Pommeau

Pommeau by 2 Towns Ciderhouse was judged outside the BJCP cider guidelines, which don’t recognize sweet dessert wines made from apples. Served in a small brandy snifter at 54^oF/12^oC. Deep golden color with haze. Completely still. Legs on glass looks viscous.

The nose is redolent with sweet apple, pear and almond with a hint of cinnamon and cardamon mixing with a strong woody alcohol note of brandy/eau de vie fortification. This is really no cider at all — the huge alcohol foundation belies any notion of that. A very lush, vinous and heavily sweet and fruity aroma with loads of alcohol just screams apple dessert wine, and a massive and sweet one at that.

The flavor mimics the nose with a rush of overripe apple/pear sweetness up front mixing with strong ethanol and a lovely faint spicy-cinnamon angle heat. The late palate is woody, rich and faintly hot with alcohol without being lacquer-like, with complementing madeira-like nuttiness of almonds and stone fruit pit. The finish is very sweet and lush with lingering fresh bright but very ripe apples/pomme fruit. The acid matches the sweetness well, and the balance is..well, sweet and almost unbelievably long.

Overall, if you want to try a new approach to dessert wine with strong apple notes, faint spice and enough sugar, acid, and ethanol to end virtually any meal, this works. I like it a lot, and am heading to my humidor for a puro. Salud!