Alaskan Wine You Say?
Each one of America’s 50 states produces wine. You don’t have to be a wine aficionado to have heard of wine from California, Oregon, Washington, or New York. The more adventurous drinker of American wine may also be familiar with wine from Michigan, Virginia, Texas, or even New Mexico. But even the more ‘unusual suspects’ states produce wine, such as Idaho, Hawaii, and Florida. And yes, even that most northern of states, sitting on the 60th parallel, Alaska. 
Certainly it is not the first state that comes to mind when one thinks about winemaking! The climate is largely subarctic with pockets here and there of dry-summer subarctic and Oceanic. And yet, since at least the 1990s, winemaking has rather taken off there. You’re not wrong though if you’re thinking that surely such a climate cannot sustain grape production. Wineries in Alaska that use vitis vinifera for their wines buy in grape and/or juice from west coast growers. Possibly even more popular though, is wine made with other-than-grape fruit, or even a blend of the two.
Alaskan wine doesn’t easily make its way out of the state. Luckily for me, a local friend snagged a bottle of Bear Creek Winery Strawberry Rhubarb wine on a trip home and generously shared it with me.
Bear Creek Winery and Lodging
Located in Homer, Alaska, which Wikipedia laughingly calls “moderate subarctic” – can moderate and subarctic really appear in the same sentence?! – is Bear Creek Winery. Winery owner Bill Fry’s story reminded me of a lot of those I hear in Turkey in that he started making wine as a hobby and it bloomed into a professional winery. In the mid 1990s, Fry started in his kitchen with a few glass carboys and some fruit. Soon too big for the kitchen, he moved into the garage and started experimenting with all sorts of fruit.
By 2003, Fry and his wife Dorothy were fully committed to Bear Creek Winery. Things were still very garagiste in style, buying fruit from neighbors, printing labels off the home computer, etc.; but as their popularity grew, so too did the winery. They were joined by their daughter and son-in-law, Jasmine and Louis Maurer, in whose hands the winery is now.
Through Bill and Dorothy and Jasmine and Louis, Bear Creek Winery and Lodging is a popular destination in Homer offering tasting experiences and beautify guest lodging. The winery offers nine core wines and five seasonal wines made from both grapes (the Bordeaux varieties, Riesling, Chardonnal, Muscadine, and Zinfandel) and locally sourced fruit (blueberry, raspberry, peach, strawberry, rhubarb, cranberry, pomegranate, black cherry, black raspberry, apricot, apple, black currant, and gooseberry.
Bear Creek Winery Strawberry Rhubarb Wine
The Bear Creek Winery Strawberry Rhubarb wine has a white wine base with 70% strawberry and 30% rhubarb juice. This is a sweet wine with residual sugar, and low alcohol at only 10%.
Pale onion skin color in the glass and bursting with, you guessed it, strawberry aromas! Tiny mountain strawberries and strawberry jam joined by a suggestion of stone fruit. Obvious residual sugar on the palate but a nice amount of acidity to balance it. Again, an explosion of strawberry on the palate with a hint of tartness from the rhubarb.
My first Alaskan wine and I am happy to say that it was quite enjoyable!