Wine Focus November and December: Wines for a Holiday Feast

I ate at Fig Tree Restaurant in Charlotte on Dec. 20th and will write elsewhere of the food and dinner wine but will record here the dessert wines which are fitting for a holiday celebration if in top form:

Taylor Fladgate 20 Year Tawny Port
Toffee, burnt sugar on the nose; a little heavy on the palate. Pretty color--muted lighting but an amber color with some clarity. I would have preferred more fruit notes--dried apricot or prune--or nutty flavors. Confirms my preference for Cockburn Tawnies.

Inniskillen Riesling Ice Wine, Canada (no vintage on the winelist and I forgot to inquire the year)
Old gold color but not too dense. Smells like botrytis with some apple fragrance apparent, moreso than stone fruits such as peach. Medium-long finish. Becomes very apply, suggestive of apple cider. Polished, if not as impressive as some German Eiswein of my past.

The Fig Tree also offers a flight of three Inniskillen Ice Wines--Vidal, Riesling and Cabernet Franc. The only time I've tried all three at one sitting was at a Pinehurst Food and Wine Weekend some years ago.

...Inniskillen Riesling Ice Wine, Canada ....

The Inniskillen winery is about a half-hour drive from me, depending on bridge traffic. I stop there at least one a year, as it is located near a press-house where I buy juice/must for some of my home wine making. That being said, while Inniskillen pretty much started the local Ice Wine craze about 25-30 years ago, they also make some nice QPR table wines. I have a bottle of their 2011 Meritage in my que at the moment. However, their Ice Wines, are, (imho) overpriced and there are some nicer ones on both sides of the border that are much less expensive.
On a side note, another nearby winery, Lailley, has been noted for producing very nice table wines. Their vineyards are 30-40 years old, but until about 8 years ago they sold their grapes to local wineries. That's when they started producing their own wine. However, they were just purchased by investors from Toronto who are tearing out all the vines and re-planting with Riesling and Vidal to make nothing but Ice Wine for export to China.

I need to make amends for ignoring this thread. New Years Eve is perhaps the festive day over here and we had our family's traditional dinner for this occasion of lobsters followed by Stilton cheese and a fine light dessert. Here are the wines -

NV Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut - France, Champagne (12/31/2015)
A very pleasant medium+ bodied Champagne, quite suave and not bone dry with, I guess, quite a bit of dosage. Good for apéritif with assorted fishy zakouskis.



NV Tarlant Champagne Brut Rosé Zéro - France, Champagne (12/31/2015)
This is a deliciously elegant and airy pink medium- bodied Champagne; bone dry and crisp with no aggressivity, delicately fruity with a clear Pinot touch, biscuits, minerals and lively acidity. Excellent pairing for delicious locally fished lobster. Very good.



1992 Quinta do Vesuvio Porto Vintage - Portugal, Douro, Porto (12/31/2015)
This port was a real treat. Rich, deep and complex with multiple flavours of mature red fruit, currants, nuts and more besides all seamlessly integrated and with enough acidity and backbone to avoid cloying. Will probably enjoy a long life but beautiful now. Excellent.



NV Château Moncontour Vouvray Pétillant Méthode Traditionelle Brut - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray Pétillant (1/1/2016)
I found this in response to a demand for more bubbles to see in the New Year. Rather the beggar on the gentleman after the preceding wines seeming somewhat acidic and hollow but it did its job and I'll take another look tomorrow.
Posted from CellarTracker

Happy New Year to you all .

My New Year's Eve drink was Cockburn Age 20 Years Porto (Tawny Port.) 20% abv. Glistening amber color with clarity. Nose and palate convey dried plum and apricot, touch of cedar, perhaps a faint hazelnut component in the background. Carries the 20% alcohol well--slightly warming but not "hot." Mellow and ingratiating. Just what I look for in 20-year Tawny Port. Would be a great pairing with almond cake or tart (I had a few sips with thin almond cookies from Belgium) and possibly with crème brulee, flan or pecan pie. I may get an individual serving of pecan pie to have with it later this week.