Crepuscule, A Wine To Drink In The Magic Hour

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Dec 6th 2009 at 4:00PM

I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for five-dollar words and crepuscule has to be one of my favorites. It is a French word referring to the magical hour of twilight. It's also the name for a magical dessert wine. The 2006 Crepuscule Late Harvest Semillon, $90 (375 ml) is a wine from Swanson Vineyards in Rutherford, California. Swanson has made this wine eight times over the past 22 years, needing exactly the right conditions for 'noble rot.' The wine includes some Sauvignon Blanc and is fermented in new French oak with native yeast.

Swanson has made my bottles to bring lists before, their dessert wines are some of the best produced in California and with names like Arsene, Minuit, Tardif and Luminous they are great conversation starters. The 2006 Arsene Fortified Petite Sirah which sells for $75 is a port-style desert wine that would pair terrifically with dark chocolate truffles. The 2004 Minuit Black Muscat, $65 (375 ml) is made entirely of black muscat grapes, vinified in a process developed by Spanish missionaries two hundred years ago, adding brandy to the just harvested juice. The wine's name, the French word for midnight, seems to suggest the ideal drinking time. The 2005 Tardif Late Harvest Chardonnay, $80 (375 ml), is golden wine with a honey nectar flavor, it would be all sorts of wonderful served with a creamy cheesecake. The 2006 Luminous Gewurztraminer Ice Wine, $85 (375 ml) has the classic piercing sweetness of ice wine and expresses the lychee and honeysuckle character of the grape.

For chocolate lovers, the Alexis bonbon, a collaboration between Alexis Swanson Traina and Katrina Markoff of Vosges Haut Chocolate is a must-try. It has a cocoa and cabernet sauvignon center, is dipped in Belgian chocolate and dusted with a delicate curry powder.

Tags: crepuscule, dessert wines, DessertWines, swanson vineyards, SwansonVineyards