Tried these two dessert wines over the weekend:
1. BonnyDoonVnyd Vin de Paille ArroyoSecoVnyd/MontereyCnty Sweet Muscat (13.9%; SaH: 21 Brix; SaP: 40 Brix; RS: 13 Brix) SantaCruz 1984: Rather dark/murky brown color; some cedary/pencilly/smokey quite muscatty/passito/honeyed rather complex old Moscatel de Setubal nose; quite sweet bit tart very cedary/pencilly intense muscatty/honeyed/raisened complex flavor; very long/lingering intensely muscatty/passito/raisened very sweet bit tart honeyed very smokey/cedary/pencilly complex finish; some like an old Moscatel du Setubal w/o the oxidation those oft show; pretty intensely muscatty but very interesting. $10.67/hlf
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2. TheMontereyVnyd Botrytis SauvBlanc Calif Light Dessert Wine (Cask 126 & 127; 15.7%) 1975: Deep glden/mahogoney/Madeira-like/murky color w/ some suspended sediment; very strong/intense herbal/vegetal/dill pickle/pickle juice some volatile quite earthy/dusty/wet sidewalk slight honeyed/botrytis/apricotty complex nose; quite sweet very tart/tangy earthy/dusty/wet cement quite herbal/bit vegetal rather pickle juice/dill pickle bit hot/volatile rather strange/complex flavor; very long/lingering rather volatile/dill pickle/pickle juice some herbal/vegetal rather earthy/dusty/wet sidewalk/wet granite slight honeyed/botrytis rather cedary/pencilly/oak strange/complex finish; not altogether unpleasant but on the weird side. $3.49/hlf
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. MontereyVnyd: This wines was one of the early wines DickPeterson made after TheMontereyVnyd was started. It was always on the strange side. I suspect the botrytis infection started before the SauvBlanc grapes were fully ripe...hence the herbal/vegetal character. Early on, this wine showed lots of botrytis/peachy/apricotty character. But after not too many yrs in btl, it started to develop a strong volatile/pickle juice/herbal character and, obviously, never grew out of that. OTOH, Dick made some botrytis ThanksgivingHarvest Rieslings that were wonderful. Not to mention some botrytis/sweet PinotNoirs that were kinda strange.
Tom