Pear Wine

Filed in archive Wine Making on April 19, 2007

This sounds really yummy - pear wine from Oregon. I remember my grandfather used to send us pears and apples from the northeast. They came in a box and each piece of fruit was wrapped carefully with paper so it wouldn't bruise. You normally think of grapes when it comes to wine, but of course lots of other fruits can be used to do this.

From Pear wine makers follow favored recipe:

Today, the Hagees' Pheasant Valley Vineyard and Winery produces about 500 cases annually of pear wine made from organic pears grown on the couple's Acree Drive orchard.

"It's become very popular," Hagee said. Pear wine is often considered a dessert wine because of its sweetness. But Pheasant Valley's pear wine is different.

"We make it a little on the dry side, purposely, so it pairs well with foods," Hagee said.

After the Hagees harvest their pears (they have approximately 20 acres of Bartletts and 5 acres of Granny Smith apples, along with 16 acres planted in wine grapes), they send some of them to Columbia Gorge Organic, a local company which makes popular fruit juices and smoothies, to process into juice.

The pear juice is returned to the Hagees and from there, the wine-making process continues the way other wines are made. The pear wine is fermented in stainless steel barrels rather than oak in order to retain the pear flavor.

Each finished bottle contains seven pears, according to Hagee.