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Tokaj Oremus Aszú 3 Puttonyos 2006

Tokaj Oremus Aszú 3 Puttonyos 2006

Pure, unctuous joy, the 2006 Oremus Tokaj Aszú 3 Puttonyos opens with a botrytized veneer of apricot skins, orange marmalade, forest honey, cloves, and baking spice. On the palate, a languid core of ultra-ripe stone fruit is neatly intersected by a burst of mouth-puckeringly taut acidity. Smoked sea salt notes lend complexity to a lingering, […]

Château Rieussec Sauternes 2010

Château Rieussec Sauternes 2010

I couldn’t resist pulling one of my remaining bottles of 2010 Château Rieussec from the cellar. Burnished gold in the glass, it’s exactly as I remember the last bottle I sampled in 2014—a sumptuous mélange of dried apricots, mango, creme brûlée, cloves, acacia honey and a heady whiff of smoke and dried mint. Round, glycerol-laden […]

Domaine La Tour Vieille Rimage Banyuls 2012

Domaine La Tour Vieille Rimage Banyuls 2012

‘Tis the season for fortified dessert wines, and Banyuls is, of course, no exception. This budget-friendly Kermit Lynch import from Domaine La Tour Vieille offers up a welcome bouquet of plums, prunes, sultana, and dark chocolate shavings. Composed of 45 year-old Grenache and Carignan vines grown in schist soils, it’s full-bodied and somewhat one-dimensional on […]

Château Suduiraut Castelnau de Suduiraut Sauternes 2010

Château Suduiraut Castelnau de Suduiraut Sauternes 2010

A decadent elixir, Castelnau de Suduiraut is the second label of Château Suduiraut—in an excellent vintage like 2010, it offers fabulous QPR—and is exactly the sort of wine I’m inclined to haul out of my cellar during the holidays. Lavishly layered aromas of dried apricot, quince, dried orange peel, sultana, and crème brûlée rise from […]

Commanderie St. John 1947

Commanderie Saint john 1947

A rarity from Cyprus, composed of sun-dried indigenous grapes, Xynisteri and Mavro. The Commanderie Saint John 1947 is a resonant, deep amber brown in the glass that boasts a welcome and pleasantly oxidized range of aromas—Dalmatia orange-fig spread, espresso, walnut shells, and sultana. Burnished by time, this is a solera-aged dessert wine, with its oldest components […]

Vietti Moscato d’Asti Cascinetta 2015

Vietti Moscato d'Asti Cascinetta 2015

An affordable holiday bubbly—Vietti’s 2015 Moscato d’Asti Cascinetta has a classic profile for the varietal. Lovely notes of baked apple and poached pear lie well beneath granulated honey, star gazer lilly and chamomile. At 5% ABV, it’s quaffable and charming. — August 11, 2017 I have a weakness for Vietti’s Moscato d’Asti Cascinetta, the 2015 […]

Szent Tamás Teleki 1088 Palack Tokaji Késői Szüretelésű 2012

Szent Tamás Teleki Palack Tokaji Késői Szüretelésű 2012

I suspect, giving this wine’s lushness, this is Hárslevelű or a blend of Furmint and Hárslevelű. Lemon yellow in the glass with opulent notes of apricot and ripe mango, honeysuckle and a classic botrytised nose. It’s full and viscous on the palate with plump apricot at the core followed by cardamom and Seville orange marmalade. […]

Szent Tamás Tokaji Nyulászó 2013

Szent Tamás Tokaji Nyulászó 2013

More Hungarian splendor—the 2013 Szent Tamás Nyulászó boasts a wonderful inner luminescence. Quietly elegant notes of bosc pear, almond, orange marmalade, and quince are the hallmark of this single vineyard designate. Nyulászó is one of Tokaj’s grand crus, and the vines are seated in brick-hued volcanic soils rich in zeolite, at the crest of the […]

Quinta do Noval Porto Colheita Tawny 2000

Quinta do Noval Porto Colheita Tawny 2000

The 2000 Quinta do Noval Porto Colheita Tawny is superb, showing warm and welcoming notes of caramel, dried fruit, honey, sultana along with a pinch of toast. The mind immediately jumps to pairings like stilton, Roquefort, or dried fruit, though, surprisingly the staff at Noval recommend trying it with fresh carrot, unpeeled. I love the […]

Szepsy Tokaji Szent Tamás Furmint 2013

Szepsy Tokaji Szent Tamás Furmint 2013

What a tremendous gift to taste the legendary Szepsy wines with István Szepsy Sr., while visiting the Tokaj region last week. The wines are impeccable, as is the case with the Szent Tamás Furmint 2013. Pungent aromas of quince and orange, one might call this wine pretty, were it not for its serious underlying structure. […]

CHRISTINE HAVENS
McMinnville, OR

christine@christine-havens.com