Willamette Valley USA $44.50 (original price tag)
750ml
The beauty of having a cellar (Define Cellar; a small room or hallway broom closet or just tucked under the bed) A space set aside for the purpose of ageing wine until that special accession arrives and you finally decide to open and enjoy said bottle of wine.
That time for me came about last Friday night when a wine loving friend, Arty and I shared 3 bottles, a 2004 Mesh Riesling. Very little sign of ageing even after a good decant the wine was as fresh as a daisy. The next was a bottle of Balgownie 1982 Hermitage, have I ever told you Cabernet is King? But I must be honest it was not the highlight of the night.
Much to my surprise the show stopper was a stunning – 2001 Late harvest Riesling from the Willamette Valley, that has been rotting away for the last 15 years just waiting for the right occasion to be consumed this was the wine that stole the night. This wine was a very dark apricot colour with a slight orange tinge around the rim with a wonderful bouquet of aged apricot with very ripe pear intwined with rich orange juice.
In the mouth the wine showed intensely concentrated apricot and orange with floral overtones with the mouth watering rich sweetness of apricot nectar on the finish. A stunning bottle of wine, some times you can just be lucky.
We enjoyed this wine with garlic bagel chips and a fine English stilton cheese. Strange combo I know but it worked well. The pungent garlic chips with the creamy stilton matched the weight and sweetness of the wine.
MAX at WINEREVIEWS
