Fortified Wine, Dessert Wine, Port Wine

1995 Château d'Yquem, France, Bordeaux, Sauternes, Wine Review

Vintage: 
1995
Score: 
96
Grade: 
Current Price: 
$359.00USD

Always a pleasure to drink what is arguably the greatest wine in the world.  Not the best and not the worst vintage.  At age 27, this is mature but with decades left.  Red/orange in color, clear and bright.  The nose is great with apricots, peach, honey and marzipan.  Slightly viscous.  Complex on the palate.  Moderate acidity.  On the palate, honey, Crème brûlée with just a bit of underlying char.  A finish that goes on forever.  Delicious.  This drinks great on its own and will work with a more savory dessert, but that is not necessary.  

2009 Château Coutet, France, Bordeaux, Sauternes, Barsac, Wine Review

Vintage: 
2009
Score: 
93
Grade: 
A
Current Price: 
$46.00USD

From a 375 ml.  Golden in color with slight orange hues, clear and bright.  The nose is nice with honey, peaches and a slight dried orange rind note.  Viscous.  Sweet, not cloying.  Enough acidity to match the sweetness.  On the palate, honey, apricots and slight peach.  Clean.  Long finish.  Very tasty.  This probably has twenty years left.  A nice match with a not too sweet cake.  

NV Penfolds Grandfather Rare Tawny, Australia, Wine Review

Score: 
91
Grade: 
A-
Current Price: 
$60.00USD

 The wine is an iced tea color with a touch of ruby. The nose has Pay-day Candy bar, toffee and crème brulee. Not as complex on the palate with a nice nuttiness and a bit of sweetness. Just a hint of heat. Long finish. Slightly sweet but not overtly.  This is a nice take on a 20 year Tawny.  It drinks well on its own and would work with more savory desserts (especially with nuts).  This should age quite well for the next twenty years.  

2007 Cálem Porto Vintage, Portugal, Douro, Wine Review

Vintage: 
2007
Score: 
90
Grade: 
A-
Current Price: 
$40.00USD

This was a new Port house for me.  Purple in color, some brown swirls.  The nose is dusty with cherries and slight milk chocolate.  On the palate, more black cherries.  Slightly sweet.  Viscous.  Some warmth, not hot.  Nice finish.  This worked very well with a molten chocolate cake for dessert.  

2013 Château Coutet, France, Bordeaux, Sauternes, Barsac, Wine Review

Vintage: 
2013
Score: 
93
Grade: 
A
Current Price: 
$50.00USD

This is one of the better houses making sweet dessert wines in Barsac.  This one was no exception. Light copper/orange in color.  Perhaps a bit darker than expected but not an issue.  On the nose, there is tropical fruit, slight each and a slight kindling smoke note.  On the palate, this is rich.  Plenty of Botrytis but good acidity to offset the sweetness.  Honey and tropical fruit on the palate.  Clean.  Long finish.  This is great on its own or with a more savory dessert (no chocolate).  It should easily last another fifteen to twenty years.  

2000 Cockburn Porto Vintage, Portugal, Duoro, Wine Review

Vintage: 
2000
Score: 
92
Grade: 
A-
Current Price: 
$65.00USD

This is in a great place right now.  Mature but still fresh with good fruit.  Purple/ruby  in color.  The nose has chocolate, cherries, raisins and slight alcohol.  On the palate, the chocolate covered cherries predominate but some raisin and a but underneath char.  slight heat but just barely.  Sweet but not a lot.  Long finish.  No hurry on this, it has a while but at a very pretty stage.  Great on its own, it will work with cheese, or chocolate desserts.

2006 Sineann Syrah The Old Ball and Chain, USA, Oregon, Columbia Valley, Wine Review

Vintage: 
2006
Score: 
88
Grade: 
B+

This is an artificially frozen dessert wine from the Scorched Earth Vineyard.  It is made from Syrah grapes that were harvested at 37 brix.  The residual sugar 8% and 14.5% ABV.  It has held up quite well and is drinking very well, perhaps, on better now.  Purple in color.  The nose has black raspberries, a simple syrup note, plums and chocolate covered raisins.  On the palate, this is drinking well.  Sweet, not cloying.  Very port-like.  Not a ton of complexity.  Goes quite well with a bit of cheese or chocolate.  This was a one off and only made this one time.  

2007 Carmel Vintage, Israel, Judean Hills, Wine Review

Vintage: 
2007
Score: 
88
Grade: 
B+
Current Price: 
$50.00USD

This is a "Port" like wine from Israel.  We served it at our Seder with a flourless chocolate tort and it was an excellent match.  This is made from Petite Sirah grapes.  Purple in color.  The nose has black raspberries, dark chocolate, alcohol and raisins.  On the palate, this is sweet but not cloying.  It does have a fair amount of heat but it settles a bit with air.  Some depth.  It is a very interesting wine and proved popular at the table.  Our wines were limited to Kosher and from Israel, so this was a nice find.  Perhaps a bit pricey, but so it goes.  

2009 Château Nairac, France, Bordeaux, Barsac, WIne Review

Vintage: 
2009
Score: 
92
Grade: 
A-
Current Price: 
$50.00USD

I seem to have had a lot of bottle variation with this one.  Or, given that this is usually the last bottle of the night, maybe it is palate variation.  In any event, this wine is always good to great and this bottle was in the middle.  Deep golden/orange in color.  The nose has honey and apricots.  On the palate, this is sweet but nowhere near cloying.  Enough acidity.  The honey notes come thru and pick up peaches.  Nice finish to the wine and to the evening!

1991 Graham's Porto Vintage, Portugal, Douro, Wine Review

Vintage: 
1991
Score: 
92
Grade: 
A-
Current Price: 
$80.00USD

From a 375ml bottle.  A bit of Port at the end of a nice dinner with a bit of chocolate is a lovely treat.  Since I didn't plan ahead, this was pop and pour and really deserved better, but so it goes.  Purple in color, ruby at the rim.  Even from this format, this bottle was not showing much age at 28 years from vintage.  The nose has cherries, milk chocolate covered raisins and slight dried cranberry notes.  On the palate, this is sweet, but not as much as expected given the producer.  Lively acidity.  Nice cherry fruit.  Some heat on the finish (air will help this).  Probably at its peak

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