WASHINGTON 鈥� Wine and cider lovers no longer have to choose between one or the other at the bar. This fall, they can have both 鈥� all in one sip.
At in D.C.鈥檚 Bloomingdale neighborhood, beverage director Sebastian Zutant is serving up his latest experiment: ros茅 cider.
The sparkling concoction is made from the lees, or yeast byproduct, of ros茅 wine聽from Virginia Wineworks聽and cider from Virginia鈥檚 . The idea behind the blend? Let鈥檚 just say it stems from the saying that one man鈥檚 trash is another man鈥檚 treasure.
鈥淭here鈥檚 such cool byproduct from wine that you get to really play around with a lot of stuff,鈥� says Zutant, who has collaborated on several other unconventional beverage projects, such as his Sauvignon Blanc Saison with the brewers at DC Brau.
鈥淚 thought it would be a cool idea to take basically what people throw away and see if I could move it over to another genre and see how it worked out.鈥�
Zutant says he鈥檚 quite pleased with the outcome. The combination may sound odd, but the flavor is familiar 鈥� similar to that of a sparkling ros茅, but with a subtle hint of apple.
鈥淔or me, cider is always crisp and clean and somewhat earthy,鈥� Zutant says. 鈥淏ut this has a lot more of a fruit component to it. And on the finish, especially, it has a soft red fruit finish.鈥�
Just in time for the holiday season, Zutant says the ros茅 cider pairs perfectly with turkey and all the trimmings of a Thanksgiving meal. Only, don鈥檛 try to make it at home and serve it to your guests.
Making a wine-beer hybrid isn鈥檛 as simple as mixing merlot with Miller. The process for the ros茅 cider took about eight months, during which the cider sat above the lees in an ancient clay cask, called a qvevri.
鈥淚 guess you could say it鈥檚 an infusion more than anything else,鈥� Zutant says.
Want to get a taste? Zutant only made 20 cases of the ros茅 cider (and has even fewer now), which he plans to serve at The Red Hen until it runs out.
After the last pour, he鈥檒l be on to his next project: a collaboration using crushed dessert wine grapes from and mead from .
鈥淚 feel like everybody is in their own genre, and I don鈥檛 necessarily see it as a separate world. For me, it just makes a lot of sense to get everybody together and do things together,鈥� he says.
鈥淚 just like the idea of mashing up different cultures and seeing how it comes out.鈥�
The Red Hen is located at聽1822 1st St. NW
