Sunday, August 5, 2007

Sweet Afton Vin de Baies Glacees



Leave it to me, CPA Mom, to do the extra credit first. Tonight, my husband "HP" and I tried a new dessert wine: a 2005 Monticello Table Wine ("made from grapes frozen after harvest"). In the interest of "keeping it real" I made a delicious Blueberry Streusel Cobbler to accompany the dessert wine. Just for research purposes, of course (Karla, this dessert is "to-die for" good. Heaven on a plate. Thanks for the recipe).

A little research about dessert wines for those who have not indulged: (IWG) Any wine greater than 17% and less than 24% alcohol content is classified as a dessert wine in the USA. This would also be a fortified wine. Dessert wines can vary from dry to very sweet as well as be fortified. In a general context, the term dessert wines is also used to describe a sweet or very sweet wine of any alcohol level that is served at the end of a meal.

We had purchased the wine (2005 Sweet Afton Monticello (Muscat of Alexandria, Gewurztraminer) 375ml, $20.00) at our last local wine festival. I consider myself to be somewhat of a connoisseur of dessert wines as invariably, Riesling wine is the driest wine I will typically imbibe in.

This wine, failed to live up the the sweet expectations set by the blueberry dessert. We both thought the wine had a bitter taste to it - I swear I tasted licorice. It was thicker than your normal white wine, tending towards the Late Harvest varieties that I love, but it was still less than satisfying. I doubt we would buy it again. But if you are a person who dislikes intensely sweet dessert wines, this would be a good one for you to try.

2 comments:

Karla Porter Archer said...

i totally agree with your description of the dessert! so good!

And I'd love to try it with some wine! (after the baby comes)

Thanks for letting me know you tried it!

Blessings,
Karla

Mrs Big Dubya said...

A review and some history all in one post..... fantastic!

I know very little about this category, so I'm very much looking forward to this assignment

Cheers!