David L. Kahn Wine Tasting Club
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Wine Tasting Summary
Some sources of information on dessert wines included:
  Internet Guide to Wine
  Business Week
In the list below, winery names are linked to their respective Web sites.
#18 Interesting Dessert Wines pdf Sept 20, 2003
Year Producer, Selection From Variety Price * Score +
2000 Andrew Quady, Elysium California Black Muscat $19.20 88
NV Cambas, Patras, Mavrodaphne Greece Mavrodapne $11.00 86
2000 Andrew Quady, Essensia California Orange Muscat $19.20 85
1995 Disznoko, Tokaji Aszu, 4 Puttonyos Hungary Furmint $34.80 85
NV Vedi Muskat Armenia Muscat $10.40 79
1999 Grande Maison, Cuvee Mademoiselle, Monbazillac France Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc $12.80 77
This was our second tasting of dessert wines (see notes for tasting #3) and I decided to include both red and white dessert wines this time. The Andrew Quady Elysium and the Mavrodaphne (both reds!!) were our top two wines this time, with the Essensia a close third. The Elysium took an early lead in our casual discussion (pass me the chocolate!) and the unique flavor of the Mavrodaphne made it the #1 choice of two of our tasters.

The Grande Maison and the Vedi didn't fare as well. One taster noted that if Disney made a dessert wine, the Vedi would be it. It had an 'off' odor, and while the flavor started ok, it went limp very quickly. On the other hand, it had a wonderful unique caramel color. It was a good wine for looking at! The Grande Maison was less interesting than the top-rated wines, but still received reasonable scores from a few of us. With very little color or aroma, it was edged out slightly by the Vedi and came in last.
* The Price reflects the club discount for non-sale wines purchased at Kappy's Liquors in Sudbury and Wine Cellars of Silene in Waltham. Any purchases at the club price must be coordinated through me.
+ The Score represents the average rating of the group at this tasting, on a scale from 50 to 100. We each assign a value of 0-4 for appearance, 0-6 for aroma, 0-6 for flavor and 0-4 for our overall impression resulting in a total score from 0-20. These are averaged, the result is multiplied by 2.5 and then 50 is added. The resulting 50-100 scale is the same range used by Wine Spectator though their process may be different.