Saturday, June 10, 2006

Eos Late Harvest Moscato 2003 “Tears of Dew” wine review by (PB)

This shimmering dessert wine comes in a 350ml bottle and hales from the famed Paso Robles region of California wine country. Late Harvest wines are made from grapes that are left on the vines well beyond normal harvesting schedules so that the grapes will begin turning to raisins which concentrates the sugars. (This also helps you understand why these tend to be rather pricey—imagine how much juice you get out of a raisin!)

If weather conditions are just right, the grapes may be infected a mold called Botrytis Cinerea which sends its little moldy tentacles—called hyphae—into the grape sucking its water out thus super concentrating the residual sugar that remains.

Consequently you get (ideally) a very powerfully sweet, rich wine with a distinctive flavor if infected with the mold. The great French Sauternes are of this variety.

This Moscato is a deep golden, nearly orange tinted pour with wonderful aromas of honey, pears and peaches with a rich creamy smelling bouquet with a touch of butterscotch and crème brulee and pears on the nose. WOW!

In the mouth it is sensuous with a thick pear and peach flavor and luscious thick finish which just keeps going full of fruit and cream. This wine was only $20.

Now having talked to with many people over the years I get a typical response of, “I don’t like sweet wine.” And what they usually mean is they don’t like cheap white, overly sweet wines that do not have enough of an acidic foundation to carry the sweetness. When this happens, you get a wine that is sickeningly sweet. The wine term for this is “cloying.”

This wine, and high quality dessert wines, have sufficient acid which makes the intense sweetness absolutely delightful. Raise a glass as we did overlooking beautiful Camden Harbor on the Coast of Maine. Even the dark skies and the incessant rain couldn’t dampen the wonder of this well made wine!

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