1945 Rivesaltes ( Cuvee Amedee De Besombes Singla, Vin Doux Naturel ) , French Sublime Golden Nectar Wine/ 1/10

Look at this color will you?!? How many colors or shades of color do you count?!?

It's pretty amazing and last week before I left work on Saturday evening I believe ( January 30th, 2010 I believe ) I took the time in our office when I was " off the clock " to photograph and finish enjoying the bit that our rep Matt of Five Grape Imports had left earlier with me. This was serious : this moment was as precious to me as they get and it also represented my two-day, delayed weekend.

This is a great way indeed to start one's weekend : with a few stunning sips of a 1945 French Rivesaltes!

Funny, as I write here and scroll down the page and look at the 1945 Rivesaltes in my glass above it is like looking at a setting sun going from the most brilliant and clear and bright golden/yellow sun-infused color to those of a more burnt orange and caramel almost as if those at the bottom had been heated or fired and also deprived of the direct sun's shine to reveal oranges and browns and honey colors : deeper, richer, more intense suggesting possibly more gravitas and roots and greater kinship with the ground and soil and less with the skies, heavens and sun's saturation's ...




I took many pictures : these are just but a few and I hope that you like them as I wind my way down the Rivesaltes' trail in pursuit of all the pleasures that I may derive from imbibing this subtle yet wonderfully elegant and polished nectar of the both man's and vine's toil in a country that had just been ravaged by a very long and costly war. To think that this wine survives still today as perhaps a testament to the good and the sound and solid values of man as farmer and harvester and his and her connection to the land and the specific source and area from which this silky sun-nuanced and accented with sublime mellow honeys and dashes of apricots and nuts has come from. I'm in a hushed state of awe, reverence and mind-to-gut-to-soul glee.




I like capturing all the colors of this 1945 Rivesaltes. I don't want just one shade of color to this wine : I want them all, as many as possible - as many as I can capture at least with my Canon digital camera as possible before I extract the very last sip from this Reidel tasting-glass that I use to taste so many of my wines today a Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits where I manage the wine department ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel: 202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ).




I have asked our local Five Grapes Imports rep to bring the bottle back so that I may photograph it and include a picture of it here with these other pictures. I stupidly forgot to do it this past Saturday but the store was busy and we did have customers to assist as well.

The wine is coming to our store today or tomorrow so that we may sell some of it. It sells for $150 a bottle and is very limited in availability.

It's a 1945 Rivesaltes from France called " Cuvee Amedee De Bessombes Singla ", a vin doux naturel par Dr. de Besombes Singla - 4, Rue de Rivole F 66250 , Saint Laurent de la Salanque. It's got 18.5% alcohol by volume and we will be selling this French gem that looks like the finest transparent amber that money can buy today. It's so affordable, too for such a rare find.





I spoke recently to Matt and he told me that he had seen this blog and added that the wine was aged not in the bottle but in vats I believe he said and then bottled later before release. I will have to clarify this a bit more and add to this shortly. Stay-tuned.








Look at the color above here and the glass where it looks like the sugar from the wine has formed a few crystals for the moment as they sit there in filtered with the light from our strong ceiling fixtures in the store above. They will dissolve back into the liquid shortly as I polish these last few delicately-orchestrated nuances of really fine shades of taste and flavors.

My fear of this wine is that it must be enjoyed pretty much all on it's own without any dessert or other distractions. It is so fine and so silky and so almost reserved that it must be courted and given the proper attention that it requires to obtain it's maximum pleasures held within and so very ready to be enjoyed now after 65 years held captive within a bottle.




I will write more but for the meantime enjoy these photos and text now. I have been reading Julia Child write about here time in France and I am so excited and motivated about France, it's food, wine, culture and art and people that having tried this 1945 French Rivesaltes is a real coup for me and it could not have occurred at a more perfect time for me personally ...

Cheers, TONY