Discussion
I am attending the 40th birthday party of a very good friend who I know has a soft spot for dessert wine.
As he has everything he needs in life (Apart from a decent car
) I thought I'd get him a good bottle.
I went to a nice restaurant on Saturday night, had a lovely glass of something, did my drunken best to memorise the name, but it's gone.
Can someone recommend me one? Not really fussed about cost. Max budget, for argument's sake: £50.
As he has everything he needs in life (Apart from a decent car
) I thought I'd get him a good bottle. I went to a nice restaurant on Saturday night, had a lovely glass of something, did my drunken best to memorise the name, but it's gone.
Can someone recommend me one? Not really fussed about cost. Max budget, for argument's sake: £50.
Lots of good Sauternes around, but getting a single bottle of something specific can sometimes be tricky. Usually a case of dropping in to a decent merchant and seeing what they have in stock. Doubt you'd be lucky enough to find a 2001 on the shelf, but you might find a '03, 05, or '07 (all decent vintages but, be warned, some think the '03s lack balance) from a good producer.
Found this: http://www.swig.co.uk/wine_details.aspx?id=FCOUTET... (not bought from them, but the wine would be unlikely to disappoint).
Left field choice would be something like a Vin de Constance, but as a lover of these types of wine, I'd be more than happy with the Selection Grains Noble and Vendage Tardive suggestions also made.
Found this: http://www.swig.co.uk/wine_details.aspx?id=FCOUTET... (not bought from them, but the wine would be unlikely to disappoint).
Left field choice would be something like a Vin de Constance, but as a lover of these types of wine, I'd be more than happy with the Selection Grains Noble and Vendage Tardive suggestions also made.
I love a good glass of Sauternes!
There are a number of different sweet wines but Sauternes is by far the most popular, certainly at your price range. (Sauternes is a small region near Bordeaux, which happens to have the right microclimate for the fungus that concentrates the sugar in the grapes and makes them super sweet. It is a lovely place to visit.)
You are ideally looking for a well-known producer, and also a bit of age. Ideally the colour should be tending towards amber, rather than straw yellow. When it reaches the amber stage the flavours deepen and you get lovely aromas and flavours of marmalade, quince, lemon, even mango.
For producers - a Google will sort you out but try any of Chateau Guiraud, Chateau Suduiraut, Chateau Rieussec. I think these will be within your price range. I would favour age over chateau. The very best is Chateau Y'quem, but that's way out of budget, and tends to be bought by speculators.
There are a number of different sweet wines but Sauternes is by far the most popular, certainly at your price range. (Sauternes is a small region near Bordeaux, which happens to have the right microclimate for the fungus that concentrates the sugar in the grapes and makes them super sweet. It is a lovely place to visit.)
You are ideally looking for a well-known producer, and also a bit of age. Ideally the colour should be tending towards amber, rather than straw yellow. When it reaches the amber stage the flavours deepen and you get lovely aromas and flavours of marmalade, quince, lemon, even mango.
For producers - a Google will sort you out but try any of Chateau Guiraud, Chateau Suduiraut, Chateau Rieussec. I think these will be within your price range. I would favour age over chateau. The very best is Chateau Y'quem, but that's way out of budget, and tends to be bought by speculators.
A good Sauternes will always be a winner. Versatile as it goes as well with Foie Gras as with a pudding and more of a crowd-pleaser as it lacks that slightly cloying stickiness of the German pudding wines.
Good labels from the early/mid naughties are drinking well at the moment and, at your budget, you really shouldn't be in trouble.
Where are you based, out of interest?
Good labels from the early/mid naughties are drinking well at the moment and, at your budget, you really shouldn't be in trouble.
Where are you based, out of interest?
I think the best dessert wine I've ever had has been a Pedro Ximenez VORS, in particular the Pedro Domecq Venerable PX 30 year. http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=31860 for the tasting notes.
Sherry isn't the first thing that springs to mind, but this one is very far from your Bristol Creams, about a galaxy away, and if he likes dessert wines and hasn't yet tasted this you'll be giving him a treat.
Sherry isn't the first thing that springs to mind, but this one is very far from your Bristol Creams, about a galaxy away, and if he likes dessert wines and hasn't yet tasted this you'll be giving him a treat.
LooneyTunes said:
Left field choice would be something like a Vin de Constance, but as a lover of these types of wine, I'd be more than happy with the Selection Grains Noble and Vendage Tardive suggestions also made.
I'd second this more then the obvious sauternes choice- as he will have those in the cellar- another special choice would be a Strohwein or Schilfwein from Austria best ones herehttp://www.willi-opitz.at/
and it has a car connection, too (Ron Dennis cannot be that much wrong - this guy does the wines for McLaren) - not sure if this remains in budget but a cheaper variant of Strohwein are the italian passitos (same sytem) grapes are dried on straw mats to increase their natural sugars- plenty of good ones around even below £20.-
Johnnytheboy said:
The one I had last weekend was "botrytised", what does this mean?
Botrytis (sp) is a fungal plant disease AFAIK.
Yep - this is the "fungus" I referred to earlier. Given the right climate and other conditions, botrytis (also called "noble rot") will attack the vineyard and shrivel up the grapes. The result of this is that the sugar content of the grapes rises significantly, and the resulting wine will be sweet. That's how Sauternes and many other sweet wines are made.Botrytis (sp) is a fungal plant disease AFAIK.
It's really cool how something so tasty comes out of what are essentially rotten grapes
The botrytis has a particular taste which I really like.Harvesting the grapes is tricky since the grape pickers have to pick only those grapes which are sufficiently rotten. The top producers essentially pick them one by one off the vine, rather than cutting off whole bunches. Yields are low. That's presumably why it's expensive.
Cheaper sweet wines sometimes have the fungus introduced artificially rather than getting nature to do its thing.
(Eiswein, as recommended by some in this thread, is completely different. I believe that in that case, the water in the grapes has frozen, which somehow increases the sweetness.)
AmitG said:
(Eiswein, as recommended by some in this thread, is completely different. I believe that in that case, the water in the grapes has frozen, which somehow increases the sweetness.)
If it is then pressed carefully (without warming) some ice stays with the pips and gets binned - the higher concentrated grape juice you then have will have higher sugar and in priciple also produce sweeter wine - also some "rotting" takes place before they freeze as well - in german called edelfaule, which means noble rot... cheersGassing Station | Food, Drink & Restaurants | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff