We had this Napa dessert wine at the Silver Oak 6-vintage dinner the other week. The Dolce Winery was founded in 1985 by the partners of Far Niente, and is the only North American winery dedicated to the production of a single late harvest dessert wine, and that is in the mold of Sauternes, being made from botrytised Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc. The Dolce 2006 was an 80/20 mix of Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc respectively which underwent between 3 and 20 weeks of fermentation. The wine is aged for 31 months in all new French barrels before blending.
The wine was a nice golden yellow, with a sweet luscious dried apricot nose. The palate was sweet with luscious pineapple notes, supported by a sweet acid dried apricot backbone. It is quite a good approximation to a good Sauternes, but with a price at the top of the first growth Sauternes, I think I will stick with the French originals.
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