Château Bloomberg
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Château Bloomberg is a multi-generational family-operated maker of fine fermented beverages, including wineberry wine, damson wine, and apple cider. All fruit is hand-picked, and foraged in the wild (except for the apples, which come from an orchard). Unlike almost all bottles you’re likely to buy at your local wine shop, most things here are fermented naturally with no added yeasts, acids, stabilizers, or other additives. Through trial-and-error, the picking of only quality fruit, and a bit of luck, we are generally able to produce quality alcoholic beverages using what we find in the nearby forests and fields.
2018 and beyond
We continue to produce much in the same manner as outlined below.
2017 Vintage
Wineberry Grand Cru
- 6.9 gallons produced.
- Au Naturel is completely organic with native yeasts and intense natural flavor.
- Made entirely from the juice of foraged wineberries, with only organic sugar added.
- Fermented to complete dryness.
- The berry juice is not sterilized, and we use no additives for Au Naturel. This gives it a unique taste that differs from one batch to the next, but it is always intense!
Damson Wine
- 1 gallon produced.
- Foraged from damsons we happened to come across growing deliciously wild in Kazakhstan.
- No yeasts or other additives besides non-organic beet sugar found at the local corner store.
- No measurements were made, and everything was done with blind faith in the master vintner’s expertise.
- This wine is currently aging in the basement of a Soviet-era planned “microdistrict” in Almaty, and is available to ship internationally.
2016 Vintage
Wineberry Au Naturel
- 10 gallons produced.
- Au Naturel is completely organic with native yeasts and intense natural flavor.
- Made entirely from the juice of foraged wineberries, with only organic sugar added.
- Fermented to complete dryness.
- The berry juice is not sterilized, and we use no additives for Au Naturel. This gives it a unique taste that differs from one batch to the next.
2015 Vintage
Wineberry Au Naturel
- 2.5 gallons produced.
- Au Naturel is completely organic with native yeasts and intense natural flavor.
- Made entirely from the juice of foraged wineberries, with only organic sugar added.
- Fermented to complete dryness.
- The berry juice is not sterilized, and we use no additives for Au Naturel. This gives it a unique taste that differs from one batch to the next.
Wineberry Grand Cru
14.5 gallons produced.
- Select wild berries foraged at the peak of ripeness with amazing richness of flavor.
- The pure berry juice of Grand Cru is sterilized with potassium metabisulfite, and champagne yeast is added to guarantee a complete fermentation.
WIneberry Ordinaire
- 0.5 gallons produced.
- Ordinaire contains berry juice topped up with organic sugar water. The resultant mix is sterilized with potassium metabisulfite, and champagne yeast is added to guarantee a complete fermentation.
- Despite containing added sugar in the original mix, Ordinaire is completely fermented to dryness.
- While it is less “pure” juice, most people find it more drinkable than the more premium Grand Cru product.
2014 Vintage
Wineberry Grand Cru
- 5.25 gallons produced.
- Grand Cru is the ferment of undiluted wineberry juice foraged at the peak of ripeness.
- The juice is sterilized with potassium metabisulfite, and champagne yeast is added to guarantee a complete fermentation.
Wineberry Ordinaire
- 11 gallons produced.
- Ordinaire contains berry juice topped up with organic sugar water. The resultant mix is sterilized with potassium metabisulfite, and champagne yeast is added to guarantee a complete fermentation.
- Despite containing added sugar in the original mix, Ordinaire is completely fermented to dryness.
- Many people who are not into natural wines find Ordinaire to be more drinkable than some of the other more intense lines of wine we produce.
2013 Vintage
Wineberry Ordinaire
Our standard wineberry wine…. and by “standard”, we mean foraged wild berries picked at peak ripeness, placed into small batch Italian glass fermenters, and made according to standards far exceeding most vineyards. Label not designed yet.
- 5 gallons produced.
- Ordinaire contains berry juice topped up with organic sugar water. The resultant mix is sterilized with potassium metabisulfite, and champagne yeast is added to guarantee a complete fermentation.
- Despite containing added sugar in the original mix, Ordinaire is completely fermented to dryness.
- Many people who are not into natural wines find Ordinaire to be more drinkable than some of the other more intense lines of wine we produce.
Vin Du Banane
- 5 gallons produced.
- Vin Du Banane uses organic imported bananas mixed with foraged wineberries, topped up with organic sugar water to create valhalla for yeasts. The fermentation is very robust!
- Banana wine has a long history in Africa, but is almost unknown in the United States. It’s mild flavor is very pleasant.
- Despite containing bananas, Vin Du Banane otherwise follows the same fermentation process as Ordinaire.