WTN: CaseyHartlip GWT LateHrvst OrdwayVnyd '13..(short/borin

Casey gave me a head's up that this was tasting pretty good, so I gave one a shot:
1. CaseyHartlip GWT LateHrvst OrdwayVnyd/AndersonVlly/MendoCnty (12%; RS: 15%; Brl frmtd; Winemaker: GregGraziano; For Sale in LosAlamos Only) 2013: Med.gold color; very intense GWT/floral/hair oil/passito ripe peach/apricotty/botrytis(?) very perfumed/fragrant honeyed/honeycomb beautiful complex nose; fairly tart very intense peachy/stewed peaches/Mom's peach pie spicy/nutmeg some GWT/floral/hair oil quite sweet beautiful complex flavor; very long/lingering quite sweet fairly tart/balanced intense apricotty/peachy/Mom's peach pie honeyed some GWT/hair oil/floral beautiful complex finish; some like a Z-H SGN GWT but for more interesting/complex than any I've had and not as syrupy sweet; good acidity to balance all the RS and somewhere between a GWT Passito and an Alsatian SGN; makes me have the jones for a piece of my Mom's peach pie; amazing dessert wine that should go another 10 yrs or more. $15.00/hlf
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Casey gave me a head's up a few weeks ago that this wine was really tasting good these days, so I decided to crack one.
Casey manages the OrdwayVnyd up in the AndersonVlly. In 2013, there was a block that remained unsold and set on the vine well past maturity, so Casey persuaded Grazi to make a dessert wine for him. On one of my visits, Casey tasted me on a sample and I liked it a lot, though it seemed a bit on the simple side and tons of unresolved sugar. He gave my LosAlamos group a crazy/good deal and we bought about 3 cs of this wine. Not sure what happened to the rest of it or whether it showed up under Grazi's label.
Originally it didn't show much of a peachy/apricotty character and was more like a passito GWT than anything. Now the apricotty/peachy character is really showing, which suggests there must have been some botrytis present. Where the truth lies I'll have to hear from Casey to know.
But whatever it is, it has developed into a spectacular dessert GWT. Fortunately still have a couple of hlf btls remaining in my stash.
Tom

Yeah, Tom I had pretty much forgot about this and pulled one out a month ago for some of my ITB friends for a St Pattys celebration. Lots of folks were pretty impressed...and most of my wine biz friends are hard to impress.

I refuse to take much credit for this wine. You pretty much have the story right. 2013 was a big and busy harvest. We fulfilled all GWT contracts and had a decent portion of 'BBQ Hill' leftover. I made some calls to local wineries trying to sell the stuff. Everyone had full tanks and no interest.

We continued with harvest. I would walk the field weekly when I could but had bigger fish to fry. As we wrapped up harvest, I knew the field was way overripe and with still no interest, we cleaned up all the harvest equipment. In the back of my mind I thought that if we got some rains, we might revisit the idea of a late harvest wine project. Weeks went by with no rain. As usual, when you want the weather to help you out, it often doesn't.

Without checking my records, I'd guess it was mid-November when I walked the field and saw all the shrivel, with very little botrytis. I would say less than 2% had any infection at all. I tasted the fruit and without even testing the sugar decided to move ahead. Greg Graziano had finally cleared a few tanks and I rounded up a small crew of my core folks and we picked it. After a few days of soak with enzymes they pressed it off at 35 brix. It was barrel fermented in neutral wood for many weeks until it pretty much stopped at 12% alc and 16 RS.