Drinking Sweet Wine

Originally publishing in TWD’s Magazine on March, April and May. This is my thoughts on drinking sweet wines.

Loire Valley Chenin – King of the Sweet wines?

It polarises people no end.

A lot of people refuse to consider a wine if there is any hint of sugar. But sweet wine is a valid and entirely enjoyable part of the wine spectrum. So long as it has one thing – balance. Yep, that is right, I am talking about balance again. In context of sweet wine, it means that the wine has enough acid, phenolic grip (tannins), body and savoury characters to balance out the sugar so the wine is not cloying or sickly.

Mosel Riesling – Emperor of Sugar?

The best sweet wines

Are some of the most complex wines you are likely to taste, they have the ability to linger on your palate a lot longer than most dry wines and they have a huge ability to age for a long time. They can also match with foods that dry wines just can’t. Desserts, fruits and strong cheeses just to name a few. Bear in mind that not all of these are seriously sweet, lightly sweet wines have their place and can be mighty refreshing.

Mosel Riesling is pretty darn good.

By the best I am thinking German Riesling, Italian Moscato, Sauternes (see Bordeaux Offer), Moelleux and Demi-Sec wines from Loire (see the Pichot Offer), Icewine (Eiswein) from Canada and Germany, Moscatel from Spain to name a few (without even touching on fortifieds). Did I miss your favourite sweet wine? Did you want to taste some of these excellent wines? Email me and let me know your thoughts.