2001 Muscat de Saint Jean de Minervois, French Dessert Wine

[Drew]

This Dessert Muscat was produced by Cave de Vigerons de Saint Jean de Minervois.
Straw yellow with a touch of green. Very floral on the nose. Very delicate flavors of honeyed apricot, tangerine and citrus. Very light and fresh with a long finish. We enjoyed this after Christmas eve dinner but would not hesitate to serve as an apertif. Very nice. 15.5%Alc/vol. $15 (375ml)

Drew

[sedhead]

Drew
I have a 1995 Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise 375m.
Looks like the producer was Paul Jaboulet Aine.
Would this be similar to your Muscat?
Thanks

[Drew]

sed, I don't have much experience with these French Muscat dessert wines. Two different appellations, Minervois and Beaumes de Venise. Minervois is notable for it's small limestone stones that surround the vines and Minervois is farther from the sea so I would suspect similarities and maybe yours to be a little more full and rich due to a slightly warmer climate...just guessing though.

Drew

[sedhead]

Thanks.
There's only one way to find out; maybe tonight.
Drive carefully tonight; there are a lot of people with their HUTA on the road.

[sedhead]

We finally drank the 1995 last night.
MUSCAT LOVE
We sipped it while watching the movie Whale Rider.
It's 15% color was pale peach to my wife's eye. I told her it looked like pee; She gave me THE LOOK.
The aroma was peach and apricot and flowery.
This wine was sweet but not cloying with flavors of peaches and alith taste of apricot. The acidity was well balacnced with the sweetness so that the wine was "light" and refreshing.
On the whole it seemed simular to the wine Drew desribed.
One sidenote: there was some sediment at the bottom of the bottle that looked like white crystals. I tasted them and they were not sweet but had a very slight citrus or acidity taste to them.

[sedhed]

I could not edit my message because of the user name change but it should read and "a slight" taste of apricot.

[Thomas]

Sedhed, the sediment you discovered is likely tartaric acid crystals. You must have refrigerated the wine for a long period of time.

Except for an imperceptible drop in acidity, the crystals are harmless to the wine. When a winery chooses not to chill its product to precipitate out the tartrates before bottling, then it will happen in the bottle after the wine is chilled, but it usually takes a long time to happen, unless the temperature is extremely low.

Incidentally, those are the crystals used to create cream of tartar and/or gunpowder!

[sedhed]

Foodie, very good analysis. I did have the wine in my porch refrigerator on it's side. I bought it out of a bargin bin about three years ago and put it in the frig. and forgot about it until Drew posted his notes.
Gunpowder? Maybe I should have said the wine was dy-NO-mite!!!

[Thomas]

Score one for once having been a winemaker...