Have you ever been offered a glass of dessert wine at the end of your meal? Dessert wine is either a fortified wine like a port or sherry, an ice wine, or a late harvest wine, like a Sauternes. The reason these are all called dessert wines is because they have higher residual sugar content and go well with sweet dishes – though you can also pair dessert wines with plates like foie gras and certain cheeses.
Dessert wines are produced using several methods. Some are fortified, meaning alcohol is added during the fermentation process. Others have their grapes picked later on in the season when they’re at a higher degree of ripeness and have more sugars. There’s also a particular fungus or mold that grows on some grapes called Botrytis (sometimes referred to as Noble Rot). It dries the grapes out, resulting in a higher concentration of sugar and fruit. Some of the best dessert wines in the world are made this way.
While dessert wines are generally considered sweet, the best have a balance of sweetness and fresh acidity. They can be full of rich, exotic flavors and tend to develop more with age. If you’re interested in giving dessert wines a try, they usually come in a half-bottle sizes (375 ml), and you can expect to pay anywhere between $25-300+, depending on how the wine is produced and where it comes from.
The best way to serve a dessert wine is moderately chilled (with the exception of port and sherry), at around 45 degrees Fahrenheit. When you pour the wine, you typically want to only serve 2-3 ounces at a time. Pay attention to the glass you use and look for stemware that’s on the small side.
Different kinds of dessert wine
- Late Harvest Wines. These are dessert wines that come from grapes which are harvested later in the season. They spend longer on the vine, which increases their ripeness and sugar content. They are made all over the world, from California to France, Germany and Italy and the most acclaimed have usually been affected by Botrytis, a fungus which further reduces the water content of the berries. Botrytis tends to occur in areas where you get both fog and humidity.
- Port and Sherry. Fortified wine is different from table wine because a clear alcohol, like a grape brandy, is added during the fermentation process. This puts the yeast cells to sleep, leaving more residual sugars. Port is made in Portugal and Sherry comes from southern Spain, namely the Jerez area. There are only a few types of dessert Sherries, mainly Cream and Pedro Ximenez.
- Ice wines. When they make ice wine they pick one frozen grape at a time and then press the grapes. The juice is separated from the water, resulting in a high concentration of pulp and sugars. The best ice wines in the world come from Canada, Germany, Austria and New York State. In Germany, they tend to be made with the Riesling grape and are called Eiswein. Some Canadian ice wines are made with the North American varietal, Vidal. Like any dessert wine, ice wines should only be served moderately chilled so you can taste the fruits in your drink.
- Passito wines. In this category of dessert wine, grapes are picked and laid out on straw mats which dries them out and reduces their water content. Passito is actually the Italian word for raisin and the process of drying the grapes in this way is referred to as appassimento. In some areas, appassimento happens in drying rooms, such as in Verona where they make a sweet red wine called Amarone Recioto. In other places, the grapes are left to dry on mats in the sun.
- Vin Santo. Vin Santo is a fermented wine from Italy where the grapes are strung up to dry and then pressed during Holy Week (thus the wine’s name “Holy Wine”). The resulting juice is put into small barrels where it ferments slowly for two to five years in a warm attic room. Vin Santo can range in color from amber to orange and tends to be on the dry side with notes of vanilla, nuts, and spices. Some Vin Santo is bone dry but it can also be a sweet wine and have up to 29% residual sugar.
If you enjoy dessert wines and like history you might also want to try Vin de Constance from Klein Constantia, a suburb of Cape Town in South Africa. This elegant wine has flavors of citrus, nutmeg, jasmine, and rose water and was at one time highly sought after by European royalty, including the Russian czars!
More on dessert wine
What sets dessert wine apart is its sweet flavor profile, which is a result of higher residual sugars in the wine. But higher sugar content doesn’t necessarily translate to higher alcohol levels. In fact, most of these wines are only between 9-12% alcohol, with the exception of fortified wines like port and sherry, which are 20%. Dessert wines are also known for their ageability. They tend to become deeper in color, reaching an amber or tawny shade as they get older and picking up secondary flavors, including nut and spice notes.
7 Late harvest wines you should try
Sauternes from Bordeaux, France
Produced from a blend of Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc grapes affected by Noble Rot, this prestigious dessert wine from Bordeaux is known for its apricot and orange aromas. Sauternes typically have rich notes of honey and creme brulee and a great backbone of acidity. Look for a wine from a French chateau in the $25 to $100 range or for a special treat, pick up a Chateau d’YQuem which will range from $400-600 for a full bottle, depending on the vintage. If you want a wine that’s a little less expensive, try the dessert wine Barsac, which is another sweet wine from Bordeaux. You might also like Loupiac and Cadillac which are two additional sweet wine appellations in the region.
Wines from California and Washington State
Late harvest wines from California and Washington State are typically made with Riesling or Muscat, with the exception of Dolce, a sweet wine by Far Niente, which is produced like a traditional Sauternes. Dolce is considered by many to be one of the best dessert wines from America (its name actually means sweet in Italian). It has a fruit forward flavor profile of peach, apricot and pear, with honey, citrus zest and fig notes. Expect to pay $70-75 for a half bottle.
Tokaji from Hungary
Tokaji Aszu is a Noble Rot affected wine from Hungary that’s been a popular drink since the mid 1600s. It was a favorite of many a Pope as well as Napoleon! Tokaji is produced using a blend of white grapes, including the Furmint varietal, and you can find six levels of sweetness indicated on the label using the term Puttonyos (the sweetest level is called Essencia). Tokaji is a high acidity and high sugar dessert wine that comes in 500 ml bottles. The acidity helps to balance out its heavy sweetness, described by some as decadent. You’ll note stone-fruit, citrus, including lemon and orange, honey, ginger and saffron. This is one of the best dessert wines for pairing with simple cakes – try a lemon tart to start! Prices range from $30 to $70, or $350+ for an Essencia level wine.
Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese from Germany and Austria
German and Austrian Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese are classic late harvest wines usually made from the Riesling grape. They’re picked at the highest degree of ripeness and made from select berries which have a rich, fruity and sugary pulp, and in the case of Trockenbeerenauslese, are also dehydrated. They come from various vineyards and are only made when weather conditions are right. In fact, you will only have a few Trockenbeerenauslese vintages a decade. These wines are low in alcohol 6-9% and have a lot of stone-fruit, including apricot, sweet honey, apple and white peach in their flavor profile. They usually come in half bottles which can range from $45-200+ for a German wine and $30-100 for an Austrian wine.
Vendage Tardive, Sélection de Grain Nobles from Alsace, France
Alsace is known for its white wine production, but only about 2% is considered dessert level. Within this you’ll find two categories: Vendage Tardive and Selection de Grain Nobles. Vendage Tardive are dense, concentrated and full-bodied white wines. They have good acidity and some residual sugar with sweet stone-fruit notes. Sélection de Grain Nobles are late harvest wines affected by Noble Rot. They’re not made every year and they can be high in alcohol, but they’re wines with good acidity and a lot of sweetness to their fruit. Flavors range depending on the varietal used – Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris or Muscat. These wines are mainly released in 750 ml bottles and range in price from $60+ for Vendage Tardive to $150+ for Sélection de Grain Nobles.
Dessert Wine Fact: The grapes used for these wines are hand harvested in the fall. They require carefully trained pickers as only the best are selected for production. Smaller harvests and more specific labor requirements are two factors that contribute to the high price of these wines.
More about Port
There are many types of Port but the two major styles are Tawny and Vintage or Vintage-Style Port. A Tawny Port is a blend of wines produced in different years. The number you see on the bottle indicates the average amount of time the wine spent in oak barrels. You’ll find 10, 20 and 30 year-old Tawnys. The longer this wine spends in the barrel, the more its color turns to a red amber and the more secondary flavors it picks up, including nuts, figs, vanilla, and creme.
A Vintage Port is much more rare and only made from top vineyards in exceptional years, with a small selection of the best grapes going into production. The wine is barrel-aged for two years in oak before it’s bottled and released anywhere from five to 10 years later. Between 1950 and 2017 there were only 24 declared vintages. Some people describe Vintage Port as chocolatey. It has big, lush, red berry flavors and a darker color. It’s both intense and opaque with purple and violet hues and usually runs at $200+ a bottle. Tawny comes in 500-750 ml bottles and Vintage Port is available in both half and full-sized bottles.
Sparkling dessert wines
Moscato d’Asti from the Piedmont area of Italy is considered a lightly sparkling, or frizzante dessert wine. The grapes for this wine are actually picked on the early side before they get too sweet. Production is in small batches and fermentation is stopped by chilling the wine, which both preserves its fruit and results in higher residual sugar. Moscato d’Asti is low in alcohol (7-8%), has fresh acidity and is full of bright peach, apricot and orange notes and aromas. Keep in mind, this is a wine you drink quite young. Note, from the same area and made from the same grape, you can also find Asti Spumante which is a sweet sparkling wine. Asti Spumate is a more carbonated wine than Moscato d’Asti.
Additionally, there’s Sec and Demi-Sec which are two categories of sparkling wines and Champagne that have a higher degree of residual sugar. Because they’re sweet, they’re better for pairing with desserts and fresh fruits than drinking on their own.
Wine Trivia: Moscato d’Asti and Asti Spumante are made from the Muscat grape. Muscat grapes are highly aromatic and when they’re ripe they make delicious and fruity wines. However, the Muscat varietal has nothing to do with the white wine Muscadet which is not a sweet wine. Muscadet comes from the Loire region in France and is made from the Melon de Bourgogne grape.
7 Top tips for pairing dessert wines with food
- Enjoy a chocolate fondant dessert with a glass of Pedro Ximenez sherry. This sherry has a chocolatey-hue and flavor profile that will take the decadence of this dessert to another level.
- Put out a fresh fruit spread and open a bottle of Moscato d’Asti. The light sweetness and delicate bubbles of Moscato make this wine a natural with a fruit course at the end of a meal. It’s an ideal sweet wine food pairing if you’re looking for something fun to drink on a spring or summer afternoon.
- Sip some Vin Santo while you munch on biscotti. Biscotti are hard and lightly sweet cookies. They’re usually made with almonds and served as an after dinner treat in Italy. The vanilla and nuttiness of the Vin Santo is a perfect complement. You can even dip the biscotti in your glass, which helps to soften the cookie.
- Pair a Sauternes with foie gras. This classic dessert wine food pairing is a favorite of top restaurants and food connaisseurs the world over. Foie gras is a rich and creamy goose liver pate with a high fat content. The sweet honey, apricot, sometimes butterscotch and caramel notes in the wine make for a perfect pairing.
- Serve your slice of apricot tart with a glass of Dolce. Fruit tarts, including apricot and peach desserts, pair beautifully with late harvest whites. The spices and lushness in a glass of Far Niente’s Dolce will be just the right complement to the sweet and fruity notes in the food.
- Bring out a Vintage or Vintage-Style Port for your cheese course. Port and blue cheese like Stilton and Gorgonzola make for a classic wine food pairing. You can serve them up with walnuts instead of a dessert course (or bring out some rich chocolates as this is another winning sweet food pairing).
- Slice up some apple strudel and drink a glass of Beerenauslese. This is a favorite wine food pairing in Germany and Austria. The sweet vanilla and cinnamon notes and the tartness of the apple make this dessert a perfect complement to a high-acid wine.
