Nick Dobson Wines Wachau

Wachau The Wachau is a region along the north shores of the Danube to the west of Vienna. It is an area of outstanding beauty, with dramatic scenery along the Danube river valley. It is also widely accepted as the source of the very best Austrian white wines, many of which are made from Grüner Veltliner - see my ramblings about this exotic grape variety on the Austrian Information page on this website - but also of some of the best Rieslings on the planet. Most of Austria's greatest dry whites are made from Riesling, and many Austrian Rieslings are amongst the best in the world, but to give of its best though, it is fussy about where it is planted - and it simply thrives on many outstanding sites in Austria - on mainly primary rock, or urgestein soils. Also made in the Wachau are a handful of very respectable reds, and some outstanding Rosé wines. The very best Wachau wines are however scarce and, given the cult status of many producers within the domestic market, expensive. The western end of the Wachau has the most elegant wines, with cooler nighttime temperatures, and the fuller-bodied and more powerful examples come from further downstream, peaking around Loiben and Dürnstein. Many Wachau growers have together formed the VINEA WACHAU growers association.

Johann Donabaum Neuburger Smaragd Spitzer Biern 2003
Ref: 4300044

Price: £16.90 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Grüner Veltliner Federspiel 2007 Spitzer Point Johann Donabaum, Spitz-an-der-Donau
Ref: 4300065

Price: £13.95 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Grüner Veltliner Smaragd 2007 Spitzer Point Johann Donabaum, Spitz-an-der-Donau
Ref: 4300064

Parker 94 points.

Price: £20.95 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Grüner Veltliner Smaragd 2003 Berglage Loiben Johann Donabaum, Spitz-an-der-Donau
Ref: 240153

A very pale golden yellow, with a nose of minerals, spice, honey, broken peapods, and freshly ground white pepper. The palate is biased towards minerality rather than fruit, and there cressy lentilly flavours along with a touch of apricot, good body and an excellent acid framework in which the minerality sits nicely. Good length, quite peppery. Excellent stuff. This would go really well with a pork & apricots dish.

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Price: £16.76 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Grüner Veltliner Smaragd 2005 Berglage Loiben Johann Donabaum, Spitz-an-der-Donau
Ref: 4300005

Quite similar in style to the 2003 wine, but just a bit richer, more buttery, fatter. A very pale golden yellow, with a nose of minerals, spice, honey, broken peapods, and freshly ground white pepper. The palate is biased towards minerality rather than fruit, and there cressy lentilly flavours along with a touch of apricot, good body and an excellent acid framework in which the minerality sits nicely. Good length, quite peppery. Excellent stuff. This would go really well with a pork & apricots dish.

Price: £17.00 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Riesling Smaragd 2003 Offenberg Johann Donabaum, Spitz-an-der-Donau
Ref: 240154

A pale golden yellow, with an extremely clear/pure appearance. A fruity nose of white peaches, apricots, cress, and undefined citrus fruit, with minerals and a hint of smoke; on the fresh lively palate there is a good fruit-acid framework, with the balance tipping towards the mineral, but with good grape and some tropical fruit flavours (I detected mango), and underripe melon. Good length. Excellent stuff, will not disappoint..

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Price: £18.08 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Riesling Smaragd 2005 Offenberg Johann Donabaum, Spitz-an-der-Donau
Ref: 4300012

TN in preparation.

Price: £19.35 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Riesling Smaragd 2005 Setzberg Johann Donabaum, Spitz-an-der-Donau
Ref: 4300043

TN in preparation.

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Leo Alzinger, Unterloiben Gentle-natured Leo Alzinger, based in Unterloiben, is without doubt one of the true Wachau superstars. This fine estate makes superlative single vineyard wines from premium mountain sites including Loibenberg, Steinertal, Hollerin, and Liebenberg, with soil types including sandy loam and eroded primary rock. The estate totals about 8 hectares, and production is very small at just 5000 cases per year. Grape varieties are 55% Grüner Veltliner, 40% Riesling, and a tiny 5% parcel of Chardonnay. There are in fact two Leo Alzingers - Father and son - with Leo Junior having joined his Father in 2000, following his viticultural training at Klosterneuberg, and time spent in New Zealand (Marlborough) and in the Pfalz, Germany, notably with Hans-Günter Schwarz of the famed Müller-Catoir estate. Leo Alzinger's wines are simply awesome; they are right up there with the very best the Wachau has to offer, and deserve every bit of attention they can get. The superstar status is well deserved, yet this remains a small family business, embodying individuality and an unceasing quest for quality. Until recently, Alzinger wines had a reputation for remaining closed for quite some time after bottling, and requiring time to open up. This has changed to some extent recently, with a number of winery innovations making the wines more approachable in their youth. Yet a mature Alzinger wine is a joy to imbibe, if somewhat hard to come by. Alzinger's wines are bottled quite late by Wachau standards, often in June, when the Wachau rules permit release to the market of Smaragd wines on 1 May.

