Apparently this wine is made using Passerillage techniques, where the late harvested Maccabeu grape air-dries on the ground for 3 weeks to concentrate the sugars and flavors…
Quite an off the wall sweet-styled wine, but really enjoyable. The nose reminds me of shoe polish (in a good way!), with just a bit of a floral undertone to it. The entry and midpalate are concentrated, plump and honeyed, with palpable sweetness, but also with reasonable acidity. There’s an oily attribute here as well. The acidity continues on to lift the finish which seems nearly dry, with a light almond bitterness which I find rather enjoyable.
Mas Amiel and Maury are two of the most under-rated wines out there. On my infrequent trips home to London, Mas Amiel is top of my shopping list!
Mas Amiel makes outstanding wines across the board. I agree that the Maury is an very underrated wine. The 1980 is still available. Moore Brothers has them – it is a stellar dessert wine and highly recommended. Quite honestly, I strongly recommend anything in the Mas Amiel portfolio, table wine and sweet wine.
Glad to hear I’m not alone on enjoying these wines.
Bob, I take it that Mas Amiel isn’t imported to Alberta?
I was going to open my `83 Reserve Mas Amiel this evening at the Grenache tasting but we decided to open Saturday. Stay tuned forumites.