Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Wine?! Sure, why not?

This is usually a place for me to discuss my homebrew batches, maybe review a particularly special beer, but I felt like writing up a post about a wine I had back in October. This was an icewine I picked up back in 2005 when I went up to Canada for my birthday. It was a particularly nice wine so it gets a spot in the blog.

D'Angelo Vineyards 2004 Vidal Icewine

Appearance: Deep reddish-golden color thinning to pale gold on the edges

Aroma: Sherry nose with a slight syrupy/honey sweetness and notes of cherries. A slight cooked cabbage aroma suggests a slight fault, perhaps too long on the lees? It's not strong enough to be off putting.

Taste: Quite sweet and syrupy as would be expected in an icewine but with a nice balance. A little grapey and a bit of alcohol heat.

Overall: A rather enjoyable wine. The mercaptan is definitely a flaw but a very minor one and I really had to strain to detect much. The oxidation was quite pronounced but the sherry quality it gave this wine was pleasant so it's hard to count that as a flaw. I wish I had another bottle I could have opened a few years about and a third to open in a couple more to see how this wine matured. I suspect I may have waited past it's peak but overall it was quite a lovely desert.