Dessert Wine for Your Valentine - Part 2

Since this is the season of sweets and sweeties, I covered the topic of dessert wines from organic vintners in a recent post - or so I thought. In the interim, I've remember some I forgot to mention in my earlier post...but I neglected them because of their price point, I think.

Here they are

1. Grgich Hills - Violetta ($85)

Named for the daughter of vintner Mike Grgich, this biodynamically grown, oaked white dessert wine is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Gewurztraminer, and ages 18 months in French oak barrels (75% of which are new).









2. Hawk and Horse Latigo (Cabernet) ($35)

From Lake County high end Cab producer in prestigious Red Hills comes a port style dessert wine made with Cabernet. Fortified with brandy, it is aged for 26 months in new French oak.

Lake County Wine Competition - Organic Winners

Sweepstakes Winners - Ceago took 2 of the top 4 spots

The 3rd annual Lake County Wine Competition in late July put Lake County wineries to the test - and organic wines swept many of the top spots.

Ceago won two of the four top Sweepstakes awards with its Rose of Syrah and its Muscat Canelli. (Both of these wines are featured in my new app Budget Guide to Great Organic Wines - coming Sept. 1 to the Apple app store).

Hawk and Horse won a Best of Class for its Cabernet Sauvignon ($65 - made by one of Napa's top winemakers), grown in the Red Hills AVA.

Bonterra also won a Gold medal for its Muscat and a Silver for its Riesling.

Judges in the third annual Lake County Wine Awards Competition – which took place in Clearlake Oaks, Calif., July 27-29, 2011 – were John Buechsenstein, Randy Caparoso, Joe Roberts, Deborah Parker Wong, Shauna Rosenblum, Tina Caputo, Mike Dunne, Martha Dunne, Don Neel, Pamela Heiligenthal, Marc Hinton, Virginie Boone and Clark Smith. Photo courtesy of the Lake County Winery Association.

For a list of all winners, click here.