Community Tasting Note

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Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - A white wine in theory, the solera aging nevertheless imparts an ever-so-slightly-translucent red-amber color. It is also fairly viscous, almost like an aged, reduced cherry juice. The nose is huge and includes prunes with cinnamon dust, cloves, figs, melted brown sugar, and toffee. On the palate, there was a bewildering complexity of flavors. Raisins and prunes dominate, but there is a nice note of dark, stewed cherries, as well - a bit reminiscent of Dr. Pepper. There were still spice notes, too, although they were less prominent than they were on the nose. The melted brown sugar continues on the palate, and this was borderline cloying, but the sweetness does give way to just barely enough acidity and bitterness to call to mind candied orange peel and powdered cocoa on the finish. The wine is very smooth in the mouth, and it coats the palate thoroughly. While this gives it a very long finish (well over a minute), it does mean you have to be careful what you serve it with. Personally, I just serve it alone, but it could also go with vanilla ice cream as a nice contrast, or it could be served with a huge, thick, nut-based winter dessert like pecan pie as a partner. This wine will overwhelm most other offerings. If you don't mind a lot of sweet, this wine is an amazing value at the $18 price I paid for a 375ml bottle.

Edit: After looking over the Yalumba website, it seems this is not solera-aged, but rather hand-blended into a house style more like a cognac would be. 7-year average age.

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