January 28, 2008

Willow Springs 2003 Vidal

(Found – January 2008)

The lowly Vidal grape … the only good thing that has come to it is the invention of icewine, right? Not so fast folks. Someone once commented to me that they never see the Vidal grape outside of icewine. Vidal, believe it or not, shows up in quite a few wines, but they are mostly house blends or house wines and are more often than not off dry. I located a couple of bottles of this Willow Springs offering and wondered how it has fared over the past few years. Vidal is rarely if ever oaked so from vine to bottle there is probably a 6-month gap (if that) – so this wine would have been bottled in early 2004 … still that’s four years on. What I found in my glass was surprising – the colour had darkened and the smells were melon, lemon and a bit of sweet tangerine … the palate showed a decent amount of sweetness along with hits of cantaloup flesh and honeydew melon rind. In the mouth it felt rounded and still had a bit of acidity, while the finish lingered on the cheeks with some lemony-zing. Surprised? Maybe a little, though I had tried a 2004 Vidal a few months ago that was holding up pretty well too … good to see the lowly Vidal holding its own – this would be something nice to sip on come the summer. Lost and Found rating: MINOR TREASURE.

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