Browsing the local market in Charleston, bored of  tacky souvenirs, my eyes lit up as they were captivated by a sign “Market Street Winery”.

I had to peak in. The bartender’s huge welcoming smile so typical of local people persuaded me to ease my purse of $5 for tasting of 5 wines.
Their wines are different though.
Honey wine - Charleston

Unique wines

The producer is experimenting with various grape varieties combining them with fruits such as peach, raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, apple and cranberry. On the top of this he makes wines only from these fruits and even from honey!

The wines are light (only 11% alcohol) and their sweetness scales from 10 % of residual sugar all the way to zero per cent in the local version of Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay, which were both very refreshing.
The Shaftesbury Blend emphasised already slightly peachy chardonnay to an extreme. The peach dominated the wine. Perfect match for the summer afternoon.
Merlot in the North Market Red was crowned with blackberry. Its very balanced taste is great for those with the slightest affection towards tannins, which are so common in red wines.

Honey wine

Moving to medium sweet wines with the Market Street Mead made from honey – I am not joking. It was explained to me that this was actually the ancient way to make wines. By fermenting honey you get a very deep and distinctive wine. Who would ever have thought of wine from honey! Unbelievable and enchanting.
Sweetgrass Blackberry with 3-5% of residual sugar is also sweater and is resembling more a blackberry juice, than a wine. I wasn’t much impressed by it.
Raspberry Redemption at the end  of my tasting assured me that I can never combine these fruit wines with food, but it is better to enjoy them on their own. Using other fruits than grapes in wine diminishes the wonderful variety of flavours for which we treasure our wines. Anyway, it is something different, you have to try it.
Have you ever tried wine made from other fruits than grapes? Yes? Was it made from some fruit we would never expect that wine can be made of?  Shock me, surprise me …
If you are really curious you can order them online and make your own opinion.