The people at RiverStar Vineyards are not only blending stars. They also create new wine styles that shine. They have invented a delightful new way to end your meal. Making a dessert style wine out of plain and simple table grapes, they’ve found a slightly tart and sweet way to polish off the flavors in any dish with a blanket of white pepper atop a crème brulee body.
But, to start things off, they pour a Sauvignon Blanc with more big pineapple and subtle apple flavors than severe grapefruit. Next, a Moscato changes all the sensations in your mouth with its slight sweetness. Orange blossoms meet your nose while citrus and honeysuckle cross your tongue. Finally a very peppery Viognier finishes the whites probably because of its robust body with all that jazzy spice.
The reds are equally unique, leaving you with a different way of feeling about these varietals. Their Merlot has a brick red hue and a smoothness born of Hungarian oak barrels. It’s slightly creamy texture is evident as its cherry and plum flavors linger. An award winning Syrah represents the halfway point between a cool climate tart wine and a hot climate jolly rancher with plenty of plum, cherry, and apple yet a creamy mocha texture.
However, at RiverStar it’s the blends that make this tasting memorable. An Eclipse made from Syrah, Petite Sirah, and Zinfandel has bright red and dark fruit all at once while smoky spices fill your senses. A Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Zinfandel blend has the nice acidity you crave from these grapes with the structure you expect from a Bordeaux.
Finally, dessert arrives in the form of a lovely liquid tootsie roll. Hard to imagine yet way too easy to drink. But RiverStar’s Twilight is a chewy deep dark chocolate port style wine made out of a single port grape: Touriga Nacional. Its ripe plum is its only sweetness but sets the cocoa free. If you’re already too sweet for a sweet way to finish, their Syrah port style wine has the lightness of wine because they don’t add brandy. Yet, 18% alcohol may be the perfect finish for your dish or any day.
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