in jackets, scarves and hats to selectively pick the right bunches to make this style of wine.  Jeff had to teach our Mexican crew how to identify the type of clusters we wanted.    It took nine of us all day to go through my neighbor’s vineyard to come up with only a ton and a half of fruit!   Talk about labor intensive, this is it!  The sugar was so high, 34.5 degree brix in this case.  Once the dark gray juices started to flow from the press, we were able to taste the rich, viscous texture of the beginnings of this wine.

The wine was fermented with Priese de Mousse yeast and aged in a neutral French oak barrel for 13 month, racking the wine monthly to extract the rich, golden nectar off its sediment.  Jeff was able to find some Botrytised Semillon to use in the blend, 11% was added to enhance a perfumed flower petal essence in the aromas.

This wine is nectar from the gods!   It has a brilliant golden color.  The aromas are of honey and pungent dried apricots, with pineapple, cinnamon spice and butterscotch flavors added to the apricot on the palate.   It is enlivened by refreshing mouthwatering acidity, structure and balance, a residual sugar of 12g/100ml and an alcohol volume of 14.9%.  The wine was bottled on December 8, 2006.  The right condition for this phenomenon to happen naturally does not occur every year, this being our second vintage in four years.  This is truly a labor of love, an intriguing and sexy wine and an elegant way to end a meal.

Serving suggestion:  This is classic with Fois gras.  As a dessert alone, or perhaps paired with a wedge of rich blue-veined Cambozola cheese on honey graham cookies with slices of a ripe Bosc or Comice pear. I am swooning!