us to a new angle of grapes that we are familiar with – when they have been fermented by yeasts that previously were given no platform in the cellar. The benefits of these grape relationships don’t stop at purely artistic or philosophical pursuits either. After the wildfires we have seen in recent years in California, producers are being met with situations that we are likely to see spreading across the world of wine.

Smoke taint is becoming a real problem at the southern limits of the wine-growing regions of the northern hemisphere, and I am sure there will be an increase in such cases coming to Europe. As apples are often shaken from trees and harvested from the ground, it is common for them to undergo a washing phase before they are milled and pressed. This washing has a key benefit for an increasing number of winemakers - apples are not susceptible to smoke taint. Producers from California are already beginning to employ a system of mixing grapes with other fruits in order to produce a product that uses all their grapes, that isn’t flawed in any way and ensures that none of their grapes go to waste. This could be very interesting to see how these techniques are used in places such as Spain, which saw large wildfires but also in Italy, when more southern regions such as Sicily need some protection from volcanic activity.

One of the key reasons these practices have been slow to catch on is largely due to how larger corporations have created similar products. You'd expect a bottle or can labeled with various fruit names to contain substantial amounts of them. Unfortunately, most customer interactions with these types of drinks have largely come from concentrate. Since these companies producing ciders and mixed fermentations have a significant influence on consumer opinion, these drinks have become associated with the belief that they are always excessively sweet and do little to reflect the terroir of a certain place. Encouraging consumers to try drinks from the new era of mixed fermentation is key to broadening people's appreciation of these beverages, though it is proving very difficult. When producers come up with ideas that push the boundaries of our normal drinking experiences, it seems hard to temper the reactions of consumers just entering the world of small production wines and ciders. For example, with Starvecrow Cider's Cherry Carbo, after undergoing carbonic maceration, whole cherries were added to dry cider for a month-long maceration. Once the word cherries is heard by a less experienced drinker, it isn't hard to assume a subconscious link will be made towards something fruity and sweet - only to lead to (at least) slight disappointment when a beverage closer in acidity to a lambic beer finds its way into their glass.

This could be a perfect moment for the world of alternative wines to offer a helping hand in disseminating knowledge of these fascinating mixed ferments. The already well-established natural wine movement would provide a great service to small producers of a host of alternative productions by embracing these mixed ferments as next of kin. Similarly, the fine cider movement, which is showing significant growth across Europe and America, could greatly assist in creating a space for wine to continue to be consumed on a more casual basis.

So, I call on you, the reader, whether you are a consumer or a producer, to look beyond the grape. Remove your wine-tinted glasses, allowing you to view your surrounding environment in a way you had never interacted with before. Perhaps a barrel needs topping up and there’s an untouched apple tree in your vicinity, or maybe you find yourself searching for a bottle of something that bridges the gap between the familiar world of wine and the undiscovered world of alternative fruit ferments. This new relationship that the grape has found itself in can truly benefit us all.