If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you probably know that I’m a big, bad red drinker. But truth be told, I’m a bit of an everything drinker. And dessert wines are a huge treat for me. So yesterday, I had some friends over for a dessert wine tasting. I hope I inspired you to try more dessert wines.
The Wines We Tried
I’m a big fan of V. Sattui wines. Their portfolio ranges from big, bad reds to incredible dessert wines. A few months ago, I placed an order for a bunch of their dessert wines, knowing that I wanted to do a dessert wine tasting with some of my best wine friends.
We tried five of V. Sattui’s dessert wines and started with a bottle that my friend Jeff brought.
Jeff’s Erba Wine
Jeff’s bottle wasn’t a dessert wine, but it had the makeup of our first dessert wine. So that was quite exciting. His bottle was Erba’s Proprietary White Blend, which consisted of more Semillon than Sauvignon Blanc. That’s quite a play on White Bordeaux wines, which are typically 85% Sauvignon Blanc and 15% Semillon.
We really liked this wine but couldn’t come up with good descriptors. The bottle said apricot and asparagus. We got more citrus notes but couldn’t tell whether it was lemon, lime or something else.
Definitely a fun wine to try, but we all felt that we would need to spend a lot more time with it to better understand it.
The First of the Five V. Sattui Wines
Our first V. Sattui wine was their Regina, which is a late harvest blend of primarily Semillon (83%) and Sauvignon Blanc (17%). This wine had much more Semillon than the Erba wine we tried.
Our take on this wine. It was nice but didn’t have a lot of character. It tasted best with blue cheese, which brought out notes of apricot, honey and nuts.
Our Second V. Sattui Wine
The second V. Sattui wine we tried was their Angelica, which is a fortified combination of Muscat and Muscat must. We loved this wine, especially with blue cheese.
Our Third V. Sattui Wine
Our third wine was their late-harvest Riesling. We found this wine to be “a pleasant sipper, but nothing to write home about.” That’s a quote from Jeff, who yesterday was the man who could find apricot in everything.
Our Favorite
The next wine was V. Sattui’s 15-year-old Port. OMG. That was pure heaven. We used words like outrageous and phenomenal to describe it. It went best with the 10-year-old Tillamook Cheddar that I bought at Whole Foods. YUM.
Last but Certainly Not Least of the Dessert Wines
Our final wine was one of my all-time favorites, V. Sattui’s Madeira. This amazing port-like wine is liquid gold. It’s much sweeter than a port and has incredibly nuttiness and honey tastes.
We Ended with a Serious Red
We decided we needed to end our tasting with a serious red. I had pulled out a 2006 V. Sattui Petite Sirah for this purpose. Turns out that the wine still needs a few years to age. It is not yet at its prime. I can’t wait to try it in three or four years.
Actually, after luxuriating in the backyard for a few hours, we needed to spend some time with my cats 🙂
I hope you enjoyed vicariously experiencing my tasting. If you’ve done a dessert wine tasting, I would love to hear about it.
Cheers!
As an independent wine consultant with WineShop At Home, I absolutely enjoy bringing a taste of the Napa wine country home to you one sip at a time. Whether you simply love to drink wine, seek a special personalized wine gift, or are in search of a new wine jobs opportunity as a wine consultant, feel free to contact me for a truly unique wine tasting experience!
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