Sweet wines—also called “dessert wines” for the food that most frequently accompanies them—always appear on connoisseurs’ lists of the greatest wines in the world. Sauternes. Vintage Port. Trockenbeerenauslese. These are names that instantly weaken the knees of many an otherwise-sturdy oenophile.
Many an American, however, has a peculiar relationship with these vinous gems. Because we associate “sweet” with “unsophisticated,” and because we know that some awful form of sweet grape juice is being brown-bagged across America in the hands of, shall we say, less-than-discriminating wine-drinkers, many of us sneer at wines that aren’t completely dry.
What’s peculiar about this attitude, of course, is that once we taste good examples of the sweet stuff we usually go nuts.
How else would you explain the fact that sweet wines are such enduring staples of American wine lists? That prices are steadily rising in America for the great sweet wines of the world? And that more care and more attention is being lavished today on the production, importation, distribution and selection of sweet wines than at any point in American wine history?
Savvy American collectors, of course, have long been aware of the virtues of French Sauternes, made from mold-affected grapes in the southern part of France’s Bordeaux region. And Vintage Port—made only in certain years, and only in Portugal’s wild Douro Valley—has long been a staple at the most prestigious wine auctions in America.
Today, however, the field is widening rapidly. More of the world’s sweet wines, in better condition, are arriving on our shores, and those winebibbers with a sweet vinous tooth need only a little information to capitalize on the situation.
Here are five “hot” categories of sweet wine, and the reasons it makes sense to try them right now:
Sweet White Wines of the Loire Valley
Those who enjoy their wines with food have known this dirty little secret for a long time: sweet Loire Valley whites are easier to match with dessert than are the more famous wines of Sauternes. The two wine types are often compared, since they’re both made of botrytised (mold-affected) grapes, both exhibit honey-like aromas, and they’re both unfortified wines of about 12-13% alcohol. But there the similarity ends. While Sauternes is made of Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle grapes, the sweet Loire Valley whites are made of the more acidic Chenin Blanc grape. The Loire wines are inherently lighter, more graceful, easier on food. Moreover, they remain fresher as they age to perfection, a process that can take decades. The most famous of these wines is Vouvray, usually marked “moelleux” if it’s sweet; Montlouis is a near-by appellation. A less-famous name for these wines, though still excellent, is Coteaux du Layon, and some of the best sweet white Loire wines of all are called Bonnezeaux or Quarts de Chaume. Serve any of these lightly sweet wines with fruit, with light pastry, with custards, or with non-chocolate desserts in cream sauces.
Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise
This French beauty hails from Provence, from a picture-perfect town in the Dentelles de Montmirail cliffs called Beaumes-de-Venise. There, a variety of the Muscat grape called “Muscat a Petits Grains Blancs” (or small white Muscat grapes) is grown and vinified into a heady fruit bowl of a sweet wine, often suggesting peach, grapefruit, apricot, melon, orange peel, and the twist of fresh mint that would attend a proper French fruit salad. This wine is absolutely at its best when drunk young–but, formerly, mostly older vintages of it were sold in the U.S. Sometimes, the labels showed no vintage at all, meaning you had no control over the situation. The hot news today is that producers and importers have finally gotten smart. Most of the Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise on our shelves now is vintage-dated and—hallelujah!—young. Do not buy a bottle that’s more than two years past the harvest date. Do serve it with heavy-textured pastries and nut desserts; it’s not that flexible with light fruits and cream desserts, since it has an extra wallop of rich alcohol added to it.
Moscato d’Asti
Here’s another delicious dessert wine made from Muscat grapes (this time from the sub-varieties called Moscato Bianco or Moscato di Canelli). And here’s another wine that was formerly improperly handled in America. Its problems on these shores arose from the consumer’s identification of it with Asti Spumante, its very spritzy regional cousin from Piemonte, in the northwest corner of Italy. Since Asti Spumante (which doesn’t even exist any longer) has always been stigmatized in America as an unsophisticated wine, the slur spread to Moscato d’Asti—despite the fact that Moscato d’Asti, with its lighter degree of effervescence, its lower alcohol, and its more intense aroma—is a finer creation. Finally, the quality message has gotten through to many Americans–and today you’ll find a much wider range of Moscato d’Asti available in the U.S. market than ever before. And, once again, we’re seeing them in fresher condition. Think young—and you’ll be rewarded with a delightfully fizzy wine that tastes like a bite of a fresh Muscat grape; don’t buy any bottles older than one year beyond the harvest. This is a great wine for all light desserts, even creamy ones, and for many fruits. But it is the wine that God put on earth for strawberries.
Eiswein (or Ice Wine)
This has long been one of the world’s rarest and most expensive dessert wines. This is so, since in its traditional regions of production, in Germany and Austria, winemakers must wait until the first frost before picking and pressing the grapes. This can occur months after the regular harvest, and by that time the grapes have shriveled to almost nothing—which produces precious little juice. Today, the world pool of Eiswein has grown significantly, since North Americans have gotten into the act. First-rate Ice Wine from Riesling grapes is being produced in Ontario, Canada (by Inniskillin and Chateau des Charmes), as well as in British Columbia, Washington State, and New York State; all are less expensive than the German versions. Furthermore, clever Californians, like Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyards—who don’t have the same government regulations to contend with that the Germans do—have realized that simply sticking ripe grapes in a freezer prepares them for the grape press almost as well as Mother Nature’s frost does. One remarkable thing about Eiswein is its purity of grape flavor; it doesn’t have the botrytis-affected honey flavors of Sauternes. Another outstanding quality is the piercing acidity that goes along with the sweetness. This makes Eiswein arguably the most flexible of all white dessert wines; serve it with practically anything, other than desserts that are super-sweet (like baklava), or chocolate-based desserts.
Tokaji Aszu
One of Europe’s greatest and most historic dessert wines—Hungarian Tokaji Aszu—lost its world reputation during the Communist years in Hungary due to great variability in the quality of wine being produced. However, since the Communist fall in 1989, about 10% of the production zone has been privatized, and a number of French, English, Japanese and American entrepreneurs have moved in—all with the hope of restoring Tokaji Aszu to its former glory. At its best, Tokaji Aszu combines the honeyed, raisiny intensity of Sauternes with the nutty complexity of aged Sherry. The label indicates which wines are sweeter and heavier by the number of “puttonyos;” “3 puttonyos” is a lightish wine, “6 puttonyos,” the maximum, is sweet and rich. Serve the 5-puttonyo and 6-puttonyo Tokaji Aszus with heavy-textured pastries and nut desserts; at 14% alcohol they’re rather hefty wines.
And with Halloween around the corner…
You might be tempted to raid the hauls of your kids after they go to bed on Oct. 31, settle in with Jimmy Fallon, and pour a little vinous refreshment with the candy. I personally would not do this; candy is sweet enough; I’d rather drink milk with it before going to bed! However, if you’re hell-bent on the candy/wine connection…remember that the usual rules for matching food with sweet wine apply…the wine should always be a little sweeter than the food! So some sugar-engorged candy bar may not work with wine at all. But candies that have less focus on sugar, and more on savory inclusions like nuts, may do OK with very sweet wines. Ten-year-old Tawny Port would be one of my suggestions for lightly sweet candy, as well as the style of Madeira called Bual (the sweetest).
