Online Wine Tour

Shallon Winery is unusual and interesting. The winemaker, Paul van der Veldt, uses a variety of unusual ingredients, such as chocolate, blackberry, elderberry, wild black raspberry, peaches, rhubarb, whey, black cherry, blueberry, wild plum, and Hawaiian mango, to create the world’s most fantastic wines. The latest wonder is Chocolate Orange wine. “Anything I create after this will be a total anticlimax!” says the winemaker. 

Based in Oregon, downtown Astoria, the winery is named after van der Veldt’s favorite local plant, Gaultheria shallon, which bears beautiful flowers and unusual berries. Most of the wines produced here are the only ones of their kind in the world. 

Here is a list of Shallon wines and their attractive features: 

Chocolate Orange wine: Made of six types of chocolates from four countries, this is orange wine with thick, rich chocolate suspended in whey. With no artificial flavoring, it is approximately ten percent alcohol. 

Cran-du-Lait: With a beautiful cranberry rose color, Cran-du-Lait is half dry and half sweet with the aroma and flavor of cranberries. It tastes great with a splash of 7-up or champagne. 

Lemon Meringue Pie wine: As its name suggests, it tastes like lemon meringue pie. It is a sweet lemon and whey wine that goes well with wine crackers. 

Wild Evergreen Blackberry wine: Totally dry with a woody flavor, this wine pairs well with wild meat. It ages like a cabernet and can even be mistaken for one. 

Spiced Apple: Made of honey, fresh ginger, and other ingredients, Spiced Apple is to be served hot on a cold day or iced on a hot day. 

Zinfandel: This is the winemaker’s only grape wine, which he has created in a dry style by stomping Californian grapes with his feet. 

Peach: It is not that easy to make, claims the winemaker. Peach wine is a semi-sweet winner of gold awards, and it pairs well with lobster. 

Paul van der Veldt says that the fruit and berry wines should be consumed within a year. The wines do not lose their quality with refrigeration. The Chocolate Orange, however, should not be refrigerated. 

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