At the Kona airport I noticed a winery brochure and tossed it into our car. We were staying at a couple vacation rentals and I later glanced at the brochure and noticed that Volcano Winery was very close to our lodging. That’s how we came to visit America’s southernmost winery.The winery is unique (of course it is, it’s in Hawai’i!) in that most of its wines are estate grown, something you wouldn't expect in that location. It isn’t just a tourist destination – they are focused on winemaking.
The history of the winery go back to 1986 when “Doc” McKinney, a retired Oahu veterinarian selected the site in the town of Volcano for its unusual climate. It is located above 4,000 feet and is just a few miles from the dormant Kilauea volcano and Volcano National Park. He planted Symphony grapes, a white hybrid from California of which I happen to be a fan.
I was excited to see rows of grapes outside the tasting room as we pulled up. Shortly after we were inside the tasting room preparing to quench our thirst.
The first wine we tried was Symphony Dry. Symphony is not a common wine and it is one of my favorite “offbeat” whites. This is their driest wine and features nice peach and apricot flavors with a nice acidic bite. This is best chilled.
Next up was another surprise – the 2010 Estate Pinot Noir. Estate Pinot in Hawai'i, you ask? Yes, it is a variety that thrives in the winery’s environment, which has a high elevation, wide temperature swings and much cooler weather than you might expect in Hawai’i. Only 399 bottles were produced and this had a lovely cherry flavor with oak accents.Symphony Mele is another 100% Symphony wine, but is finished sweeter. We followed this with Volcano Blush, which pairs imported Pinot Grigio grapes with jaboticaba. This is a crazy version of a blush wine, but it works. It features the aroma and taste of coffee but is also list, sweet and refreshing.
Also on our tasting menu was Hawaiian Guava-Grape, which pairs Symphony with whole fruit guava and goes well with Hawai’ian food. Another unique wine is the Macadamia Nut Honey, made with 100% pure Hawai’ian macadamia nut honey. We tried this mead two ways, warm (to make it more like sake) and chilled.
The most unusual wine was Infusion, which is a combination of estate grown tea infused with the macadamia nut honey mead. The resulting taste is of sweet iced tea.
One of the most surprising comments was that he was beginning to plant Cayuga White, a variety popular in our home state of Ohio, especially around Lake Erie. I couldn’t understand how a wine flourishing in the climate of Ohio could flourish in Hawai’i.
On the upside, Del’s vineyard features an open lava tube. He plans to have it checked by an engineer and potentially convert it into a wine cave for cellaring wine and doing special tastings. Now that would be a mountaintop experience. This is part of their plan to fully develop the operation into a destination winery.
On the Big Island we discovered volcanoes, lava galore, rugged coastlines and the very first official winery in Hawai’i. As the
It offers an unparalleled setting, fine wines and friendly people.
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