Sweet wine....

One of my wine passions is sweet dessert wine. Late harvest ones have typically been my favorite, but occasionally I'll indulge in a port.

Sweet wines are often misunderstood. It's not until they've been aged for a while that they show their true character, but the problem is most consumers don't wait long enough. But even if you don't, they can be fabulous.


The question is what do you pair them with? Well, I have several answers to that - it just depends. But first let's dive into a little about how they are made.


Dessert wines can be made in many different ways, but the most common are late harvest and fortified.


Late harvest is when you leave the grapes on the vines for longer than would be usually normal. In great years botrytis (a good mold) forms on the grapes and concentrates the sugars by removing some of the water from the grapes. The result is a very high sugar content and, even if you wanted too, you wouldn't be able to ferment all the sugar out. What you're left with is residual sugar and low alcohol.

Fortified is when you harvest the grapes at a typical sugar level, ferment and then add alcohol (like Brandy) to the wine to arrest fermentation. The result is higher alcohol (because you added some) and residual sugar.

Phew, now that that's out of the way. On to some pairings.

With late harvest Riesling, I like creme brulee and fruit based desserts: apple pie, apple crisp, pear tarts, fruit tarts, etc... But my favorite thing to do is to make a reduction with the wine and peaches, then pour it over vanilla ice cream....yum!

With port wines, I make a reduction using raspberries and blackberries and then there are many options. Appetizer - sourdough baguette, some triple cream brie and drizzle some of the reduction over it. Main course - grilled pork chops with just a little grill seasoning and pour the sauce over the chop. Dessert - take the same reduction and pour it over a chocolate torte....it's amazing!

Of course, some of the best ones don't require any food at all. Just a nice sipping wine after dinner. The bottle of choice for tonight's indulgence? Clos Du Bois' Fleur. It has intriguing honeycomb and pear aromas with a palette of several different kinds of apples.



Go ahead....give one a try.

Cheers!