WTN 2012 Semi-Dry Vidal Hart Cellar

If you know Howie, you know he is generous to a fault. Once again, I left MoCool with more wines than I came with, thanks to Mr. Hart. Opened the night before, I thoroughly enjoyed this as much without food as I did tonight. After a long day of packing , lifting and unpacking, dinner was best served by the local Chinese restaurant. My Kung Pao chicken was the perfect foil to this wine, which provided an instant upgrade to the meal.

Hart Cellar 2012 Semi-Dry Vidal: White flowers, ginger and a hint of lemon on the nose. Nice light-med. weight gives it a pleasurable mouthfeel. The hint of spice continues on the palate with a nice lemon zest acidity down the sides of the tongue and a drop of honey to finish it off. 1.5% RS works perfectly with the acidity to make this as much a nice patio sipper as an excellent food wine. 11.5% abv fits right in my wheelhouse for easy drinkin' whites.

Kudos Howie!! You did it again!

Thank you!
JuliaB

Glad you liked it. I like Vidal, as it has a nice, full in-the-mouth finish. I also opened my first bottle of the same wine last night and managed to consume 3 glasses (half the bottle). My assessment is that it probably needs another month or so to get over bottle shock and for the sugars to integrate (seemed a bit syrupy in the aftertaste). The bottle you had was subject to 5 hours of bouncing around in the back of my pickup and another 3 or so hours back home with you, then sitting for 3 weeks. Whereas, my bottle was sitting quietly in my basement, which could explain the difference. If I gave this to anyone else at MOCOOL, I'd suggest holding it until October or later to open, just to be safe.

[Jenise]

Howie, I have to confess: I opened all the wines you sent me. This one got put into an upright serving cooler thingie for multiple bottles, and the ink did not like getting wet. Was it the 2012 you sent me? I am guessing it is. You sent me a drier white (same issue), a lemberger and your cab franc-merlot blend.

So here's the second part of the confession. We opened and enjoyed them all the same day with the guests I told you I was saving them for, but it turned into a week of chaos as our beloved cat died and normalcy disappeared. I don't know what I did with my notes. I've been hoping to find them before confessing to all this, but I haven't done so yet so should speak up, as you rightfully would be wondering. Anyway...Julia's note brings back the semi-dry wine perfectly. Bill's wife was especially gaga over it, and I found it a perfect cheese wine, the semi-dryness playing into the salt beautifully. Not everyone agrees with me that white wines ARE better with cheese, but I think anyone in doubt would have been convinced by your wine.

Jenise, I sent you the 2011 version of the Semi-Dry Vidal, and they are similar. I think the ink probably ran because I believe the labels were printed on my old printer and on Office Max labels. I've since got a new printer, use only Avery labels and spray them with cheap, dollar store hair spray to keep them from running. If you run across your notes, I'd be interested in the feedback. Sorry for the delay in responding, but I've been at my sister's, in Maine for the past week and her computer doesn't work too well.