Beyond the Grape
Hiddencroft’s Novelty and Specialty Wines
Eighteen Years of Experimentation, Imagination, and a Little Mischief
Not every wine begins with a grape. And not every wine needs to take itself quite so seriously.
During our eighteen years at Hiddencroft Vineyards, we’ve made wines that ranged from traditional dry reds and whites to rosés, fruit wines, fortified dessert wines, and some rather unusual creations that didn’t fit neatly into any conventional category.
Some were serious explorations of winemaking possibilities. Others had whimsical names and labels that were almost as much fun to create as the wines themselves. But all of them were part of a deliberate philosophy.
We wanted Hiddencroft to offer something for nearly every taste.
We understood that not everyone who walked through our tasting room door enjoyed the same kind of wine.
Some visitors preferred dry, structured reds. Others enjoyed lighter wines, rosés, or sweeter styles. Some were intrigued by fruit wines, while others appreciated the richness of fortified dessert wines.
Rather than limit ourselves to a narrow selection, we explored a wide range of possibilities.
And along the way, we created some memorable wines.
What Were Our Novelty and Specialty Wines?
The term novelty wine isn’t a formal winemaking classification. We used it informally to describe some of our more unconventional creations, particularly wines made from fruits other than grapes and wines presented with playful names and imaginative labels.
But our specialty-wine collection extended well beyond fruit wines.
We produced blueberry, cherry, and blackberry wines, including fortified dessert styles. We also experimented with combinations of fruit and traditional wine grapes.
One example was Vitis Rubus, a raspberry-Chambourcin wine that brought together the character of Chambourcin grapes and raspberries.
Another was Vison Noir, a dry, fortified, port-style Chambourcin wine that demonstrated a very different approach to a familiar grape.
These wines weren’t simply novelties created for amusement.
They represented a genuine interest in the possibilities of winemaking and a willingness to experiment beyond the familiar.
Why We Made So Many Different Wines
When we began welcoming visitors to Hiddencroft in 2008, we wanted our tasting room to be a place where people with different preferences could discover something they enjoyed.
That meant offering variety.
A visitor who wasn’t particularly fond of dry red wine might discover a fruit wine they loved.
Someone who normally preferred sweeter wines might find a rosé that appealed to them.
A person curious about dessert wines could explore a fortified blueberry or blackberry wine.
And those who appreciated unusual styles might discover something like Vison Noir.
We weren’t trying to persuade everyone to like the same wines.
We were trying to give people choices.
Of course, producing such a varied selection required considerable work.
Different fruits and wine styles presented different challenges. Each wine required its own production decisions, fermentation management, aging, bottling, and storage.
But for many years, that diversity was part of Hiddencroft’s identity.
Vison Noir: An Award-Winning Experiment
Among our specialty wines, Vison Noir deserves a particularly memorable place in Hiddencroft’s history.
Its story begins with our 2015 Chambourcin harvest—a vintage that would eventually influence our approach to extended barrel aging.
Following fermentation of the entire 2015 Chambourcin vintage, we drew off a portion of the young wine, fortified it, and placed it in barrels for two years.
That wine became Vison Noir, our dry, fortified, port-style Chambourcin.
The remaining Chambourcin embarked on a very different journey.
We used it for an extended-élevage experiment, eventually producing two bottlings: one after approximately four and a half years in neutral oak and another after seven and a half years. The longer-aged wine became our 2015 Chambourcin Reserve.
Although both wines originated from the same harvest and fermentation, they followed remarkably different paths.
Vison Noir explored the effects of fortification and two years of barrel aging, while the Reserve experiment explored what could happen when Chambourcin matured for an exceptionally long period in neutral oak.
And Vison Noir earned recognition well beyond our tasting room.
In February 2018, Vison Noir 2015 received a Gold Medal and Best of Class, scoring 92 points, at the International Eastern Wine Competition (East Meets West) in Santa Rosa, California.
The recognition was especially gratifying because Vison Noir was an unconventional wine.
Meanwhile, our extended-élevage experiment continued quietly in the cellar. Its eventual success encouraged us to commit the entire 2016 Chambourcin vintage to seven and a half years of aging in neutral oak.
Looking back, the 2015 harvest became an important turning point in our winemaking.
From one harvest and one fermentation came two very different approaches: a dry, fortified Chambourcin that became an award winner, and an extended-aging experiment that helped establish our long-élevage philosophy.
