Collier Falls Late Harvest Primativo

Red Grape-Based Dessert Wines

We really like red grape based dessert wines – maybe because of their unique flavor profile, or maybe because they are a bit unusual and harder to find (outside of ports).  We have had a few from Italy (based on Primativo or Aleatico grapes), and the US and Canada (based on Zinfandel, Syrah, or Cab Franc grapes).  Noteworthy wines include the Rosenblum Late Harvest Zinfandel, Souverain Dessert Syrah (Alexander Valley), and Inniskillin Winery Cavernet Franc.  We recently tried the late harvest Primativo from Collier Falls – it’s a delicious dessert wine with a sweet bouquet of late summer fruit that gives way to flavors of blackberry and black cherry liquer. The wine is nicely balanced wine with a long, lingering finish with a hint of mocha.  We’ve tried with with a variety of chocolates – from milk to bittersweet, with various strong added flavors – and this wine matched up well.