Grgich Hills Estate, Violetta Late Harvest, Napa Valley

Deep golden in color, Apricots peaches and honey on the nose. Really amazing stuff. 14% alcohol with 12% residual sugar. Kinda insane. I can’t say this was properly stored for the past 15 years but its stood the test of time. Pretty impressive!

Beautiful golden color. Nice floral notes. I would say the bottle has a few more years left in it. A delicious dessert wine.

Pale golden honey color in the glass. Quite viscous. On the nose and palate canned peaches in syrup, dried apricots, bitter honey, golden raisins, jasmine, and honeysuckle. Lacking any notable acidity at this point which makes it all the more clumsy and linear. Bitter honey throws off the finish until the peaches finally come back to save it. A decent dessert wine, but at $80 a massively terrible QPR. Pull out your time machine and drink 5 years ago. Edit: …

Extremely sweet, potent nose of apples and lychee. Fairly balanced, I'd like a touch more acidity for something so sweet, but this was nice.

Riesling/ Gewurtztraminer mix muddled both. Age did not mature it as much as draw it more out of balance. Actual sugar crystallization on the palate. Feels botrytized. The fact that it was a field blend is an indicator of the limited emphasis the maker placed on the production of this wine. It shows. 11.9 RS

From a 375-ml bottle. This wine was a medium amber color. The body was full, with a rich, unctuous consistency. The aroma was principally one of sultanas. The fore palate exhibited pears and sultanas. On the aft palate, we found pancake, lemon curd, oak, lemon balm, petrol, Life cereal, and sorghum syrup. The wine was complex and interesting. It appears to be in a very good drinking window now. This was brought to us by my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, who …

A very appealing desert wine. Botrytis aromas are front a center, but zesty, bright aromas, hints of orange, marmalade remind me more of a Tokaji than a Sauternes. Viscous, extracted, and very long -- an enjoyable effort.

Honey and toasted nut. Hazelnut and dried apricot aromas and flavors. Great acid and lovely texture. Great balance which is so crucial to a good lat harvest wine! Delicious, mouth coating and enjoyable.

Tour - Napa 2012; 11/16/2012-11/19/2012 (Napa, CA) : Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc grapes. Bouquet apple, pineapple, lemon, butter. Taste melon, pineapple, honey, butterscotch. Somewhat disappointed with all Grgich wines tasted in this flight, given all the hype. $85-way over priced! Tasted at Grgich on Napa trip. (Bottled 4/2011. Released 3/2012. In French oak barrels 18 months. 2,118 cases produced.)