Apple juice with blackcurrant

Kohl Apple Juice with Blackcurrant Cuvée, tart and midnight blue

Midnight blue, almost black in the glass: in Kohl Apple Juice with Blackcurrant Cuvée, naturally cloudy mountain apple juice from Ritten meets the juice of ripe blackcurrants. Great fullness on the palate, with a long, lingering finish.

Apple Juice with Blackcurrant is a velvety, aromatic juice creation by Thomas Kohl from South Tyrol: the ripe blackcurrants blend their slightly tart bitterness in the finest way with the sweetness of mountain apples. The result is a cuvée of almost opaque midnight blue – and a juice that leaves a long-lasting impression.

The ripe sweetness of the apple juice balances the acidity of the blackcurrant, and the blackcurrant lends lightness and freshness to the mountain apple juice. Apple and cassis are a magnificent composition: velvety, aromatic, long-lasting, with that tart edge that blackcurrants bring. Great fullness on the palate, with a long, lingering finish. The berry stands pure here, carried solely by the sweetness of the mountain apple – this is what cassis tastes like when you leave it undisturbed.

With speck, sausage, and grilled meat

Apple juice with blackcurrant is the perfect accompaniment to speck, cheese, and sausage, pasta-based appetizers, and grilled meat – it is at home with hearty dishes.

It pairs well with salty, spicy, and savory flavors. Alongside a medium-rare piece of meat with roasted salsify, the full potential of this cuvée is revealed: tartness meets roasted aromas, and both stand out more clearly.

It proves itself just as well with a snack board featuring speck and dark bread – the bitterness cuts through the fat and clears the palate for the next bite. For those grilling on a Sunday, this is a glass full of character, without the alcohol.

Blackcurrant, the tartest among berries

The blackcurrant – called cassis in France – is the most aromatic and simultaneously the tartest among the berries that Thomas Kohl uses for his cuvées. It ripens in midsummer, long before the mountain apples in Ritten are ready – the two only meet in the bottle.

It is precisely this tartness that makes it the ideal partner for the mountain apple: where a sweet berry would mask the apple, the blackcurrant opens it up and gives it depth. It brings the color along with it: the cuvée sits in the glass with a midnight blue to almost black hue, and you can tell just by looking at the bottle how much character awaits inside.

Both partners should win

The mountain apples for this are grown around the Troidner Hof, high above Bolzano: the family’s orchards are located at an altitude of nine hundred to one thousand meters.

There, cool nights and long sunny days take turns, and the greater this contrast, the more acidity the fruit retains. This is crucial for this cuvée: only an apple with backbone can hold its own next to a blackcurrant. Both partners should win – that is why Thomas Kohl has been declared Italy's first apple juice affineur.

What ends up in the bottle is harvested fully ripe and is preserved solely through gentle, short pasteurization. The juice also carries the vegan label of the European Vegetarian Union.

A bulbous glass is preferred over a narrow one

Served in a stemmed glass at 8 to 10 degrees, its aromas emerge just like those of a wine. A bulbous glass is preferred over a narrow one; it has a lot to say and needs the space to do so.

Once opened, it stays fresh for 6 days if refrigerated; unopened, kept cool and dark, the bottle will last for a year. The Apple Juice with Wild Blueberry is rounder, while the single-varietal Mountain Apple Juice Rouge is red and acidity-focused; all the dark varieties are combined in the Ruby Red bundle.