WTN: Two Old/New Dessert Wines...(short/boring)

Had these two last week:
1. Chateau Coutet a Barsac AC: Barsac (11%-14%; MeBaC) 1976: Deep gold color; very intense botrytis/peachy/apricotty some butterscotch/caramel some toasty/oak very complex old-Sauternes nose; fairly tart off-dry intense butterscotchy/caramel very intense botrytis/peachy/apricotty slight earthy some toasty/oak very complex classic old-Sauternes flavor; very long/lingering intense butterscotchy/caramel toasty/oak very intense botrytis/apricotty off-dry very complex finish that goes on&on; a beautiful classic old Sauternes that will go another 10-20 yrs; even though the dessert was quite sweet, it was intense enough to hold up to the budino pretty good.
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2. TablasCreekVnyd 100% PetiteManseng Estate/AdelaidaDist/PasoRobles (13.3%; www.TablasCreek.com; Hrvstd: Sept 25; SaH: 28 Brix, ph: 3.28; RS: 8.24 gm/100 ml; 40 cs) 2015: Med.gold color; very strong grapey/passito quite mango/dried mango/concentrated somewhat herbal/earthy/straw slight figgy/FigNewton rather complex nose; fairly tart/tangy quite sweet bit herbal/earthy very intense grapey/passito/dried mango/dried pineapple flavor; same very intense grapey/passito dried mango/dried pineapple light earthy/herbal/hay bale/Kansas hayloft very sweet fairly tart finish; no evidence of botrytis but a beautiful/classic example of Italian passito wine; should go out 20 yrs at least. $40.00/500 ml (VIN)
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. The Coutet we had at the new Marietta release dinner at LoyalHound on Thurs. I paired it w/ Renee's killer butterscotch budino. Not quite sweet enough to match the budino, but great on its own. The TablasCreek I served Fri night when we had Ron&Jamie Coleman/TamarackCllrs over for dinner.
PetitManseng is grown mostly in SW France, in Gascony, Jurançon and Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh, where it is often made into a dessert wine. There it often shows a lot of botrytis, sometimes not.
The TCV was a classic example of Italian passito dessert wine..the kind they should be making all up&down the coast of Calif. At this high of sugar level, the varietal character is pretty much obliterated...this wine could be made from Chard...anything, I think.
Tom

Petit Manseng has rather thick skin and if it´s affected by rot it´s rarely noble. The sweet wines are products of passerillage.

Greetings from Sweden / Fredrik L

Petit Manseng has rather thick skin and if it´s affected by rot it´s rarely noble. The sweet wines are products of passerillage.

Greetings from Sweden / Fredrik L

To be sure, Fredrik. But I recall having one that the guy pouring assured me had a slight
infection of botrytis....though there was not much evidence in it of botrytis that I could
pick up.
But I really like those sweet/dessert wines from that area.
Sometimes, they can simulate those wines by going along and cutting the canes to stop off the flow
to the bunches & let them dry on the vines. Had a couple from Calif made that way.
Tom

This is what JasonHaas has to say about the PM:

I have a couple of comments on the wine and the grape that may provide a little enlightenment. It's a crazy grape... retains acidity phenomenally well even as it gets to high sugar levels. The first year we got production off our tiny (half acre) block, we forgot about it until the harvest was done, and when we measured it, it was at 39 Brix and 3.45 pH. Nuts. We didn't make wine out of it that year, but the next year we picked it at 27 Brix and a pH of 3.1, and then fermented to 14% or so alcohol, which left somewhere in the 65 g/L of residual sugar. We've moved the style around a bit since then, trying for a balance between the sweetness and the grape's electric acids, but that's still the basic idea. Unlike the Vin de Paille wines we make with Roussanne, we don't dry it on straw... it doesn't need it.

I would say that the acidity is one major difference between Petit Manseng and other grapes we might choose to make sweet wines out of. Were it Chardonnay, for example, the pH would be much higher at any given sugar level, and a wine that sweet wouldn't have the balance without some pretty significant manipulation in the cellar.

If you're interested in a look-back, we tasted every vintage we'd made to that point last year: http://tablascreek.typepad.com/tablas/2 ... nseng.html

Thanks for trying it, and writing it up!

All the best,
-Jason