Last night Toronto Vintners Club held an excellent dessert wine
tasting.
We selected a number of different dessert wines/styles/grapes as the
Club had only done one dessert wine tasting in the past so we wanted
to test the waters a bit.

We had an excellent guest speaker, Thomas Laszlo, now of Heron Hill
(by way of Henry of Pelham (ON), and Cheateau Pajzos and Megyer in
Tokaj.
Very enlightening and knowledgeable about dessert wines, he gave us
some excellent insight especially into the revival of Tkaji Aszu and
the different approaches/philosophies different producer's/owner's
have.

We always taste single blind but last night I helped pour so I knew
what was what. Very different experience than usual as a result. The
order was intentially made to go from more or less least sweet to most
sweet.
Prices are Canadian, and my ranking follows after the note.

'Mystery Wine'
Thomas Laszlo brought the 2002 Riesling (Late Harvest?) from Heron
Hill. ($ ~$20 USD??) I'm not sure what the proper name of the wine but
it was a BA-type botrytis wine.
Great freshness and zing. Very clear. Apricot, lemon, chalk on the
nose.
In the mouth, very ripe, good acidity, and finish, but perhaps lacking
a bit in concentration. Probably something to enjoy for a couple more
years but not long-term. 4/9

1998 Coteaux du Layons, Domain Patrick Baudoin 500mL $50
Unusual for Loire, this had some oak in it. Had a very similar profile
to the Sauterne oddly enough. Laszlo speculated it could be a little
too much 'grey rot' since this was not a great year.
Very different, wax, lanolin, dark colour and dense. Some odd mushroom
undertones. In the mouth, much better concentration, quite sweet, but
not going to improve I think. 8/9

2000 Vidal Icewine, Konzelmann Estates. 375mL $44.45
Huge apricot, peach, pure and concentrated. Not cloying, good acidity,
a bit short on the finish. This was showing beautifully. 2/9

2002 Riesling Icewine, Lakeview Cellars. 375mL $44.95
Very closed initially. Couldn't get much on the nose. Later on it
opened up to reveal excellent Riesling character; peach, lemon. Very
concentrated, this wine still needs more time though I did find it
more cloying than the Vidal. 6/9

1999 Ortega Trockenbeerenauslese, Anselmann Estate. 375mL #36.60
Knowing what the wines were, I had low-ish expectations here, but the
wine has won a number of awards and I really liked. Rarely used Ortega
grape, it had great lemon, almost herbal notes, white pepper and some
petrol. My bottle may have had some faint TCA. Lot's of botrytis,
candied fruit and a very full but not cloying mouthfeel. Great value.
1/9

2001 Nackenheimer Rothenburg Beerenauslese, Weingut Gunderloch. 375mL
$125
Almost a shame to be drinking this Riesling so young but we searched
for a BA and finally acquired it recently. (40 cases made)
extremely closed initially. I heard reports of some sulphur from
others but not my bottle; even still I think it blew off after a short
while. Very German. Clear, crisp like a laser, (oddly quite similar to
the Heron Hill) but you could see the greater concentration and
quality coming through after the wine had opened up. Apricot, petrol,
lemon and almost like a sweet spring water aroma come through. On the
palate, very well balanced, long long finish and just a great wine,
but too young. 3/9

1996 Chateau Guiraud, Sauterne, 1er Cru. 750mL $72.50
Wax, lanolin, as mentioned earlier. 1996 was not great for Sauterne
and this wine wasn't either. Lacking a bit of concentration on the
finish I also found the finish bitter. 7/9

1996 Tokaji Aszu 5 Puttonyos, 'Red Label' Royal Tokaji Company. 500mL
$29.75
Laszlo in particular thought this wine was poor though I enjoyed it.
This was actually my first Tokaji Aszu so I don't have any ability to
compare it. Very rich, candied fruit, apricots on the nose. Good
length and but again some of that bitterness came through on the
finish. 5/9

NV Premium Fine Old Tokay Rutherglen, R.L. Buller & Son. 500mL $21.45
Very interesting wine. I fear though by the time I got to this wine,
it had warmed up too much as it was extremely cloying, and hot on the
finish.
Caramalized and candied fruit, great richness. Wickedly sweet, almost
cotton candy but probably too warm by then. 9/9


Basically I really like the Icewines, Heron Hill and the two German
wines. The other 4 were definitely not up to the other 5, IMO.
Please let me know if you have any questions/would like more info.