Varietal: Â Gewurztraminer, Muscat Canelli, Chenin Blanc, Riesling, Muscat Orange
Region: Â California – USA
Cost: Â $13 (SRP)
Winemaker’s Notes: Â Straw yellow in color with aromas of spice, lime, citrus, and honey. A refreshing sweet wine with flavors of strawberry, key lime, and ruby red grapefruit, that pairs well with holiday fare including turkey and cranberry sauce, ham, pasta salad, and desserts.
My Review: Â I’m typically wary of sweet wines. It’s not that they don’t have their place, and it’s not even that I don’t enjoy them in that place, it’s just that they can often sit on my wine rack for some time when I don’t have the right thing to pair with them since I don’t just sip on them alone. The 2012 Christmas at Biltmore, however, presented a unique opportunity to drink a sweeter white wine outside of my usual requirements of spicy or Asian dishes.
As December has descended on us it has become time for Christmas parties, and I was already attending my first one this weekend. Since it was a Holiday Party, and I knew I was going to take wine to share, I decided to take the 2012 Christmas at Biltmore to share with friends.
The wine was a pale yellow in color, and I did get aromas of lime, citrus, and honey. In the mouth I mostly tasted key lime and honey and could definitely pick out the Gewurztraminer and Riesling in the wine. While it was certainly sweet, I also picked up some notes of petrol coming through on the finish that actually helped to make it a bit more palatable for me to sip on it without any food.
While I don’t usually drink wines with dessert, I could see this being a good pairing for desserts this time of year, so if you’re in the market for that type of wine this is certainly one worth looking at. That being said, if you’re like me and you tend to shy away from sweeter wines except for a few specific pairings, you’ll probably want to shy away from this one as well.
