It has been a year since I have posted to the South Carolina Wine Blog. However, I was provided with an advance copy of the latest novel by Steven Laine entitled Dragon Vine for my review. Mr. Laine writes novels with a wine focused theme and I reviewed Mr. Laine's previous novel Root Cause in 2019, which I greatly enjoyed. The synopsis of Dragon Vine is as follows: When his father dies in a wildfire, Carmine Cooper takes over the family winery in the middle of harvest, putting his dreams of becoming an architect on hold. He soon finds himself fighting with a vengeful neighbor, blackmailed by a local gang, harassed by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities, and the target of an ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives) investigation. Carmine’s only hope to solve his problems and finish his first solo vintage successfully rests in identifying an unknown grape variety his father grew and made into wine for a quarter century with links to an a
We enjoy finishing a nice dinner with a small amount of sweet desert wine. Dessert wines can be made from grapes that are naturally high in sugar or grapes that are late harvested to achieve maximum sugar. Then, the fermentation process is cut short, so all of the sugar is not turned into alcohol. Dessert wine can be made from many different grapes, both white and red. We want to highlight three types of dessert wines that we enjoy. They are Moscato, Sauternes and Port. Moscato is a white grape that is naturally high in sugar. The wine made from these grapes is aged in stainless steel. The semi sweet wine has aromas and flavors of pears, peaches and tropical fruit. The alcohol content is low and this is a pleasant finish to a meal of seafood or poultry. Terrific Moscato comes from Italy as well as California. Bartenura Moscato from Italy is a top seller and we bought this bottle for $11.99 at Total Wine. Sauternes is an exceptional dessert wine from Bordeaux France.