We actually had a dessert Sake called Hanahato Kinjoshou from Hiroshima. Tasted and smelled much like a sweeter Sherry very nutty.
The 1996 Climens seems to hit a âsweetâ spot.
1959 Gilette creme de tete : sweet and creamy with some saltiness that makes it very interesting . Some caramel showing the age of the wine . Still some power left , by no means too old . A nice wine .
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Thank you for the note. I enjoy sweet Muscats - both late harvested and VDNs - and have been tempted by the Martinelli Muscat in the past - this one sounds impressive!
My experience with Martinelli thus far has been that their Syrahs and Chardonnays are much more to my liking than their Zins and Pinots - curious what you think of their other wines?
This weekend, I opened was a 1967 Friedrich Baumann Oppenheimer Schloss-Goldberg Trockenbeerenauslese to celebrate being fully vaccinated. Although no grape is mentioned on the label, given the incredible balance, purity, smoothness, and complexity, itâs hard to imagine that anything other than Riesling could have been responsible. Perhaps there were smaller amounts of other grapes - who knows?
My note: Lightish copper color. Immediately after opening, this is an incredibly smooth highly complex sweet Riesling, with a perfect balance between acids, sugar, botrytis, and minerals, Full of aromas/flavors of Grand Marnier, anisette, candied fruits, maraschino cherries, pecans, marzipan, spice drops, cocoa powder, and lilacs. Just the scent of the empty glass was incredible.
Oppenheimer Schloss isnât exactly regarded as a top site, as itâs west of the Rheinterrasse, while Goldberg seems to have been a victim of the mu h-maligned 1971 law (feel free to weigh in if this is incorrect - Iâm unable to find any evidence of wines since 1971 labeled with the Oppenheimer Goldberg site, but maybe KPK or someone else close to there can provide other info).
I really like Martinelli. They are primarily a farming family who grows some of the best fruit in the Russian River/Sonoma Coast in California. Many of the most prestigious wineries in Northern California produce wine from the Martinelliâs vineyards. Martinelli gets to keep the best blocks of their vineyards for their own wines. I find their wines have really balanced out in the past few years. Their Pinotâs and Zins are still fruit forward, but have more complexity, structure and balance than ever before. I also agree their best wines are the Syrahs and Chardonnayâs.
Barbeito Duas Pipas. A Bastardo Madeira.
Have you had the 1962? I have a bottle saved for a birthday some year.
No , but I had the Yquem 1962 a few times , a great bottle of wine . I think 62 is a very good year for Sauternes based on the Yquem âŠ
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Thanks. I also had 62 Yquem once, just by chance in a flight of Sauternes from one of our tasting groups. That group doesnât normally have wines of that age or Ch. DâYquem but I think he acquired it in an auction and wanted to try it. I happened to be the lucky birthyear.
I bought a few half bottles of 1962 Climens about a year ago and will try one soon. They look like they are in excellent condition. I split the lot with a friend so I hope to drink his too 
Tonight Iâm drinking the RWC 10th Anniversary Ben Franklin Reserve Madeira. Iâm not a frequent Madeira drinker but I really like this one. Not sure if it really qualifies as dessert wine but itâs a great after dinner drink. Or any time, I suppose.
1998 FX Pichler Riesling Beerenauslese.
What are your impressions?
A young wine obviously. Very Bastardo. Bastardo is not my favorite variety for Madeira having a bit of a muddled flavor. Still this was very nice. Not a lot to compare to since no one else has made Bastardo for the past few decades.
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1997 Girolamo Dorigo Picolit.
Hope this is still doing well. I had their 2000 years ago and enjoyed it, but have no experience with aged Picolit
Dorigo made some excellent wines in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but itâs been years since I have seen anything of theirs in my area.
Very nice, but I wouldnât hold much longer. I think the problem is more with the bottling than the wine. They used a special hand blown bottle with a custom cork. I think the cork/glass seal might not be the best.
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Thank you for the update, Eric. I had forgotten about that hand-blown bottle.
Yesterday , we had 2 excellent sweet wines to finish our wine tasting .
Morlet 2012 Billet Doux ( 64% sémillon and 29 % sauvignon blanc ) : a delicious sweet creamy wine with honey , jam and lemon . We loved it . Until we got the next wine
Doisy Daene 2009 : phenomenal wine , it has the same honey and jam flavours as the previous wine but adds complexity in the form of a delicious salinity . I hope I say this right , a salty flavour .
I cannot understand why wines like this Doisy Daene are not more popular . We all loved it .
The last two weekends we had dinners with friends (all vaccinated) for the first time in over a year. Had some wonderful dessert wines.
At the first of the two weekends, we went German - Selbach 1990 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr *** Auslese and Schloss Lieser 2010 Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Goldkapsel Auslese. Probably should not have paired the two. The Schloss Lieser was just too showy (younger, more exuberant and much sweeter) than the mature and stately Selbach. With the acidity of a 2010, the Lieser really tasted like an Eiswein, and a wonderful one at that. The Selbach was a joy to drink but in a more cerebral, more mature way. It had a lot of richness, but lost some of its sweetness. However, what it lost in sweetness it had gained in complexity. Just what a 30 year old Auslese from a great vintage like 1990 should taste like. I loved this also, but should have opened it on its own, away from the more showy 2010. I would say that I liked both about evenly, both wonderful wines to drink, just not together.
The second weekend we ended with two unbelievable wines - 1983s of Yquem and Climens. The Yquem was rich and complete and just a great wines, but I did not find that much separation in quality between the two wines. The Climens was very elegant and complete in its own way with fabulous acidity although without the richness or quite the complexity of the Yquem. I absolutely loved both of these wines and thought they were the best two wines of the evening.
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