Many times the first response someone has when I tell someone that there is a licensed and bonded winery making their own wine in all 50 states is, “Even Hawaii‽ Really‽”

Yes, listeners!  Hawaii has wineries!  Two of them in fact! Volcano Winery, on the big island of Hawaii itself, produces quite a few vintages, both from estate-grown grapes such as Pinot Noir, Symphony, Syrah, and Cayuga White, but also from fruit such as Jabuticaba grown elsewhere on the island and grapes imported from California.  The other, Maui Wine (formerly Tedeschi Vineyards), mostly focuses on fruit wines.  There are, as of yet anyway, no designated AVAs in the Hawaiian Islands.

The wine we focused on for our introduction to Hawaii is the Volcano Red (Pele’s Delight), which is a blend of Hawaii-grown Jabuticaba, estate-grown Symphony grapes, and Ruby Cabernet from California.  These come together to produce a delicious wine in a style that we both really enjoyed.  In this episode, Gary returns to our Podcast, and we have a surprise guest star: Kendall, who is one of the tasting room managers at Volcano Winery who was kind enough to answer the questions Gary and I had about this wine, growing grapes, and wine production in Hawaii–thanks so much Kendall!

This bottle was acquired from the vineyard itself by my friend Andi Boyce, specifically for this podcast.  Aloha, y’all.