Wine By Nine

Dessert, Fortified & Fruit Wine by Mer Soleil from Central Coast, California. This luscious dessert wine, made from Viognier grapes, is the result of Botrytis cinerea-the organism responsible for some of the world's most highly regarded dessert wines. The Wagner family's vineyard site in the Santa Lucia Highlands provides optimal conditions for late-season botrytis. The vineyard's climate also results in wines with great natural balance because the cool temperatures help maintain excellent acidity in the grapes. This balance is crucial in a dessert wine like this one, with a residual sugar of 17 percent at bottling. The grapes for this wine were hand-picked on December 8 and 9, 2000 An expansive nose of floral aromas, apricots and spice. In the mouth, flavors of ripe apricots and honey. The wine has a mouth-coating, nectar-like texture and a lingering honeyed-fig finish. This is a true dessert wine, with a dense, velvety body and flavors that stay with you long after you've put the glass down.

Dessert, Fortified & Fruit Wine by Quady from California. Black Muscat is known in Europe as a table grape variety, Muscat Hamburg, one of the very few black skinned Muscats. If ripened to about 25 brix, it attains a rose-like aroma and litchi-like flavor. This rose-like aroma led Quady to name the wine Elysium, Greek for heaven. Elysium is used to either accompany or replace dessert. It pairs well with blue cheeses, desserts containing red fruits (such as summer pudding), vanilla, dark chocolate and ice cream desserts. Particularly delicious is pouring the wine onto vanilla ice cream to make an Elysium Sundae.

Dessert, Fortified & Fruit Wine by Quady from California. From 100% Orange Muscat with an aroma reminiscent of Orange Blossom and Apricot, and a lingering refreshing aftertaste, Essensia is used as a dessert accompaniment or a dessert in itself. The Orange Muscat grape variety is little known. It was once grown in France and there are some small plantings in Italy and Australia. The wine is lightly fortified to about 15% alcohol and aged for 3 months in French Oak. Its relatively high acidity makes it taste balanced, even with its considerable sweetness, more like the taste of fresh fruit than an old fashioned sticky sweet muscat.

Dessert, Fortified & Fruit Wine by Quady from California. Black Muscat, another underappreciated Muscat variety, is known in Europe as a table grape variety, Muscat Hamburg, one of the very few black skinned Muscats. If ripened to about 25 brix, it attains a rose-like aroma and litchi like flavor. This rose-like aroma led Quady to name the wine Elysium, Greek for heaven. Drinking this, you can almost feel you have fallen into a rose garden and been transported to heaven. Elysium is meant to either accompany or replace dessert. One favorite is to pour the wine onto vanilla ice cream. Serve this Elysium Sundae with a glass of Elysium. Great with vanilla, dark chocolate, blue cheeses, and candlelight.

Dessert, Fortified & Fruit Wine by Quady from California. Electra is Quady's 4% version of Orange Muscat, a picnic wine with a delicate spritz. For several years, avid Electra fans had been asking for a red version. Red Electra is made from a blend of Orange Muscat and Muscat Hamburg. Appearance: Medium red, translucent Aroma: Floral with notes of rose, orange blossom, strawberry, and melon Taste: Light bodied, sweet and crisp with berry and cherry overtones