Vintage Wine Tomato: Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2008

Part of Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2008

I ordered this tomato again, because last year the plant apparently could not deal with the rigors of living and commited suicide. It failed to thrive and died for no reason I could determine so I am chalking it up to a fragile mental health. There is normally one of them every year.

But I was anxious to try one of these tomatoes. After all, I am a wine lush, so a tomato named “Vintage Wine” is right up my alley. So I requested one that had a healthy outlook on life and it has done beautifully this year. Let’s hope they taste as good as they have produced.

The description from the company I got it from reads:

One of the very few pastel-hued tomatoes. A favorite of gourmet grocers, with attractive, 1/2 lb., pale pink fruits set off by golden stripes. This tomato has a very mild flavor, that is still elegant, sweet, and very tasty. Tall, plants with potato-leaved foliage. Indeterminate. – 85 days.

The Beauty Pageant:

Size: A medium sized tomato. The size is pretty consistent on the fruits.

Shape: Wobbly and lumpy. Also, the skin seems to be very thin and is easily damaged on the vine. While the skin color is lovely, almost every tomato comes off the vine with healed over damage spots and cracking lines..

Color: Pretty pink with gold stripes.

The inside: A block like, thick core and thin walls. The seeds are on the larger side. The gel feels pretty loose but holds up well.

Texture: A very firm tomato. I know this is ripe, but it is nearly as firm as a green tomato would be. The meat is a bit mealy.

Tasting:

Off the Vine Tasting: Strong tomato flavor with a solidly tangy backbone. Not quite sour, but it is tangy enough to make you want to pucker a little.

Sliced and Salted Tasting: The salt cancels out the tanginess and downplays the tomato flavor, which leaves this with a pretty bland flavor.

Cooking Thoughts: Being a firm tomato, this would be good for people who like chunky tomato sauces. The strong tomato flavor and the tanginess would also do well in a sauce and would hold their flavor well for people looking for low-salt recipes.

Growing Notes:
A good, productive plant and the tomatoes are spaced out, so I get 1 or 2 tomatoes every few days rather than a whole bunch all at once.

Will Hanna grow this one again:
No. The texture turns me off. Flavor was pretty good, but it is too solid of a tomato for me to be wild about it.