Chardonnay Smaragd 2007 Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300062

Leo Alzinger's only foray into grapes other than GV & Riesling is this Chardonnay of which only a very small parcel is grown. They garpes are harvested at the start of November, then gently pressed with all movement being under gravity. Fermentation is in stainless steel. The result is a wine with a precise mineral and fruit nose, powerfully complex fruit, and very good length. Serve 10-12 ° C on its own or with freshwater fish dishes, chicken, pork.

Price: £17.05 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Grüner Veltliner Federspiel 2008 Ried Frauenweingarten Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300070

This wine is from the 8.5 hectare Frauenweingarten vineyard, which lies between Oberloiben and Unterloiben, near to the river, and which has primarily alluvial soil types, yielding fruity rather than mineral wines. The 2008 is classic Frauenweingarten GV - a clear pale yellow colour, with a fragrant nose of spice, pepper, and hints of red berry fruit (strawberry, I think). The palate is sappy and juicy, principally very fruity, but also with flavours of lentils and rhubarb, a hint of celery, and a rich creamy texture.

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Price: £13.95 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Grüner Veltliner Federspiel 2005 Loibner Mühlpoint Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300038

The Mühlpoint vineyard is adjacent to and slightly below Steinertal. Soils here are lighter than in Steinertal - loess and alluvial sands, yielding wines which are fruitier than their mineral Steinertal counterparts. Very pale greenish yellow, with a roasted green pepper nose. The palate is quite dense, with a sinewy chewy structure, and with flavours of spice, lentils, walnuts, green beans, and with a good long finish.

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Price: £12.20 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Grüner Veltliner Federspiel 2008 Loibner Mühlpoint Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300074

Another Leo Alzinger masterpiece; again Mühlpoint's lighter soils give us a wine which is fruity rather than mineral in character, but this Smaragd is altogether more intense than the Federspiel. A pale green-yellow, with peppery spicy nose; on the palate really quite intense despite it's youth, again peppery, spicy, nutty, and with a lovely soft satin creamy texture. A truly excellent GV which is quite approachable now but which will repay laying down. Very small allocation.

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Price: £13.95 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Grüner Veltliner Smaragd 2008 Loibner Mühlpoint Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300075

Grüner Veltliner Smaragd 2006 Loibner Loibenberg Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300036

TN in preparation.

Price: £19.35 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Grüner Veltliner Smaragd 2007 Loibner Loibenberg Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300056

TN in preparation.
Parker 94 points.

Price: £23.50 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Grüner Veltliner Smaragd 2008 Loibner Loibenberg Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300066

**(*)

TN in preparation.

Price: £26.00 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Grüner Veltliner Smaragd 2008 Loibner Loibenberg Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben

Grüner Veltliner Smaragd 2007 Ried Steinertal Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300059

**(*)

The flagship Steinertal vineyard is widely acknowledged as being one of the very best sites in the entire Wachau, and is also known for known for having one of the strongest mineral characteristics of any vineyard in the Loiben area.

A very pale yellow-green, with the classic spice and powerful minerals on the nose one expects from Steinertal, but also with a profusion of fruit and herbal fragrances. On the palate it is sleek and racy, already vigourously mineral, with good density. There is good bite here, with huge length with just the slightest hint of sweetness on the finish. All that plus the promise of more to come - this wine is decidedly youthful and is built for the long haul. Fruit/mineral balance very much towards the mineral. Will probably turn into a *** in a couple of years.

Parker 93 points.

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Price: £26.00 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Grüner Veltliner Smaragd 2007 Ried Steinertal Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben

Grüner Veltliner Smaragd 2008 Ried Steinertal Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300071

**(*)

The flagship Steinertal vineyard is widely acknowledged as being one of the very best sites in the entire Wachau, and is also known for known for having one of the strongest mineral characteristics of any vineyard in the Loiben area.

Tasting note in preparation.

