First Published in Port Folio Magazine
By Alex Marshall
Learning to sneer at White Zinfandel, or any wine that is sweeter than not, is one of the first steps in wine education.
‘I’d like something dry,’ you say proudly when the waiter asks. ‘I hate sweet wines.’
But as your palate develops, you learn that some sweet wines are fantastic, with subtleties and depth of taste. They can vary from the sweeter Rieslings and Gewurztraminers, to ports and muscats, to the creme de la creme of dessert wines, Sauternes and German ‘eisweins.’
The trick is balancing the sweetness with flavor and crispness. While a pinkish white Zinfandels can taste like Kool-Aid — sweet and not much else — a good sweet wine has a sharpness that sets off the sugar on your tongue.
Some sweeter wines, like a Rieslig, are usually drunk with meals. They are thin and often low in alcohol, so you can drink them in big gulps with a plate of sauerkraut and Bratwurst. I love them (the wines, that is.)
But the kings and queens of sweet wines are what we usually call dessert wines. They are thick, and often have a honey-suckle like flavor. In America, they are usually drunk with or after dessert. In France, they are common as aperitifs before dinner. Whichever, they are wonderful.
Most are ‘late-harvest’ wines to some degree, meaning the wine makers have allowed the grapes to hang on the vines and grow extra-sweet, even to the point of shriveling and rotting. The best — the most famous is from Sauterne within Bordeaux in France — are infected with Botrytis, ‘noble rot,’ a fungus that dries out the grapes even further. The result is juice super concentrated, and super sweet.
The less expensive dessert wines usually seal in sweetness by adding straight alcohol to stop the fermentation process before the yeast has eaten up all the sugar. This is also how Port is made. With a Sauterne, the juice is so sweet that the wine can ferment fully and still remain sweet.
Sauternes are wonderful. They can also cost $600 a bottle. I’d say $70 or $80 is typical. But other sweet wines are quite affordable, and quite good. Over the last few years, I’ve had fun trying out various ones. I’m excluding Port, which I consider a separate category. I’m referring to the usually white, late-harvest wines. They are nice after dinner, with a special dessert, or just a small glass late at night. You see them in half bottles usually, and costing between $8 and $15. While this may seem like a lot for a half-bottle, you don’t drink the wines in large quantities so they are a pretty good deal. A single half bottle will do for an average size dinner party.
One of my favorites is Muscat de Beaumes de Venise. It comes from the town of the same name inside the Cote Du Rhone region in France. It has a wonderful, honey-like flavor and golden color that is similar to a Sauterne but at a fraction of the price. Most I have tried have been very good.
Across the river from Sauterne in Bordeaux is the little town of Cadillac. Wines from this appelation are similar to a Sauterne, but at a tenth of the price. You can find quite a few half-bottles around town — Chateau Haut-Roquefort is one — and all I have tried have been very nice.
The last is a favorite of David Blackstock, former owner of Cracker’s on 21st Street. Drunk with the cheese by the same name, it’s an incredible experience, he says. But Blackstock also says there is nothing like a real Sauterne.
‘It has got a lot of character beside the sweetness,’ Blackstock said. ‘I push people to buy a real Sauterne if they can possibly afford it,’ but to avoid the cheaper ones.
California, never one not to try to do better what France did first, has a number of sweet wines. Robert Mondavi makes several interesting ones, which come in small bottles with cute labels.
The Virginia winery, Barboursville, makes a slightly fizzy sweet wine, Malvaxia from the Malvasia grapes. It comes in a tall elegant bottle that looks like a rolling pin.
Taste Unlimited has a broad selection of dessert wines in half bottles. Steve Stewart, the wine guy in there Ghent store, recommends the Framboise by Bonny Doon. Produced by the infamous Randall Grahm, it’s made from raspberries and is rich enough, says Stewart, ‘to pour over ice-cream.’
Sydney Meers, owner of the now-defunct Dumbwaiter in Norfolk, was known for the variety and style of dessert wines you could order at his granite-topped bar. Now working as a painter and a for-hire private chef, Meers said one of his favorite dessert wines is ‘Essencia,’ an Orange Muscat made by Andrew Quady in California. Quady also has a black muscat wine called ‘Elysium,’ and a low-alcohol Orange Muscat called Electra.
This last is interesting. They obtain a low-alcohol wine — just 4 percent — by stopping the fermentation process by chilling the wine, rather than adding alcohol.
Meers is also a fan of Beaulieu Vineyards’ ‘Muscat de Beaulieu,’ which is $6 to $8 for a half bottle. Meers says that he also finds some affordable and tasty Sauternes from time to time.
My own experience with affordable Sauternes has been mixed. B & G sells a full bottle of Sauterne for $20. It’s not bad — thin, but with good flavor. But I also remember trying one cheaper Sauterne that was ghastly.
But leaving aside Sauternes for now, I encourage any wine lover to move from dry to sweet once in a while, and try some of the numerous sweet wines available. The good ones will make you feel like a god, sitting on Mount Olympus, sipping your nectar.