Passito di Pantelleria, the nectar of gods

The sweet wine Passito di Pantelleria from the island of Pantelleria is a special wine. It is made of the grape zibibbo (also known as Moscato d'Alessandria). From my experience a passito from Pantelleria need several years to mature. If drunk to young it is good but with a couple of years in the bottle it goes from good to excellent, it turns into the nectar of the gods. This time I tasted the Passito di Pantelleria from producer Buffa. The vintage is 2004, so it is quite an old wine. The ABV is 14%. The colour of the wine is dark amber. One can see the age of the wine in the colour. The nose if of honey and raisin. The taste is long and full of raisins with almost a burnt oxidized taste. Wonderful, this is a wine I wish I could drink every month.

New Year is sparkling

Sparkling wines and new year go hand in hand and this year is no different. The first sparkling wine were a champagne, namely a Taittinger Millesime from 2004. I bought it five years ago and it was time to try it now. The bouquet was wonderful, a lot of floral notes. The taste were of strong notes of citrus, bread and apples. It had a very long lingering aftertaste. Excellent champagne.

The second sparkling wine of the evening were a South African sparkling wine. From producer Simonsig comes Kaapse Vonkel Brut from 2011. A first time for me. Very good wine. Complex taste with citrus and some almost smokiness in the aftertaste. Delightful, I hope I can taste it again soon. The grapes used in this were the same as used in Champagnes (Pinot noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier.)

The evening finished with Cremant D'Alsace and a bottle of Kabir (Moscato di Pantelleria) from producer Donnafugata. The Kabir taste better now after a year of storage so will the last bottle taste better in one years time? Only time will tell.

Malvasia della Lipari 2004

Lipari is an island north of Sicily and a wine shop in Bologna recomended this passito wine from Lipari as an alternative to the passito wines from Pantelleria.
Passito di Salina 2004 from Lipari made from Malvasia grapes tastes good. Not as strong taste as the Pantelleria wines I have tasted before. Maybe it is the lower alcohol level of 12% that makes the difference? I like it and I wish I could find it in Sweden.