Last chance - 91p

This weeks wine might be a bit  costly, but it is a great wine and has a great story well worth investigating. Recently I was invited to the restaurant Kolonialen Bislett by some friends and at the end of a fantastic meal we were served a very special wine to end the night. the sommelier (who was great by the way!) suggested a glass of dessert wine from the south of France,namely Rivesaltes. The wine was from 1983 so older than some of the people I was dining with! They and I were blown away by the flavours and quality of the wine. So I took some pictures and thought this would be a good wine of the week!

​Rivesaltes is the name of an area in the south of France and together with Banyls and Maury they are famous in the wine world for making fortified wines, similar to Port wine, but also very distinct in their own way. The Rivealtes wines are traditionally made from the grenache blanc, grenache gris, macabeau og grenache noir grapes. The fermentation process is stopped by adding fortified wine, then the wine is placed in glass balloons and put outside in the sun for two years before the tines are stored in oak barrels for as long as 100 years. This makes for very special wines indeed! This is a very expensive and time consuming way of making wine so fewer and fewer are making them anymore. Soon we actually could run out of this kind of wine, so we suggest you try it before it's too late!

The Vinmonopol have a great amount of Rivesaltes on their books at the moment and some very old. These are perfect as a gift when you want to buy a wine from a good friend's birth year. As I said they are a bit pricey, but they are well worth it for a special day!

Tasting notes:

Riveyrac Rivesaltes 1983 - 629,-

Beautiful colour of deep dark yellow turning to brown. On the nose it's caramell, burnt almonds, toasted hazelnuts, and hints of coffee. In the mouth it is very elegant. The first thing is the sweetness,but then the acidity kicks in and balances the wine superbly. Then you notice the rich flavours of caramel, raisins and figs, hazelnuts and almonds. It’s so rich and smooth and so, so delicious! 
Can be paired with strong and salty cheeses,but is also perfect to enjoy by itself, especially when ending a great evening with friends at a great restaurant!

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