Wine and more wine at Volcano Winery. PC: Marla Walters
Volcano Wintery tasting area. PC: Marla Walters
Volcano Winery vineyard. PC: Marla Walters
If you are one of those “glass half full” types, rain in Hilo isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It keeps this part of the island gloriously green. It fills catchments. Rain also gives you an excuse to take a road trip and revisit some places you love on the Big Island.
Such was the case on a recent rainy Saturday, so we got into the car. We headed to Volcano, where there was an estate sale (with lots of interesting treasure, as it turned out). After that, we decided we’d see if the Volcano Winery was open.
For those who haven’t been, please check it out. It’s a little jewel of a winery found not far past the golf course. We weren’t sure if it would be open, yet, but sure enough, they open at 10 a.m. In fact, the winery is open 364 days per year (closed on Christmas)—a remarkable feat.
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The young woman at the counter was delightfully friendly and asked if we wanted to taste—at 10:20 a.m., mind you. Well, yes, we did. Why not? So taste we did and came up with a new favorite: Symphony Mele, with “notes of peach, apricot and lychee.” We purchased a bottle for home for the next special occasion.
Besides traditional “grape” wines, the Volcano serves up some other fruit wines, the most famous of which is probably their jaboticaba (Brazilian tree grape) wine. For those who have not seen this fruit before, it grows on the bark of the tree. The jaboticaba fruit is bizarre and delicious, and it makes an unforgettable wine. (Visitors, look for jaboticaba jelly at farmer’s markets, too.)
Macadamia nut honey is used to make honey wine, which makes a wonderful dessert wine and a great gift.
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Volcano Winery is now also producing refreshing Infusion Tea Wine, which is refreshing on warm Hawai‘i days.The winery also has a well-stocked gift shop, including T-shirts and sweatshirts, etched glassware and local Rusty’s delicious Ka‘ū coffee.
Find Volcano Winery at 35 Pi‘i Mauna Drive in Volcano. Call (808) 0967-7772.
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