ken@turtlevax.UUCP (Ken Turkowski) (12/17/84)
With Christmas coming up, it's time to think about Holiday Wines. Not
snob wines, nor sweet wines, but wines that both the wine connoisseur
and the rare wine drinker can enjoy (please, no Mogen David
recommendations).
Since white wines are the most popular, and go with holiday fowl
generally well, we should probably restrict ourselves to these.
Gewurtztraminer seems to be a wine that fits into this category: it
usually has a complex, spicy character, yet is not dry, so appeals to
the irregular wine drinker. I had an uncommon gewurz ('81, produced in
the Alsace region of France, and distributed by the Academy du Vin)
that was nearly dry, yet held the gewurz's spicy character. I'm
looking for others of this variety, as well as other wines appropriate
for the holidays.
--
Ken Turkowski @ CADLINC, Menlo Park, CA
UUCP: {amd,decwrl,nsc,spar}!turtlevax!ken
ARPA: turtlevax!ken@DECWRL.ARPArjw@ptsfc.UUCP (Rod Williams) (12/20/84)
> With Christmas coming up, it's time to think about Holiday Wines... > Gewurtztraminer seems to be a wine that fits into this category... I agree - a spicy, dryish Gewurz is a great accompaniment for most holiday food and is also delicious to sip on its own. Of California Gewurztraminers, I especially enjoy those put out by Chateau St Jean, Joseph Phelps, Navarro and Rutherford Hill. Something I have recently learned to enjoy after a festive meal is a glass of dessert wine. Few (solid) desserts, even the most yummy chocolatey concoctions, can rival the effect on the palate of a sip of a good late harvest riesling or sauternes. I recently had a late harvest Gewurztraminer from Ch St Jean (~$13 for a tenth!) which was the closest thing to Nectar ever to pass my lips - incredibly sweet, but with lots of spice and that indescribable taste of botrytis - the *noble rot* - which made the whole sensation linger endlessly... (Sorry - for a moment I thought this was net.poems!) Then, of course, there's always Champagne! Happy Holidays! -- Rod Williams dual!ptsfa!ptsfc!rjw
rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) (12/25/84)
>...Something I have recently learned to enjoy after a festive meal is a > glass of dessert wine. Few (solid) desserts, even the most yummy > chocolatey concoctions, can rival the effect on the palate of a sip > of a good late harvest riesling or sauternes. I recently had a late > harvest Gewurztraminer from Ch St Jean (~$13 for a tenth!) which was > the closest thing to Nectar ever to pass my lips - incredibly sweet, > but with lots of spice and that indescribable taste of botrytis - the > *noble rot* - which made the whole sensation linger endlessly... One of the marvelous discoveries about wine is good Sauternes. How anything can be that sweet and rich-tasting without being cloying is amazing. A parallel marvelous discovery is that these wines are generally not widely appreciated, hence comparatively low priced. This is an area where the difference between French and California wine prices is most painfully evident--and, by the way, the nature of the difference is French<<Californian. It's possible to find a decent Sauternes, ready to drink, at $10-15 a bottle. By the way, when you go looking for a "Sauternes", note the "s" on the end and note that I'm talking about French wines. A "Sauterne" from California is not a dessert wine and most are disgracefully bad cheap white wine-- because of which you will find that the decent California dessert wines (now really in their infancy) avoid any mention of "Sauterne(s)". Rather, they'll be noted as "late harvest" and possibly "bunch selected". The keys are the later harvesting and a high (15% or more) residual sugar content. -- Dick Dunn {hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303)444-5710 x3086 ...Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile.