2024 Chertok "Shekhina"

Nestled in the lovely but often overlooked agrarian slopes of the Champlain Valley, Chertok Wines has a unique perspective on New England wine. Located at the historic Belmont Orchard in Shoreham, Vermont, Chertok Wines is unusual in its balanced commitment not only to the grape vine but also to the apple tree. While a great many New England wineries experiment with apples, Chertok is singular in that the farm is a quilt of old orchards and young vineyards. In the cellar, there is a focus on dual-crop wines that integrate their apples and grapes together through slow, mingled fermentation. Apples are ground into vats of footcrushed grapes and pressed after 8-10 weeks to produce low alcohol, highly compelling wines that feel resolved and complete in a way that many ‘coferments’ seldom achieve. This wine is an ambassador for the whole brand, offering drinkers a juicy, pink wine with great acidity, alluring fruitiness and a gentle cucumber-skin bitterness that keeps everything in balance. Coming in at a breezy 8.5% abv, this wine is easy to drink and hard not to finish!