Isaaks of Salem turn the fruit and honey of New England into local wine and mead. Ian Bennett started the winery in October 2009 and received a Federal and State permit in May and June of 2010 respectively. Ian created three wines for the first year of production, and distributed to many stores in and around Boston, MA, which where I found a bottle.
The tastingroom is located in Salem, MA with their winery premises in Beverly. They have a small garage bay near the train station in downtown Beverly where they create their wine.
So one night in early January the owners of Brookview Station, Sue and Ed Miller stopped by, and Ddominique and I put out a nice piece of Old Chatham Camembert and a jar of black currant jam.
Their dry Popp Road Raspberry wine is something very special. They located Popp Farm in Dresden Maine that still farms the old way. No pesticides, no fertilizers, just open pasture fields and a saltwater estuary abutting the raspberry patch. The first sip of this wine explodes with raspberries. The taste is distinctly New England raspberry. Despite the huge frontal assault of the raspberry, the wine is not sweet. It is a dry raspberry cider flavor. But it's a dry wine. And they approach fruit wine the way the Burgundians approach Pinot Noir. Single vineyard or farm appellations. Careful fermentations. Lots of organic fruits.
The wine is 100% Gluten Free! They only made 73 cases. According to the notes: 00Fermentation Process: Fermented for 4 weeks, then crash cooled to 37 degree's for 5 weeks and racked added raspberries on October 10th 2010, steeped for 3 weeks and removed raspberries on November 3rd 2010.
This is not a cheap wine, but I assure you this is well worth it. This is extremely well packaged, and that package exudes quality. I bought the wine, and I was not disappointed, and neither were my guests. We all toasted each other several times, toasting the new year and the delicious taste of the wine!
I would serve this wine to anyone! A really remarkable wine, and a signpost for quality fruit wine in New England. This is a winery to be on the lookout for!