Far Niente "Dolce" 2019 Late Harvest White Table Wine, Napa Valley Half Bottle

Dolce 2019 opens like a lamp turned low—gold in the glass, then a rise of apricot curd, tangerine oil, and cardamom. Botrytis shows its hand as honey and saffron, joined by the faint warmth of toasted coconut. Nothing shouts; the scents knit together and move. 

On the palate the texture feels almost weightless for how plush it is—citrus peel and stone fruit glide, then tighten around a cool mineral seam. A crème-brûlée hush appears at mid-palate, shadowed by baking spice, and the finish draws clean, more citrus than caramel. The sweetness reads as depth, not density. 

Place is the quiet engine. Dolce’s 20-acre vineyard sits in Coombsville at the foot of the Vaca Mountains, a pocket where autumn humidity and patient sun make noble rot possible year after year. The grapes—Sémillon with a measure of Sauvignon Blanc—are left to gather botrytis until the berries dimple and concentrate. 

Time does the shaping. Fermentation proceeds slowly in French oak—measured in months, not weeks—before the best lots rest in barrel roughly three years to build that silk-on-stone texture. Only then is it bottled and given further time to settle into itself. 

What lands in the glass isn’t a finale so much as an exhale. Chill it lightly and pour beside citrus tart, blue cheese, or nothing at all; Dolce has enough brightness to lift the sweet and enough detail to keep you thinking. It’s one of the rare American wines built solely around this craft—late-harvest fruit, botrytis, patience—and 2019 wears that dedication with grace. 

Dolce 2019—golden fruit, slow craftsmanship, and a finish that fades like evening light rather than a curtain drop.