Bodegas Botani Moscatel 2011

"This is probably the only totally dry 100% Muscat de Alexandria made in Malaga, where this grape is used for sweet wine production. To give you an idea how much I love this wine, for the wedding of my goddaughter, held near Pittsburgh last summer, I purchased five cases of the 2010 for her reception. Moreover, I bought an additional three cases of the newly released 2011 (reviewed here) for consumption in my home over the summer and early fall. This is a wine made by the family bodega of Jorge and his sister Victoria Ordonez. Producing 5,000 cases from the decomposed slate and quartz soils of Malaga, their harvest remarkably begins in July to capture the fresh, incredibly perfumed fruit of this varietal. It is then fermented totally in stainless steel, making it one of the most perfumed, naked expressions of dry white wine in the world. This is a killer example that people just love. Let me see if I can properly describe it. The exotic aromatics could fill a small room, with notes of flowers, honeyed white citrus, melons and hints of more exotic tropical fruit such as mango and tangerine. Jorge Ordonez and his sister Victoria, as well as their consulting winemaker, Gerhart Kracher (son of the late, great Alois Kracher) are trying to bring back the reputation of Malaga with wines such as this. The history of the wines of Malaga can be traced to 600 B.C. and the Greek era, and more recently, this area’s wines were celebrated by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand in the 1500s, but then they largely fell out of favor until a number of innovative producers such as the Ordonez family, in alliance with the Krachers of Austria, began to resurrect the sweet wines as well as this incredibly perfumed, dry white, the only one to exist from this region."

91 Points

The Wine Advocate

"Greenish straw. Intense aromas of orange zest, pineapple, peach and honey on the nose, complicated by notes of shiso leaf and white flowers. Broad, dry and sharply focused, with very good intensity to its flavors of candied citrus and pit fruits, honey and melon. Very smooth on the finish, which leaves notes of sweet citrus fruits and flowers behind. This wine would be superb with any number of Asian dishes."

91 Points

International Wine Cellar