With Wines Like These...

Third Coast Living | October 2010

The holidays were made for fine wine - for full-bodied reds in glasses that glimmer in the twinkle of lights, for soft, sweet whites that dance on the tongue as leaves fall from the trees.

Of course, around here, every season is arguably the best season to enjoy the fruits of area winemakers' labors.

When it comes to pairing those moments with the right wine, winemaker Christian Moersch, co-owner of Free Run Cellars vineyard in Berrien Springs, knows what it means to share the holidays with family. He's offering up his take on the best wines for the season, selections which include a red that holds its own with robust meat dishes, a white to cleanse the palate and an ice wine so sweet, he says, "it's pretty much a dessert in itself."

The Red
Cabernet Franc
2007 Private Reserve

This award-winning Cabernet Franc is a flagship wine. "It goes well for when the temperature dips," Moersch said, "because the Cabernet Franc has a lot of fruit characteristics. It can hold its own. It doesn't overpower a ham or something like that."

"It's not a harsh flavor, it's very soft and light" with notes of elderberry and hints of chocolate and almond. Moersch adds this particular wine is "more approachable at a young age. It has a lot of cherry characteristics," he added. "It even smells like cherries."

"I use this one kind of for a little bit of everything. Still my favorite (pairing) would be a red meat, like a fillet."

The White
Pinot Gris

Moersch picks one of the vineyard's specialty wines to accompany the most traditional of dinners.

"It's a limited-release wine," Moersch says. "We probably only have about 40 cases left. It goes well with turkey, it's a nice light white wine but it has good acidity. It cleanses the palate."

Key factors to the flavor, Moersch says, come down to good-quality fruit and the soil it's grown in.

"Thanks to a dry summer, the intensity of the flavors will be better this year."

"Grapes are the masochist of the plant world," Moersch says. "They like it hot and dry."

The Dessert
Vidal Blanc Ice Wine

The Vidal Blanc Ice Wine is one Free Run Cellars has only made once since moving into ice wines last year. It's a complex and meticulous process with a flavorful result.

"They are expensive to make, very tough to make," he says. "It takes the right year to do it because you don't pick those until sometimes the middle of December. The grapes have to be below 15 degrees for at least eight hours."

Because the grapes are picked before any moisture has a chance to dilute the fruit, "it really intensifies the flavor so basically it leaves like pure sugar into the grapes."

What you get is a purposeful flavor to satiate the sweetest of teeth.

"It's pretty much a dessert in itself," he says.

Wine and spice and everything nice...

Those who make their way up to Free Run's tasting room in Berrien Springs can treat themselves to more than just the wine. Each year the winery offers up their mulling spices - a special blend in a small canvas satchel that when combined with brown sugar, water and wine can turn a home into a heavenly place to be.

"When the weather starts turning a little cooler like it's starting to do these days, we do a Balaton Cherry wine that we add our spices to," Moersch said. "It smells like a cherry pie filling and adds cinnamon and clove notes to the cherry wine."

In a crock pot or on the stove, one bottle of wine, a little brown sugar and the bag of spices brought to a simmer fills the home and "it just kind of warms the soul," Moersch said.

Do yourself a favor and grab a handful.

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