Matchbook Distilling Jenny Lind Heritage Melon Aperitif Wine

18% ABV

Absolutely mind-bending Aperitif Wine infused with a heritage Melon varietal called Jenny Lind. The Jenny Lind is a muskmelon first introduced in 1850 that was for a time the most widely grown melon in New Jersey, and the most popular in New York and Philadelphia. It fell out of fashion as other melons more suited to commercial farming took over. Matchbook head distiller Leslie Marinoff-Kwasnieski partnered with Danny Childs of Slow Drinks and Ploughshare Farms in NJ to bring it back. She used the whole fruit for this Aperitif Wine, infusing the skins into spirit and redistilling it, and then macerating the flesh of the fruit into the melon spirit and biodynamic wine from Long Island.

Fragrant, floral, and potent, it almost smells like an Eau de Vie of melon. On the palate it is sweet with balanced complexity. We recommend drinking it over ice, perhaps with a splash of soda to truly savor it's subtle and stunning flavors. A rare treat as only 500 bottles were made. Leslie came out to the West Coast for Slow Food Sacramento with some of the bottles and we were lucky enough to grab a few. We've never had anything quite like it. 

About Matchbook Distilling:

Located on the North Fork of Long Island, Matchbook is the brainchild of distiller Leslie Merinoff-Kwasnieski. They produce an immensely diverse set of spirits built primarily around the abundant produce of their local farmers. Although they make a number of conventional spirits like 2 different grain to glass vodka's and some relatively straightforward American Whiskies, they are perhaps best known for their unconventional offerings. Smoked Pineapple Eau de Vie. Blueberry Amaro. Sunchoke and Honey Spirit. Everything that we've tasted from Matchbook has at the very least made us think, and most of the time it's made us want to drink more of whatever they've come up with. Truly a pioneering distilling team.