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95POINTS
18/20
Mullineux Olerasay No. 2 Solera Aged Straw Wine NV
Swartland, Coastal Region, South AfricaThis is one of South Africa's top sweet wines, and for a country with a long and glorious history of sweet wines, that's high praise. This is old vine Chenin Blanc sourced from the stony schist soils of the Kasteelberg, and the decomposed granite soils of the Paardeberg, in the Swartland. After harvesting the grapes at normal ripeness, they are left to dry in the shade of some trees for a few weeks, desiccating the grapes and concentrating their sugars. When the grapes have shrivelled to half size, they are crushed and pressed whole-bunch into old 225L barrels. After a native ferment over 9 months, this is complete, naturally sweet. They hold back a barrel or two of this straw wine every year to blend into their Solera. Since they're not allowed to use the Portuguese term Solera legally, they've decided to call this wine Olerasay. This is No. 2 in the series, from barrels from 2008 through 2019. Pouring a golden hue, this is rich with baked apricot, honeysuckle, marmalade cascading across the lengthy palate, all strung with potent acidity to balance out the 331 g/L RS. Though only 8.5%, this is needlessly quite intense, and a little goes a long way. Good thing the bottle is pretty much bulletproof, so if you can keep yourself from finishing it (try with maple pie, or hazelnut torte), it will hold in your fridge until the next sweet craving. A fantastic wine.Tasted: 15 December 2020Tasted by: Treve RingPrices:| BC | $140.00 | 375ml | private wine shops |
Nicholas Pearce Wines
Rezin
Grape: Chenin BlancCSPC: 39608