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Price: £27.95 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Grüner Veltliner Smaragd 2008 Ried Steinertal Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben

Loibner Grüner Veltliner Reserve 2008 Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300072

***

Leo Alzinger's goal in creating this wine was to prove just how good Grüner Veltliner can be. It is made from the very best selections of Grüner Veltliner grapes from each of the estate vineyards, all of which are in their own right of the highest quality. Generally, smaller grapes are used, these having greater concentration of flavour. As the wine comes from a mix of sites, there is a good mix of fruit and mineral characteristics. Grapes for this wine were fermentated in stainless steel tanks, with all movement gravity driven to avoid pump damage to yeast cells. The nose is powerful, with racy limey notes. The palate is immensely complex, with lush fruit including pears and citrus fruit, with a typical Grüner Veltliner spiciness, extremely well balanced residual sweetness, and subtle minerality. In this wine, Herr Alzinger's goal has been achieved; it is quite possibly the finest Grüner Veltliner you will ever taste, and is already remarkably open for such a young wine. It will age extremely well, at least 10 years, and in doing so will develop great depth of flavour. Exceptional. Miniscule allocation.

Price: £29.95 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Loibner Grüner Veltliner Reserve 2008 Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben

Loibner Grüner Veltliner Reserve 2006 MAGNUMS Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300049

***

Magnums of Alzinger's GV Reserve.

Just a few bottles. There may be some shipping restrictions on this product. Please call for more information.

Price: £61.95 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Loibner Grüner Veltliner Reserve 2006 MAGNUMS Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben

Loibner Grüner Veltliner Reserve 2007 MAGNUMS Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300061

***

Loibner Grüner Veltliner Reserve 2008 MAGNUMS Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300073

***

Magnums of Alzinger's GV Reserve.

Just a few bottles. There may be some shipping restrictions on this product. Please call for more information.

Price: £65.00 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Loibner Grüner Veltliner Reserve 2008 MAGNUMS Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben

Dürnsteiner Riesling Federspiel 2006 Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300052

*£

A generic Riesling Federspiel from one of the top Austrian producers in one of the best locations in Austria deserves some attention as a value-for-money wine. A pale green, with a nose of fruit (mirabelle plums) and minerals, with a principally mineral and stone fruit palate. Huge length, excellent.

Very limited stock.

Price: £13.95 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Dürnsteiner Riesling Federspiel 2006 Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben

Dürnsteiner Riesling Federspiel 2007 Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300057

*£

A generic Riesling Federspiel from one of the top Austrian producers in one of the best locations in Austria deserves some attention as a value-for-money wine. A pale green, with a nose of fruit (mirabelle plums) and minerals, with a principally mineral and stone fruit palate. Huge length, excellent.

Parker 87 points.

Price: £17.05 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Dürnsteiner Riesling Federspiel 2007 Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben

Dürnsteiner Riesling Federspiel 2008 Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300069

*£

A generic Riesling Federspiel from one of the top Austrian producers in one of the best locations in Austria deserves some attention as a value-for-money wine. A pale green, with a nose of fruit (mirabelle plums) and minerals, with a principally mineral and stone fruit palate. Huge length, excellent.

Price: £17.50 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Dürnsteiner Riesling Federspiel 2008 Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben

Riesling Smaragd 2005 Ried Höhereck Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300027

The grapes for this wine were harvested in the third week of October 2005, followed by gentle pressing, and all further treatment using gravity, and temperature controlled fermentation in large wooden barrel. Fine mineral Riesling aromas, elegant structure and a nice blend of fruit and mineral characteristics. Serve at 10-12 ° C. ABV 13.5% Residual sugar 4,.4 g / l

LIMITED STOCK

Price: £19.35 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Riesling Smaragd 2005 Hollerin Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300035

**(*)

Another of Austria's great Rieslings, of which we are lucky to have a (very) tiny allocation. Hollerin is adjacent to the Kellerberg, another top site, and has rich urgestein and loess soils which produce distinctive Rieslings. The nose has fragrant aromas of white peach and redcurrant; on the palate this is classic elegant Riesling, full-bodied, chewy and sinewy, bags of flavour with a mix of fruit and mineral components. Huge length, seems to go on forever.

Available now - very limited stock.

Price: £20.35 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Riesling Smaragd 2005 Hollerin Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben

Riesling Smaragd 2003 Loibner Liebenberg Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300034

Similar sounding, but not to be confused with the Loibenberg. The Liebenberg is a vineyard located between Weissenkirchen and Dürnstein, and is the furthest Alzinger site from the winery.

A beautiful pale golden-green, this wine has an elegant fruity nose with notes of herbs and green pine. On the palate, the style is a mix of fruit, predominantly pears, and minerals. A juicy sappy racy wine, lovely now, but in time this will be extraordinary.

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Price: £22.50 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Riesling Smaragd 2006 Loibner Loibenberg Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300053

**(*)

Riesling Smaragd 2008 Loibner Loibenberg Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300067

**(*)

From grapes harvested in late October, this iconic wine has a complex opulent Riesling fragrance, with pungent herbs and ripe plums. It's dense on the palate, with a delicate yet firm texture, and a rich long finish. Just the very slightest hint of Botrytis and rose petals. The palate is sublime, complex, with a dense firm texture, and long fine finish.

