Errazuriz Sauvignon Blanc 2005 Late Harvest is made in the Casablanca Valley, Chile. It is 11.5% abv. with a light body and a very pale yellow color. The aroma is that of mild pineapple and honeydew, as well a combination of the typical Sauvignon Blanc range of aromas. This all comes together in a wine smells like a perfume version of a Sauvignon Blanc.

The taste is pleasantly semi-sweet, with good solid acidity. This is my first time tasting a Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc because they are kind of rare and you don't run across them that often. I was surprised that is was definitely recognizable as a Sauvignon Blanc. Like the aroma, the taste has all the unique Sauvignon Blanc characteristics like fresh fruit and a nice crisp quality from the high acidity, that often get lost in dessert wines. The most identifiable fruit flavors were pear, pineapple, hints of honeydew, and some woody notes.So imagine a Sauvignon Blanc increased several fold in flavor to give it an intensity that goes well in a dessert wine, and the crisp acidity well balanced by the bit of extra sweetness. It is a light but nicely flavored wine with a bright fresh fruit taste, enough bite to liven it up, and just sweet enough that you know it's a dessert wine. I found it very similar to an ice wine, although a lot less sweet and intense, and after doing some research I found out why. As will you, when you read through the wine makers notes I have included at the end.

This wine should definitely be drunk well chilled. Many dessert wines open up a bit as they warm up, but this one rapidly became flabby and lost all of its charm as it warmed, so enjoy it cold as a dessert wine or as an aperitif. Locally I found it available for $14 for a 375 ml. bottle.

The following are the wine makers notes about exactly how they achieved the 2005 vintage. I found then fascinating and decided to report them exactly, instead of shortening, clarifying, and paraphrasing them as I would normally do.

La Escultura Estate in the Casablanca Valley enjoys cool ripening period with a moderating effect from the Pacific Ocean, located just a few miles away. The soils are very deep sandy with low vigour. These soil climate conditions are ideal for Sauvignon Blanc. The Sauvignon Blanc vines are primarily Davis Clone #2, which were planted in 1992.

CLIMATE : Rainy winters, warm summer days with morning fogs and cool afternoon breezes.
SOIL : Sandy loam soils with low vigour.
PICKING DATE: May 2005.
HISTORIC HEAT SUMMATION (SEPT - APRIL): 1923 degree days.
HEAT SUMMATION NORMAL AVERAGE: 2032 degree days.

Most regions experienced spring fog and even light rains through November, though for the most part this had little effect on flowering and, therefore, on yields. A heat wave hit the country in early January, lasting about two weeks. Temperatures then returned to moderate levels for most of the ripening season. In Casablanca, spring weather conditions led to excessive vigour in the vineyard, which required extensive leaf pulling to correct. All of our Sauvignon Blanc was harvested before the light rain that occurred in the valley on 11 May, so it was unaffected. The variety benefited from the cool growing conditions, producing wines with good body, bright acidity, and beautiful fruit expresión.

We used a number of winemaking techniques and sourced the fruit from different regions to accentuate the complexity of the final blend of this year's Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc. As no botrytis developed on the grapes because of the extraordinarily good weather conditions, the major part of the grapes for our Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc 2005 was left on the vine to dehydrate before harvesting in order to concentrate the grape sugars.

We hand-harvested the grapes and took them to the winery where they were whole-cluster pressed. Some lots were frozen to concentrate the juice before fermentation. During this process, the high sugar content prevents the juice from freezing solid, so that water is separated from the juice as it forms ice, leaving a highly concentrated juice.

To capture as much of the fruit characteristics as possible, the must was fermented at very low temperatures (15-17 °C) in stainless steel tanks. A portion was fermented at 14°-20 °C in used French barrels to give the final blend more sweet notes and roundness in the mouth. Almost 50 % of the lots were aged in French barrels and the other part aged "sur-lie" in the tanks adding more complexity to the final blend. The wine was fined and gently filtered before bottling in November of 2005. It was bottled with a synthetic cork to preserve freshness and eliminate any possibility of corkiness.

Cellaring Potential: Optimum year 2010.