Leone D'Colline Della Rosa----Vin Dolce 2007

[dave berg]

This wine is an Italian style sweet wine--but seems to me to fit in with Washington and California ports I've tasted. It was about $8 at the Bonney LaKe Grocery Outlet, and, as usual for this type of wine, disappeared rapidly even with a lot of stock. It comes from Leone Cellars in Zillah, Wa., an area of many vineyards and wineries. It is a Zinfandel Italian sweet wine, according to the label, and 19.5%, and they don't tell us how they did that. It's well worth trying if you can find it but don't go way out of your way--if it were $20 I'd be less enthusiastic. Beware--the cork pushes into the bottle. A day or 2 later it tasted about the same. It is noticeably sweet, without much tannin or acidity. Maybe a mild licoricy almond flavor and aftertaste--but the notable part is the bright fruit flavor--like cherry--something I haven't tasted in a port before. It reminds me of the Olsen Danish Cherry I loved and haven't seen since the 1974 Spokane worlds fair, or Cherry Heering. www.Leonecellars.com.

[Roy Hersh]

Wow, you bring back memories from when I worked in a wine shop (over 40 years ago!) while in HS. Cherry Heering was a big seller in those days. Thanks for the TN on the WA wine, David!