With our Spanish almond cake, we tried last night:
13. Tatomer Riesling KickOnRanch/SBC (BA; B33R3N4USL3S3; 10.5%; 60 cs; www.TatomerWines.com; RS: 11.5%; SaH: 30 Brix;
Botrytis affected grapes) Lompoc 2011: Light gold color; strong pineapple/JR/ripe/mango strong Mosel valve oil/
gout de petrol light botrytis/peach syrup/fruit cocktail very fragrant/perfumed beautiful nose; rather sweet
fairly tart very strong JR/valve oil/petrol intense pineapple/mango/JR ripe light botrytis/peach syrup lovely
flavor; very long/lingering strong valve oil/petrol/JR intense pineapple/mango/fruit cocktail/JR light botrytis/
peachy finish; not very intense botrytis but a beautiful very Germanic Riesling; should age forever; very fairly
priced at $38.00/hlf (DiV)
14. Ad'OP Muscat de SaintJean de Minervois Terres de Muscat VinDouxNaturel SelectionPetitGrain (15%) 2012: Pale yellow
color; very strong muscatty/floral/perfumed rather simple nose; quite sweet soft/fat/underacid strong muscatty/
floral bit watery/lightweight/insipid simple flavor; med.short very sweet soft/fat strong muscatty/floral rather
watery/simple/insipid finish; much like a Muscato d'Asti w/o the bubbles; dull as dishwater.
$18.00/hlf (TotalBev)
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Tatomer: These are the wines of GrahamTatomer. I've had his Gruners and Rieslings before and was quite impressed
by them. This is his first dessert Riesling that I've tried. The grapes, where were botrytis affected, came from
KickOnRanch, just NW of LosAlamos. I was totally flumoxed by the B33R3N4USL3S3 on the label. Brian explained
that it's hacker notation for "Beerenauslese", a term no longer permited on US labels. Quite clever, I thought.
For a BA, I was expecting a bit more botrytis along the lines of a German BA. But those are often below
20Brix before the botrytis sets in to drive the sugar up to 30Brix. This Tatomer BA was probably in the mid-
20Brix at onset of botrytis, so I expect the amount of botrytis on the grapes was less than it would be for
a German BA. Just speculating, of course. But it is as beautiful a Calif BA as I can recall of late.
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2. The Muscat was a cheapie from TotalBeverage in ABQ. This is how SutterHome would make Muscat in Minervois if
they could. There was no identity of the producer on the label, other than a French ZipCode.
Tom