Dandelion Wine

Dandelion wine. The words were summer on the tongue. The wine was summer caught and stoppered...sealed away for opening on a January day with snow falling fast and the sun unseen for weeks...

― Ray Bradbury

A while back I posted about a terrific dandelion wine from the Maple River Winery.  As a Ray Bradbury fanatic (lunatic), I knew I had to get my hands on this mysterious wine mentioned in his novel with the same name.  In the book, it was sipped during the non-summer months to keep that season alive and well on cold winter days.  For me, it was always perfect on a hot summer day on the porch, served extremely chilled.  Well, the Maple River Winery closed its doors a couple years ago and the Bradbury tradition was no more.  We found a local winery that offered this unusual varietal, but unfortunately, they make their version with grapes and not entirely with dandelions, so it was a super sweet dessert wine that had none of the charm and mystery of Maple River's.

Recently, Jenna found a dandelion wine being sold by the Hidden Legend Winery.  I took a chance and ordered a bottle.  Happy to report that this is the stuff.  As they describe it on their site:

This is not your grandmother’s dandelion wine, but it’s pretty darn close. It’s been approvingly described as “delicate” and “grassy” but we just think of it as summer on a back porch in Montana. Hidden Legend Dandelion Wine is best-appreciated mid-afternoon, by itself, or with a very soft cheese.

A perfect description.  And four more bottles are on their way to chill those hot humid summer days that will soon be here.

The Hidden Legend site.