Two Special-Day Wines

Two wines from Jura's Rolet and Niagara's Pillitteri

A special day calls for special wines.

Somebody recently asked me about my favourite wine - it's impossible to answer, of course, for anyone who loves the sheer variety, but as a concession I explained that wines defined by their production method would be a favourite category.

And so we have two of these.

Rolet Pere et Fils Vin Jaune 1998 tangy and slightly floral with savoury roasted flavours of nuts, spices and apple. Fresh and long.

Very Good.

Pillitteri Estates Kerner Icewine 2012 beeswax and orange blossom, ripe roasted peaches. Fresh, intense and concentrated.

Very Good.

Not only are both defined by how they are made, they are also non-standard bottle sizes - the vin jaune comes in a 62cl clavelin (albeit standard for vin jaune); the ice wine comes a 20cl bottle.

The Pillitteri website notes: our first attempt at making an Icewine from Kerner, which is the offspring of Riesling and Trollinger. Our Kerner grapes were harvested on December 29th at around -10°C to give us maximum concentration.

Both wines were sourced by Wine Director Oscar Malek.

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