Had friends over on Sat & cracked this oldie:
1. Quady Elysium Calif BlackMuscat Sweet Dessert Wine (15%; www.QuadyWinery.com) 1984: Med.color w/ some browning; very intense muscatty/black muscatty/rose petal/floral/black cherry liquer rather alcoholic/porty slight earthy very intense nose; fairly sweet strong black muscatty/rose petal/floral slight porty/alcoholic bit complex flavor w/ light/gentle tannins; very long very strong black muscatty/rose petal/floral light earthy finish w/ light tannins; a bit like an old Port but w/ a strong muscatty component; still very Muscatty/primary and not much evolution.
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. I have, of course, followed AndyQuady from the very start..when he was still working at EastSideWnry in Lodi. His original interest was making Portugese-style Porto in Calif. At DarrellCorti's suggestion, he segued into Essensia (OrangeMuscat) and Elysium (BlackMuuscat or MuscatHamburg). These two are examples of Calif Ratafia or Angelica. The freshly pressed is immediately fortified (technically....it is required to ferment out to 0.5% before fermentation...but this is seldom done), aged for awhile, and then bttld young.
My experience is that these Angelicas don't show a whole lot of evolution in the btl. Their aging potential is legendary, but those are Angelicas that are aged forever in large glass carboys. I've had two from the late 1800's that were magnificent. This '84 was about where I expected it to be...still very muscatty & primary.
By the end of the evening, the wine had turned from having a med. purble color to an ugly/murky brown. But still smelled/tasted good.
I served this w/ fresh raspberries/blackberries slathered w/ a sauce from whipped ricotta/crema/quark cheese sweetened w/ KenMusso's unheated honey. With a sprinkling of sea salt, it was a devine dessert.
Tom
Thanks, Tom! I don't know that I've followed Quady since the