Sleeping Dog Wines 2014 Buoy Vineyards Sweet Aurora Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc, Yakima Valley, $21
Larry Oates traditionally produces this dessert-style with Sauvignon Blanc as a cheery memorial to founding mascot Aurora, the beautiful rescue dog who passed on in 2013. The nose of honey, apple, Asian pear, straw and minerality leads to flavors of baked apple pie with notes of kiwi. Ample acidity akin to starfruit balances the residual sugar of 9%, making this a delicious deck wine with pairing ideas of spicy fare, smoked fish and a fruit-and-cheese plate.
Rating: Recommended
Production: 77 cases
Alcohol: 11.5%
Earlier this June Colleen and I did our second tour of some wineries out of Ashland. Wineries in the afternoon and plays at the Shakespeare Festival in the evening. Our last stop coming out of the Applegate Valley was Schultz Winery at your recommendation. It was a pleasant surprise. Greg was in the tasting room with the two dogs and his wife was out working in the vineyard. Colleen found her big buttery Chardonnay! They shipped a mixed case home,
(2 cases flew FREE on Alaska) plus 3 other cases by Fedx for the trip. Two weeks ago you did a Viognier review. You described theirs as “oaky and buttery” so we bought a case. Drank it tonight and it was as advertised! Thanks for the review.
By the way, congratulations on the journalism awards. I am glad that professional persons like yourselfs can be recognized without a printing press running behind them. Things are well at our house and we follow you every week and buy lots of your recommendations.
George and Colleen Hoyt