One harvest. One fermentation. Two very different wines—and two lasting contributions to Hiddencroft’s history.
The Art Was Part of the Adventure
Our novelty wines also gave Clyde and me an opportunity to indulge another interest: creating our own labels.
We used vintage illustrations, copyright-free clip art from Dover Publications, hand drawing, and PowerPoint to design artwork that reflected each wine’s personality.
Grandma’s Love Potion was inspired by Finnish folklore and featured a romantic Victorian-era illustration that we edited and colorized.
Grandpa’s Fantasy became a mischievous character assembled from vintage comic-strip illustrations, clip art, hand-drawn clothing, and a few carefully placed PowerPoint graphics.
Cackling Crow featured a dramatic black silhouette against a brilliant moonlit sky, combining Dover silhouette artwork with colorful shapes we created and layered in PowerPoint.
The labels weren’t produced by a professional design studio.
They were created by the two of us, experimenting with images and ideas until we had something that made us smile.
And that was part of the pleasure.
Traditional wines often carry certain expectations about how they should be named and presented. A Cabernet Franc or Petit Verdot generally speaks for itself through its grape variety, vintage, and character.
Our novelty wines gave us considerably more freedom.
A blueberry wine could become Grandma’s Love Potion.
A fortified blueberry wine could become Grandpa’s Fantasy.
A cherry dessert wine could celebrate as Grandpa’s Jubilee.
And a blackberry dessert wine could become Cackling Crow.
Sometimes the labels were romantic. Sometimes they were mischievous. And sometimes they were just a little mysterious.
But each had a personality of its own.
How Our Wine Selection Evolved
Over the years, Hiddencroft produced an unusually diverse collection of wines. We wanted visitors to have choices, whether their preferences leaned toward dry reds, refreshing rosés, fruit wines, or rich, fortified dessert wines.
But maintaining such a broad selection presented its own challenges.
Winemaking requires planning years in advance. Some wines are ready relatively quickly, while others spend years maturing in barrels before they are bottled and released.
As our inventory grew and purchasing patterns changed, we began reconsidering how many different wines we could reasonably continue producing.
We had always enjoyed experimenting, but we also recognized that each new wine required additional resources, storage space, and a commitment to future inventory.
Eventually, we made the practical decision to concentrate production on a smaller selection of wines.
That meant discontinuing some of our fruit wines, fortified dessert wines, and other specialty creations.
It wasn’t a reflection of their quality or of our enthusiasm for making them. Some, like our award-winning Vison Noir, had demonstrated just how successful those experiments could be.
Rather, it was a matter of adapting our production to the needs of the winery.
Today, our emphasis is on the grape wines, blends, and extended-élevage practices that have become central to Hiddencroft’s identity.
But we remember those earlier wines fondly.
They gave us opportunities to explore unfamiliar ingredients, develop different winemaking techniques, and create some wonderfully imaginative labels.
Most importantly, they were part of our effort to make Hiddencroft a place where visitors with many different tastes could discover a wine they enjoyed.
Although we no longer produce many of those wines, they remain an important and colorful chapter in Hiddencroft’s history.
Looking Back with Affection
It’s easy to look at a discontinued wine and think of it simply as something that is no longer available.
But we prefer to remember what those wines represented.
They were evidence of our willingness to experiment, to explore unfamiliar ingredients, and to challenge conventional expectations.
They gave us opportunities to learn.
They gave our visitors choices.
They gave us some wonderfully entertaining labels to create.
And occasionally, as with Vison Noir, they earned recognition far beyond our own tasting room.
We are glad we had the opportunity to make them.
The wines we no longer produce remain part of Hiddencroft’s history, and their stories deserve to be told.
The Wines That Took Us Beyond Tradition
What follows is a look back at some of the most unusual wines we’ve produced during our eighteen years at Hiddencroft.
Some were made from blueberries, blackberries, or cherries. Others combined fruit with wine grapes or explored unconventional approaches to familiar varieties.
Some had playful names and humorous labels.
Others were serious winemaking experiments that produced remarkable results.
Together, they represent a chapter of Hiddencroft’s history that we remember with considerable affection.
We made them because we wanted to offer something for everyone. We eventually discontinued many of them because our needs changed. But we’re glad we had the opportunity to create them.
