Although they may not blink at sugary soft drinks or sweet whiskeys and liqueurs, American consumers have traditionally drawn a line when it comes to dessert wine.
But tastes are changing. More people are turning on to these unheralded sweet wines, finding they work well with all manner of desserts and even some savory dishes.
“If paired with the right dish, dessert wines make sense,” said Scott Tyree, sommelier at Tru, the Chicago restaurant famed for the desserts crafted by executive pastry chef Gale Gand.
Today’s dessert wines aren’t the cloying sweet drinks that drinkers used to struggle to swallow. Styles range from light, spritzy moscato d’asti from Italy to honeyed late harvest sauvignon blanc from Oregon to the classic fortified ports and sherries of the Iberian peninsula.
“The appeal is how different they are from the typical [wine],” said master sommelier Andrea Robinson (formerly Immer). She is author of a number of wine books, including “Great Wine Made Simple.”
For Robinson, that appeal “runs the gamut from beautiful colors and bottles and labels to the sense these wines are so different and exotic. I don’t care what people say about the carb craze; we all love sweets. That’s a fact, and they [dessert wines] are fat-free.”
Prices, too, aren’t what one might think.
“There is still the assumption every sweet wine is Chateau d’Yquem, and that’s not the case,” said Tyree at Tru, where sweet wines sold by the glass range from $4 to $100 a pop.
Chateau d’Yquem is the gold standard for sweet wines. This legendary sauterne from Bordeaux is famed for its extraordinary taste, high quality, long bottling age and sky-high prices; from nearly $100 to thousands of dollars depending on the vintage.
“People are realizing even inexpensive wines are very worthy,” Robinson said. “They don’t have to go for the big guns for a great experience.”
How to find a dessert wine you like? Experiment. Talk to your favorite wine shop dealer or restaurant sommelier.
Don’t feel you have to drink the whole bottle in one sitting. A little of these wines go a long way, which is why they tend to be packaged in smaller bottles than the norm. Storing the leftover wine is no problem; the sugars will keep it fresh for quite some time in the refrigerator–long enough to arrange a little liquid lift for the end of your next dinner party.
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A sweet lineup
Size, or the lack thereof, can be a curse or a blessing to a wine merchant. But a space shortage can lead to creative editing of stock to showcase the real winners. So it is at Kafka Wine Co., the Lakeview store where most wines sell for less than $15 and are grouped by such flavor attributes as “toasty,” “fruity” and “earthy.”
Joe Kafka’s “Sticky” (as in sweet, as in honey) collection is a prime example of how he pushes small to his advantage. The 11 bottles are an easily digestible “flight” revealing much about the varying styles of dessert wines. Each offers a different style, flavor, level of sweetness and percentage of alcohol. And they’re cheap too. The most expensive costs $25 per 375-milliliter bottle.
2000 Eola Hills Sauvignon Blanc Vin d’Or
Colored a luminous orange-gold, smelling of apricots and peaches and tasting like caramelized apples and pears, this Oregon late harvest wine had a lively acidity and a long, long finish. This is the Uncorked column’s first 4 corkscrews rating; two panelists scored it a perfect 10.
(4 corkscrews)
$25 / 375 ml
2003 Saracco Moscato d’Asti
Light, fizzy and fun, this Italian white tasted like ripe pears warmed with clove. The aroma reminded one panelist of orange blossoms. The balance of sweet and acid perked the palate.
(3 corkscrews)
$16.20 / 750 ml
2003 Quady Orange Muscat Essensia
This golden caramel-colored Californian had a gingery aroma laden with notes of orange and apricot. It had plenty of honeyed flavor with a dash of black pepper to keep things interesting.
(3 corkscrews)
$14 / 375 ml
2003 Quady Orange Muscat Electra
Another muscat from Quady, the Electra was very low-alcohol, just 4 percent as opposed to Essensia’s 15 percent, and was playfully fizzy. The fruity aroma and flavor had notes of peaches, honey and a little brown sugar.
(3 corkscrews)
$13 / 750 ml
Campbells Muscat Rutherglen
From Australia comes this high-alcohol (17 1/2 percent) non-vintage wine with an almost portlike depth. Colored a deep copper and perfumed with notes of raisin and prune, the wine had a tangy, raisinlike flavor that coated the mouth. The overall effect, one panelist wrote, was akin to “buttery cooked apricots.”
(3 corkscrews)
$19 / 375 ml
2003 Quady Red Electra
The red sister to the white Electra, this blend of orange and Hamburg muscat grapes is also low-alcohol, just 5 percent. Fizzy and slippery, the wine tasted like raspberries, cherries and blackberries, but plenty of acidity kept them in check.
(3 corkscrews)
$13 / 750 ml
Bonny Doon Vineyard Framboise
A non-vintage raspberry wine with “grape spirits” added for extra kick, this dark, inky Californian offered plenty of berry punch. Perhaps it offered too much. “Argumentative,” one taster complained. Yet others liked the wine’s vivid fruit profile and slightly bitter finish.
(3 corkscrews)
$13 / 375 ml
Chambers Muscadelle Rosewood
Vineyards
This non-vintage Australian wine has an alcohol content of 18.5 percent. Syrupy and thick, the wine tastes of brown sugar, maple and caramel. One panelist compared the wine to an old-fashioned cough syrup.
(3 corkscrews)
$15 / 375 ml
2002 Marenco Brachetto d’Acqui
Pineto
Consider this the red wine cousin of the moscato d’Asti. Lightly fizzy and low in alcohol (5 1/2 percent), this Italian had a fruity flavor that reminded one panelist of cherry and raspberries. Another found it slightly smoky, with a lingering finish.
(3 corkscrews)
$16 / 750 ml
1999 Royal Tokaji Co. Tokaji Aszu
5 Puttonyos
Hungary’s tokay wine is world-renowned, hence the Latin moto on this label proclaiming it the “wine of kings, king of wines.” The wine had a warm, honeyed fruit flavor (“puttonyos” refers to the degree of sweetness) that some panelists liked and others found a bit overwhelming.
(3 corkscrews)
$22 / 500 ml
2002 Ca’ De’ Medici Lambrusco
Consider this sweet sparkler sort of like Dr. Pepper for grownups. There’s plenty of cherry and berry flavors with a splash of acidity for liveliness. Tasters found the wine light but balanced.
(2 corkscrews)
$9 / 750 ml
–B.D.
Sources: We found these wines at Kafka Wine Co., but many are available in stores throughout the area. Not every wine may be in stock at your local stores; prices may vary. Prices are rounded off.
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Hear Bill Daley on WBBM Newsradio 780 at 6:21 p.m. and 10:22 p.m. each Tuesday and 7:52 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.
