Yamagata’s Yellow Magic Winery has, to the best of our knowledge, broken new ground with the release of a beverage that is not quite cider, not quite perry, and not quite wine. This blend of apples (unspecified variety), La France pears, and Delaware grapes should not only please most palates but arouse the interest of curious imbibers. “How did they do it?,” you might ask. Unfortunately, we cannot answer that at the moment, but we can provide our readers with our usual sensory evaluation of the beverage under review.
The nose is a virtual fruit basket, redolent with the flavors of harvest time. The three fruits are well integrated: none predominates. In short, the individual fruit notes come together as a harmonious whole.
The color is pale lemon. The alcohol is predictably low at 8% abv, the body light, and sweetness and acidity balanced at the medium level. The CO2 level straddles the border between spumante and frizzante.
It is difficult to liken this to any other beverage we have tasted. However, it does share certain affinities with lambic.
Drinking Japan 