Late-Harvest Wines
Late-Harvest wines (vendange tardive) are made from grapes left on the vine beyond the usual point of harvest. Such wines include Eiswein (grapes left to freeze on the vine) and wines made from botrytised grapes (grapes whose skins are affected by noble rot.) The sugar in the grapes is concentrated so that the wines are sweeter.
Rosenblum Late-Harvest "Dutton Ranch" Zinfandel, Russian River, 2000 (Tasted in 2002) $21 for .375ml. Sien Brown from Prestige brought this to a tasting to go with a blue cheese. The grapes were harvested from a hillside block of 60 year old vines at 38 brix. Rich and exotic dessert wine that is produced in extremely limited quantities. Kent Rosenblum is a Zinfandel specialist. I'm not a huge dessert wine fan, but I loved this wine.
Rosenblum Late-Harvest Zinfandel with Roquefort. I didn't take many notes on this, but I remember loving the super salty, spicy cheese with the thick, wild fruit of the Zinfandel. It was excellent.