If you don’t know what a quince is, you’re about to discover one of the most underrated fruits in the world.

A quince looks like a lumpy cross between a Golden Delicious apple and a pear, but unlike apples and pears, a ripe quince has a hard texture.  The quince’s skin is thin and bright golden-yellow when ripe, and if you cut into it, the flesh is tough, spongy, and aromatic. The fruit’s tempting fragrance makes it perfect for cooking jam, jelly, marmalade, and even pudding.  Indeed, it is a staple ingredient in some of our favorite deserts at our year-round restaurant, Chez Gaston at Algodon Wine Estates.

This medium-sized fruit tree grows splendidly at our estate, with an orchard of roughly 200 quince trees located next to the irrigation channels on trellises.  The first plantations of our quinces date back to 1946, about the same time as our olive trees, and our prized bonarda and malbec vines.

ALGODON WINE ESTATES’ ORCHARD OF ROUGHLY 200 QUINCE TREES BEAR FRUIT FOR HARVEST FROM MARCH TO APRIL

 
Our agronomist Coco takes good care of our quinces, and all our crops, making sure they are well-watered, pruned and harvested at just the right time in the season. The annual harvest of our quinces is carried out by hand between the months of March and April, as our team evaluates the maturation of each individual fruit.

Once harvested, we receive them at the restaurant. As the quince is a very versatile fruit, we can cook them in many different ways such as quince terrine, jams, poached, as the main ingredient in sherbets, as well as in classic dishes like fresh cheese with quince terrine, and pasta frola pie (an Argentinian lattice tart) .

Sound appetizing? Good!  Then we look forward to receiving you at Algodon Wine Estates, because (take it from us) the quinces alone are a reason to visit! 

Scroll down for a scrumptious quince dessert recipe, perfect for fall weather, which can be made with our Pinot Noir, or any one of our outstanding Argentine red wines!

EXECUTIVE CHEF, GASTON LANGLOIS, PREPARES ONE OF OUR FAVORITE QUINCE DESSERTS AT ALGODON WINE ESTATES

  
We think you’ll love this star dish from Chez Gaston restaurant at Algodon Wine Estates: Quince in Spiced Pinot Noir with white chocolate olive oil ice cream.

By cooking the quince, we are able to turn a tough and astringent fruit into a delicacy.  While it cooks, it produces a wonderful aroma, as its tough texture turns soft and its color transforms into a beautiful pinkish-red.

A note on substitutions: Feel free to substitute the Pinot Noir with any of your favorite Algodon red wines. White chocolate ice cream is common in Argentina markets, but perhaps not so much in U.S. groceries, so vanilla ice cream would work just as well. If you cannot find quinces locally, any firm pear variety would be an acceptable replacement.