One of our favorite dessert wines has always been the 2015 Carr Late Harvest Viognier — a sweet treat that’s perfect as an after-dinner palette cleanser or a standalone dessert fix. Although there’s no simple way to define a “dessert wine,” most are characterized by a slightly higher alcohol content and a honey-like natural sweetness derived from overripe, or “botrytised,” grapes.
Featured in 805 Living‘s Spring 2020 Home & Garden Issue, our Late Harvest Viognier is a great example of an easy-drinking dessert wine from Santa Barbara County (check out Alex Ward’s article, “On the Sweeter Side: Wines to Enrich the Dessert Course”).
The Carr Late Harvest Viognier comes from Quail Valley Vineyard in the Santa Ynez Valley. It has compelling aromas of crystallized honeycomb and dried apricot, with a decadently long finish of vanilla bean and ripe white peach. At just 50 cases produced, it makes for a perfect course on its own at your next dinner party. Serve extra-chilled and enjoy this wine’s evolving sweetness as it slowly comes to room temperature over the course of the evening.
Be sure to check out the full Spring 2020 issue of 805 Living today.