SWEET WINE
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SWEET WINE |
So,
will the real sweet wines please stand up? Ambrosial or awful? This
is certainly a style with an image problem. Sweet wines have not been
in vogue for quite some time. Sure enough, there are some truly
terrible examples around. Making your way round the world of dessert
wines - aka pudding wines, sweet wines, stickies or sweeties - is
something of a minefield.
There are some weird and wonderful sweet
wines out there. Certainly the way in which some of these wines are
made is weird, as we shall see, but when you get a good one - a
well-made Sauternes, perhaps, or fine Austrian Beerenauslese - you
can see what all the fuss is about. There's something about the
pairing of a wonderful dessert, let's say, a sumptuous homemade
chocolate mousse, with a small, frosted glass of perfectly chilled
sweet wine that is quite sublime. And rather impressive, it must be
said, at the end of a grand dinner party.
Lots of keen
wine fans seem to find this particular style rather complicated and
daunting. However, knowing just a little about the types of wines
that fall into this category will help enormously; you can avoid the
nasties and sup on nectar providing you follow a few simple
guidelines. Then there's value for money. Some sweet wines are
incredibly off-puttingly expensive. The good news is it doesn't have
to be so. There are fairly cheap bottles out there that are
absolutely fine, so it pays to know which ones will do when mature
Sauternes from a top chateau is simply not an option. Now, let's get
on with the tips for an altogether sweeter experience.
Much richer and thicker
than dry white wines. Expect a honeyed texture, almost viscous. In
some very rich and particularly mature pudding wines, the texture can
be quite treacley.
the majority
of dessert wines, including those from Bordeaux, the Loire, German
and Austrian Rieslings, are a deep, bright-gold colour - some more
deep in colour than others. A few pudding wines are ruddy red or mahogany brown
Some have pronounced floral scents: for example, jasmine is typical
of Muscat. The aroma is fruity, too; apricot and peach, lemon and
orange are common. You may notice a toffee note, or sometimes a nutty
one.
FLAVOUR OF SWEET WINE
More apricot, plenty of honey, beeswax, barley sugar, preserved
lemons and quinces, with a crisp, clean finish. That's in the good
ones, anyway. Poor examples are simple concoctions of sugar and acid.
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