Treat yourself to fine German wine

At first, I did a double take: Eiswein for less than $16 is like finding a brand new Mercedes S500 for less than $5,000.

Eiswein is one of the rarest wines on the planet. The German winemakers that get to make this so-called "nectar of the gods" have to wait until late in the year, almost around New Year's, when the last remaining bunches of grapes that were not eaten by birds are frozen solid on the vine in the hard winter frost. Only then can they pick the grapes -- often one by one -- and take them into the winery to press this precious liquid out of them while they are still frozen.

They're lucky if they can make even a few bottles of this stuff, and correspondingly the prices for true Eiswein are exorbitant.

In this case, the bunches were deliberately left on the vines and pressed in their entirety, thereby giving much more juice.

So while the kids have their candy tonight, let the adults indulge in this fantastic "liquid candy." Buy a few extra bottles for the holiday season, too.

In the glass, Eiswein is a rich deep golden yellow color with a bright yellow to clear rim and dramatically intense viscosity with legs that just stick to the sides of the glass.

On the nose, there is the characteristic liquid honey, almost beeswaxlike scent at first, but it opens up with a barrage of honeysuckle notes, marzipan, cantaloupe melon, orange blossom and citrus rind.

In the mouth, the wine explodes with a superb balance of sweetness and acidity and tons of honeyed fruit, sweet dried apricots, peach skins, overripe melon, orange blossom and some light minerality. It has a powerful midpalate with loads of candied white fruit, sweet cling peach and apricot pits and then an ultralong finish.

It is a full-bodied German wine with pedigree and class and quite heavy on the sweetness factor, but not in alcohol. It is perfect with any kind of sweet dessert, but apricot tarte tatin or marzipan cake would be winners.

This wine will last another 50 years under the right conditions, but can be consumed now and is a real treat.

Wine: Johannes Egberts Silvaner Eiswein

Grape: Silvaner

Vintage: 2005

Region: Rheinhessen, Germany

Price: $15.99

Gil Lempert-Schwarz's wine column appears Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89016-0749, or e-mail him at gil@winevegas.com.