Monitoring Montana Wines

June 4, 2009

In May, during our very first-ever trip to Montana for the Montana State University Wine & Food Festival, we made a point of tasting through as many Montana-produced wines as possible.

Tasting Through Montana Wines

Special thanks to our gracious host, Stella Fong (co-chair of the festival, pictured above at the left), who amassed 17 wines from the state. During a tasting with Idaho chef Tom Atkins, wine merchant Sue Rydquist (owner of Simply Wine), my husband Spencer, Stella, and me, we decided that five of the 17 were good enough to recommend. Here’s a majority of the contenders:

Montana Wine Contender

And here’s a shot of the “winning” wines. 

Montana Winning Wines

Interesting to note that four of the five winners are fruit-based wines, and four are from the same winery. These include Ten Spoon Flathead Cherry Dry ($15), Ten Spoon Sweet Mountain Cherry Dessert Wine ($21), Ten Spoon Paradise Dry Pear Wine ($16), and Hidden Legend Huckleberry Mead (honey/huckleberry wine–$20). Ten Spoon won again for its Range Rider Montana Red Wine ($16), made up of interesting Montana-grown varietals including Leon Millot and Frontenac. With 13.89% alcohol, this wine retails for $15 and is reminiscent of a good-quality Beaujolais. 

 

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