Sweet! A find at Grocery Outlet (Botrytis Semillon)

I walked into my local Grocery Outlet and found a wine labeled Eternity 2008 Botrytis Semillon Riverina (bottled by Westend Estate, NSW, Australia). The 375 ml bottle set me back a whole $3.99. Residual Sugar 185 grams/liter, Sugar at harvest 380 grams/liter, labeled 10.5% alcohol. This is a well made wine with clean flavors of orange, peach, pineapple, and honey, with just a touch of almond bitterness on the finish. It has a reasonable acidity which could have been a bit higher to lighten it up but it is enjoyable to drink as a dessert, and is a screaming bargain at the price. I looked up the producer, but their website did not list this wine (although it did list a similar one.) I emailed them about it, but received no reply. I recommend a trip to your local Grocery Outlet (which is a discount grocery chain on the West Coast of the USA) if you like this style of wine. Jim

[Jenise]

Thanks for the recco, Jim. Our store doesn't get much (some stores seem to have savvy buyers who order/stock the more interesting things, but ours wouldn't be one of them so it's a matter of roulette, really, about what gets sent from Central Distribtution), but it's definitely worth checking from time to time.

I just got some further info on this wine. It is the regular bottling of Westend Estate Winery called Three Bridges Golden Mist Botrytis Semillon. From their website it looks like this wine has done well in competitions, and I also found out that the Eternity label was one specifically created for Grocery Outlet. If there is any left at your local shop it is a definite buy and I hope there is some left when I check tomorrow, but I doubt it - things disappear so fast at Grocery Outlet it is amazing. Jim

I went to my local Eureka, CA Grocery Outlet and they had a ton of this wine left on the shelf. I had to ask myself why. I realized that unless you are a wine geek, you aren't going to purchase a wine labeled Botrytis Semillon, probably because you will never have seen those words. This is a steal folks. If you like sauternes you will like this wine. Serious encouragement to get to a local Grocery Outlet if you can. (Hey, I sound like a mouthpiece for the Grocery Outlet, but I really don't have any connection with them.) Sweetly singing, Jim

Jim, your excellent TN peaked my interest as I have cellared various halves from time to time. Semillon is a slow mover up here and one can find a very good one from La Frenz in BC. The liquor board website lists about 5 botrytis sems. 2007 Elderton Botrytis Semillon (Barossa Valley, Australia) can be found downtown.