Mature and Spicy

We love having the I-Spy Man around for dinner.  Sometimes he brings his young daughters.  I must admit we have an admiration for young people brought up well, as we are proud of our The Young One.  At a certain age, they have the maturity and confidence of an adult.  They have the subtlety of good humour, the gravitas of understanding the serious things in life, and often show a sense of spice at the right moment.  So it is with Hex-Bex, daughter of the I-Spy Man.  She has a lovely maturity, and is not yet in the prime of her life – but try telling her that!

It was a pleasure to share a bottle of Hex-Bex’s birth year.  The 1996 Martinborough Vineyard Martinborough Late Harvest Gewurztraminer was certainly fully mature.  But it was past its prime of life time, unlike Hex-Bex, but certainly still very enjoyable.  Deep golden orange colour.  Aromas and flavours of burnt honey, orange marmalade, barley sugar, caramel and toffee.  Lovely unctuousness, and now just beginning to dry a tad on the finish.  Did anyone detect any spice?  Maybe some ginger.  A decadent dessert wine, made from botrytised fruit, picked at 33.5 Brix, fermented to 11.0% alc. and 160 g/L RS.  Beerenauslese standard, and the last Gewurztraminer from this producer.  We were treated.