From the days when Popeye ate spinach, straight from the can, to grow humongous forearms, there always has been a suddenly famous and favorite fruit or vegetable to create immediate health, strength and popularity. (Remember "an apple a day keeps the doctor away"?) We know fruits and vegetables are good for us, but today’s sudden surges in popularity often seem to be created by clever advertisements and medical "studies" that are revealed to us every week or so.
Wine drinkers know, and take comfort from, the fact that grapes have a long and honorable history as a fresh fruit, and as wine, either through natural fermentation or with a little help from a winemaker or chemist. In recent years, we have gained more faith from the discovery that red wine produces something called resveratrol, which provides even more health and, of course, makes wine taste even better.
We know grapes are mentioned in the Bible, and now another Biblical fruit, the pomegranate, has become a source of health and inspiration.
And wine, too. . . .
Rimon Winery, in the Upper Galilee region of Israel, where grapes grow and wine is made, is growing pomegranates and making wine from them. A tasty, interesting, 2004 Pomegranate Dessert Wine has been released in time for next week’s celebration of Valentine’s Day. The brilliant color of the wine is a match for all the elegant hues of the holiday. Two more pomegranate wines, a dry red and a port-type fortified wine, are scheduled to be released later in the year.
Like most dessert wines, the Rimon offering is at a rather high price point of $36 for a half liter (not quite 17 ounces).
The pomegranate aroma is clear and fresh. The flavor is easy to recognize, as is true of most wines, but there’s a slight bitterness, even a touch of burnt or charcoal flavor that may be off-putting to some. The wine is sweet, but not cloying, with a full body and juice is fermented – without added sugar – in stainless steel tanks, then aged for 10 months in French oak. A little brandy, distilled from pomegranates, is added to halt the fermentation process.
The Nachmias family, which has grown pomegranates in its Galilee orchards for three generations, honored its fruit by naming the winery after it – "rimon" is the Hebrew word for pomegranates; the wine also is kosher.
Pomegranates, mentioned in the Torah, the Koran, the Bible and other ancient volumes, have a long history in mythology, too. Demeter was the Greek goddess of agriculture, a role filled by Ceres in the Roman hierarchy. For convenience, we use the Greek names, with the Roman one following in parentheses. Her daughter, Persephone (Proserpina) was kidnaped by Hades (Pluto) and carried off to Hell. When her father, Jupiter (Zeus) arranged for her release, she was given a pomegranate, but during her escape, she dropped six of the fruit’s seeds. As a result, she spent six months a year in Hell and the other six months atop Mount Olympus.
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Speaking of fruit and alcohol, we are great fans of Lindemans Lambic Framboise beer, available in many local pubs and taverns in addition to retail outlets. It’s a remarkable beverage, not quite as sweet, but much fruitier than raspberry soda, with a base of unmalted wheat and barley. The beer is imported from Belgium, priced at about $9 in bars where we’ve seen it, and I think it’s absolutely delicious. The major problem is that the fruit is so forward one just slugs it down like soda pop, and that’s not a wise move.
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RECENT TASTINGS: I’m a fan of almost all the wines from Kent Rosenblum’s eponymous winery, an East Bay site that sources fruit from all over California and makes some superb wines in the $20-$40 price range. Kent Rosenblum, who began adult life as a veterinarian and still practices, is responsible for some superior red wines, full-bodied and intense. I recently tasted a winner, his 2005 Petite Sirah 9retail about $35) from the Napa Valley’s Pickett Road vineyards, in the far northern part of the valley. The wine, blended with 20 percent Carignane, is huge and rich, recalling the rich wines of the Rhone Valley. There’s blackberry in the aroma, other berries on the palate, and it’s a perfect accompaniment to a roast, or to a spicy meat loaf and a well-baked potato.
And speaking of Napa, I came across a pair of 2004 Cabernet Sauvignons from the valley’s fruit that also are splendid to drink with a hearty dinner at this time of the year.
Franciscan Wineries, one of the Napa veterans, has an ‘04 Napa cab ($28) that is rich and extremely flavorful, with hints of chocolate in the aroma and a strong berry component in the flavor, emphasized by a little oakiness. It’s not enough to bother me, but those who don’t like oak, can wait a year or two, when the tannin will fade and the fruit will become even more forward.
And Martin Ray, another winery with plenty of age and experience, has a slightly lighter Cab ($40) with more dark cherry and hints of tobacco on the palate. There’s a bit more finesse to the wine than the Franciscan, but the richness of the latter will cause some to prefer it.
—Joe