89 pts The Wine Advocate
I tasted a sweet wine from Casas del Bosque for the first time with the 2013 Riesling Late Harvested, a wine with 225 grams of residual sugar produced with grapes from five-year-old vines that were harvested the 4th of July, 2013 (the equivalent of harvesting in January – from the next vintage!- in the northern hemisphere). The grapes were hand picked and pressed with a vertical press, and the juice fermented in well-seasoned French barriques, where the wine matured for nine months before bottling. By the time they were picked, the grapes had developed some botrytis, so the nose of the wine contains all of the descriptors of botrytis, honey, lanolin, orange peel, dry apricots and a volatile whiff. The palate is very intense with marked sweetness and it could do with just a little more acidity. I’m told other vintages are higher in acidity. A textbook botrytis wine anyway. 14,500 375-milliliter bottles produced and the price given is for a half-bottle.
Elegant peach and pear flavors have a floral overtone, set on a light frame, with a touch of fresh fennel that lingers on the juicy finish.