2011 Bonny Doon WINTER NÉLIS SPARKLING PERRY

The Winter Nélis is a supremely unfashionable pear—prickly on so many levels. (It actually does have extremely sharp thorns; pickers tend to make themselves scarce at harvest time.) And the Winter Nélis fruit itself is prickly about how it presents itself; it requires time, lots of it—normally sitting on the tree until Christmas—before its unique dusky, heady perfume begins to emerge. (What, are there no birds?) We were glad for the wait and are very proud to present this most elegant, classic, traditional, bottle-finished perry. Crisp in acidity and bone-dry with a subtle, spicy pear aroma; exceptionally refreshing.