Price: £27.95 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Riesling Smaragd 2008 Loibner Loibenberg Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben

Riesling Smaragd 2007 Steinertal Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300063

***

Riesling Smaragd 2008 Steinertal Weingut Leo Alzinger Unterloiben
Ref: 4300068

***

Grüner Veltliner Smaragd 2003 Ried Steinborz Weingut Karl Lagler Spitz-an-der-Donau
Ref: 4300023

A deep yellow colour, with aromas of stone-fruit and tropical fruit - mangoes & passion fruit - and good minerality. The palate has tangerine notes, spice, and herbs. Excellent streak of cleansing acidity, great length.

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Price: £19.95 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Grüner Veltliner Smaragd 2005 Ried Achleiten Weingut Josef Jamek Joching
Ref: 4300040

**(*)

Highly mineral Achleiten is regarded by those in the know as one of the great Austrian Grand Cru sites. And it's spawned this big beast of a wine, which will be bigger still in time. It's only just been bottled, and it's youth and Achleiten's previous slowness to recover from the bottling process mean that it's no surprise that this pale green-yellow wine is still somewhat closed. But it's got that typical Achleiten dark spice & white pepper nose, and a palate which is already deep and powerful, with massive urgestein minerality, lentils, green beans and herbs, perfectly integrated acidity, and a long long finish with a hint of citrus. It's a slumbering giant of a wine, just waiting to awaken. Huge promise for the future; for a hint of what is to come, try the GV Achleiten Federspiel variants from 2003 and 2005.

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Price: £20.39 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Grüner Veltliner Smaragd 2005 Ried Achleiten Weingut Josef Jamek Joching

Riesling Smaragd 2005 Freiheit Weingut Josef Jamek Joching
Ref: 4300019

TN in preparation.

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Price: £23.50 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Riesling Smaragd 2003 Ried Klaus Weingut Josef Jamek Joching
Ref: 240101

***

This wine is the jewel in the crown of the exceptional Wiengut Josef Jamek in Joching. Ried Klaus has become synonymous with Jamek wine culture, and is archetypal Wachau Riesling. Ried Klaus is a 6-hectare vineyard located on steep slopes between Weissenkirchen and Dürnstein, with over a hundred stone terraces. Still very young, this wine has a complex mineral nose with spice, peaches, herbs and gooseberries; on the palate it is elegant, with minerals and sweet suggestions of pit fruits, coffee, walnuts, and almonds. A wine of great breeding and stature, arguably one of the finest Austrian Rieslings. Click on MORE to see a picture of Ried Klaus.

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Price: £26.26 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Riesling Smaragd 2003 Ried Klaus Weingut Josef Jamek Joching

Riesling Smaragd 2005 Ried Klaus Weingut Josef Jamek Joching
Ref: 4300020

* *

Another monumental Klaus Smaragd in 2005, and one of my picks for the Austrian wine of the 2005 vintage. Very young of course, but already a very big wine. The powerful nose is mealy, with toast and a faint hint of botrytis. On the palate it is powerful and complex; plenty of fruit, some lime, a satin minerality, and dark spice. The finish is long, with minerals and a lick of botrytis. Tiny allocation.

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Price: £30.95 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Riesling Smaragd 2005 Ried Klaus Weingut Josef Jamek Joching

Jochinger Rosé 2007 Weingut Josef Jamek Joching
Ref: 4300055

Rosé made from Zweigelt. Soft and lovely, with that fantastic Zweigelt nose of cooked sour cherries. A top-notch wine from one of Austria's finest producers.

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Price: £15.45 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Riesling Spätlese 2001 Loibner Loibenberg "L" Dinstlgut Loiben
Ref: 240113

This wine is made from a selection of grapes from the best parts of the Loibenberg, which are late harvested, giving a deeper yellow than is typical for Loibenberg wines. It's only made in years when conditions are right, and 2001 was a good year for botrytis, helping colour and concentration. This is a truly lovely wine; the nose is of concentrated citrus aromas, principally lime, but also lemon and stone fruit. It explodes in the mouth, full of zingy and immensely complex lime and lemon flavours, and also apricot, and peach, and has a spicy creamy texture. Despite being classified lieblich, this wine is best described as off-dry. A big wine which will develop further; an example from 1997 tasted recently had immense depth of flavour and concentration. An excellent match for flavoursome foods; try it with spicy food, (Thai, Malaysian) or chicken livers.

Alcohol by volume: 12.0% Residual sugar: 3.5 g/l
Acid: 7.0 g/l Serve at: 9°C Keeps: 10-20 years

Price: £14.95 (Including VAT at 17.5%)

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