It is traditional to enjoy an occasional glass of sweet wine over the holiday period. Certainly, it is one tradition that I follow every year. Once opened, most sweet wines will keep in the fridge for a week or more. But what kind of dessert wine should you try? There are various styles of sweet wines ranging from light and fruity to full-bodied, viscous and very sweet. They should all be served well chilled.
The easiest method to make a sweet wine is to pick healthy ripe grapes and stop the fermentation halfway through. This will produce a wine that is low in alcohol with fresh ripe fruit and a sweet finish. The best-known example of this is Moscato d’Asti.
Sweet wines can be very refreshing, lightly sparkling and perfect to drink at the end of a meal with lighter desserts such as a fruit salad. O’Brien’s has a very good example, the Ascheri Moscato d’Asti, for €17.99. It has an ABV of 5.5 per cent.
Most sweet fortified wines, including port, sherry, Madeira, and Vin Doux Naturel in France are made by killing off the yeasts during fermentation with a good measure of alcohol. They usually have an ABV of 15-25 per cent.
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Other methods involve delaying the harvest for an extended period. This dries out the grapes and produces wines that have high levels of sweetness. Jurançon in southwest France makes such wines, as do some producers in Greece, Australia and New Zealand. Italy has Vin Santo and Recioto. The sweetest wine of all is PX Sherry, made by drying grapes on mats in the sunshine until they shrivel into raisins. They are then crushed and the tiny amount of juice fortified with brandy.
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The last method is the most risky and expensive. Botrytis is a grey mould that attacks vines (and other plants), causing rot and decay. In some regions with a damp autumn another form of botrytis attacks bunches of grapes, causing Noble Rot, removing some of the water content, increasing sweetness and adding wonderful complex flavours. Sauternes from Bordeaux, Auslese and other sweet German wines, and Tokaji Aszu from Hungary, are all made this way. Yields are lower with wines made by this method, so they tend to be very expensive – and very good.
Sweet wines are the most difficult to produce and, for some reason, the most difficult to sell. We love sweet chocolate, sweets and sugary soft fizzy drinks, yet shy away from sweet wines. So maybe this Christmas treat yourself to a bottle (or half bottle) of something sweet. Try it with desserts, blue cheese or rich pâtés. At the end of a heavy meal, I often avoid desserts and enjoy a glass of well-chilled sweet wine by itself.
