Sumptuous Stickies

Dessert wines, like Sauternes and Tokaji, are some of the most delicious and most sought after wines in the World. I actually resent using the word “dessert” to describe them as they can also be served with cheese, foie gras, or just enjoyed on their own. The best examples can age for many years but can also be very expensive and very difficult to get your hands on. So here I will explain why they are so expensive and suggest some affordable alternatives for you to try.

 

Majestic Mould

Some of the World’s most expensive dessert wines are made courtesy of a fungus called botrytis. This fungus (also known as "noble rot") affects vineyards near large rivers or lakes as it relies on the initial moisture of a misty morning followed by the dry heat of the sun to be able to take hold on the grapes and dehydrate them, leaving them shrivelled and raisin-like. These are very specific requirements: in some years there is no botrytis at all, in others there is too much moisture and you get grey or black rot which destroys the whole crop. So it's an unpredictable and risky business!

 

Botrytised Riesling grapes basking in the afternoon sun

The botrytis-affected grapes are picked by hand, pressed and then fermented into wine. The high sugar levels mean that fermentation quickly produces a wine of high alcohol and as a result the fermentation process stops naturally leaving plenty of remaining sugar in the resultant wine. Probably the most famous example of this is Sauternes, which is made in Bordeaux from a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Muscadelle grapes. The best Sauternes have a beautiful freshness and minerality which balances the high sugar levels, and goes beautifully with foie gras. If you can't afford Sauternes then look out for Monbazillac which is made using the same method but is considerably cheaper.

 

Other wines that are made using the same method are…

·         Tokaji: made in Hungary from the grape Furmint, the best are labelled “Aszu” and the sweetness level is graded in “puttonyos” from 3 to 7. I recommend you start with the lower and more affordable grades first (number 7, aka “Aszu Essencia” is very much a wine-to-try-before-you-die…)

·         Beerenauslese & Trockenbeerenauslese Rieslings: made in Germany (often abbreviated to BA or TBA on the label), the latter is made solely from raisins and requires around 100kg to make just one litre of this heavenly nectar. Hence their rarity and expense! You can find affordable BA wines but, for a cheaper alternative, look out for “late-harvest” Rieslings from New Zealand.

 

Ice Ice Baby

You may well have heard of Ice Wine, aka Eiswein. To make these wines, the grapes must be picked when they are frozen (often super early in the morning) and rushed back to the winery to be pressed before they thaw out. Another labour-intensive and unpredictable method of production then! The frozen water can then be removed from the grape must, resulting in very high sugar levels. These wines are most famously from Germany and Canada and I’m afraid that, because of how difficult it is to produce, there really aren’t any cheaper alternatives so it may be best to just save this one for a special occasion.  

 

harvesting ice wine grapes, photo courtesy of http://www.indystar.com

Pass a Straw

This final, labour-intensive method is where the grapes are picked and then laid out on straw mats to raisinate before being pressed into wine. Italy widely uses this method, and the wines can be spotted by the names Passito or Recioto. One of my favourites is Recioto della Valpolicella which is a sweet red wine made by drying out the grapes used for Valpolicella. Down in Tuscany, Vin Santo is made using Trebbiano & Malvasia grapes, and often served with Cantucci biscuits to dunk. Heaven.

 

Passito grapes drying out

Outside Italy, you will find “Straw Wines” (also often labelled as “Vin de Paille”) in such far flung places as Croatia, South Africa and California. They are made using the same methods and well worth looking out for, although in general these styles are a touch cheaper than their icey or mouldy counterparts.

 

FOOD MATCHING TIP:  always make sure the sticky wine you serve is sweeter than the dessert itself.  None of the above dessert wines are actually high enough in sugar or alcohol to stand up to a chocolate pudding, they are much better with apple tarts (Sauternes), bread & butter pudding (Tokaji) or Sticky Toffee Pudding (Straw Wine). And if all else fails, just scoff the pudding and enjoy the sticky wine after.

There are plenty of other sweet wines out there which are made by fortifying the wine to stop fermentation early & retain a high level of residual sugar. Some of these can work brilliantly with chocolate but that is something for another blog post.

 

Happy Swigging!