Quady Winery Essensia 2006
I’ve gradually come to realize that I am a big fan of dessert wines. It all started with a couple bottles of port that we tried during the last couple of years, hit a crescendo with the Domaine de Montbourgeau Vin de Paille, continued with the Castello della Paneretta Vin Santo Chianto Classico that we opened during the holidays, and was reaffirmed today when we opened the Quady Winery Essensia. The complexity that good examples of these wines bring to the glass just leaves me absolutely impressed and intrigued. The flavors that unfold in the nose and palate can be utterly enticing.
What is especially interesting to me is that I’ve been entranced by a series of dessert wines that are all quite different from one another, both in how they are made and in what the finished product is like. Broadly speaking there are three methods for producing sweet wines:
- Fortified Wines: the first method involves fortifying a wine by adding a high-strength neutral spirit (grape-based) to it. This serves to stop any further fermentation in the wine because the high alcohol levels kill off any remaining yeasts. Wines made in this manner are typically raised to 15-20% alcohol. This is how port is made for instance. After vinifying the wines the winemakers add 140 proof neutral spirit, in this case brandy. This is the most straighforward means of producing dessert wines.
- Ice Wines: the second method involves letting the grapes freeze on the vine, and then vinifying the juice from the frozen grapes. The sugars in the grapes do not freeze, and so when the frozen grapes are pressed the result is a very concentrated must from which the wine will be made. This is a very tricky method for producing dessert wines because the grapes (in Canada, Germany, and Austria) are required to freeze naturally. This requires the grower to leave the grapes on the vine anywhere up to several months after the normal harvest time, meaning that if a natural freeze does not come soon enough it is possible for the grapes to rot and the harvest will be either severely reduced or outright ruined. Additionally, because of the exceptionally high sugar levels in the must, fermentation proceeds significantly more slowly than for normal wines, and can often take several months to complete. Canada, Germany, and Austria are most renowned for these types of wines.
- Botrytized Wines: Also known as “Noble Rot”, this method of producing dessert wines involves the grapes developing a form of grey fungus named Botrytis cinerea that leads to their becoming slightly raisined, concentrating the sugars and leading to the development of a unique set of flavors. Because the rate at which botrytis develops in the bunches, most vineyards will make a great number of passes through the vineyard to ensure that all of the grapes are picked at optimum ripeness. Whether the grapes develop the ideal form of botrytis is exceedingly weather dependent, leading to a distinct unpredictability vintage to vintage. Similar to ice wines, the production costs for botrytized wines are typcally very high due to the labor intensive nature of the necessary vineyard practices and the uncertainty that accompanies each vintage. The wines of Sauternes in Bordeaux, Tokay in Hungary, and the Trockenbeerenauslese of Germany are well-known examples of this method of producing dessert wines.
The Quady Winey began producing sweet wines in the late 1970’s and has developed a solid reputation for its lineup of wines. They produce Essensia and Elysium, both dessert wines based on varieties of the Muscat grape, a port-style wine, and two wines that are also based on Muscat but come in at ~4-5% alcohol and are intended as lighter-style dessert wines.
The Essensia is composed of 100% Orange Muscat, one of a handful of varieties of the Muscat grape. After vinifying the wine Quady fortifies it (“slightly” as their website says) to bring it up to 15% alcohol. The wine then ages for 3 months in oak barrels before being bottled in 375ml and 750ml bottles.
Appearance: lustrous golden yellow
Nose: apples, pears, orange peels, honey, golden raisins
Palate: lightly velvety texture, poached pears, orange essence, apricots, nice layers of flavor, slight acidity keeps everything vibrant and interesting, not cloying by any means
Finish: flavors of warm apricots and bright apples give way to fresh blood oranges
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