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Dessert Wines

 

We enjoy finishing a nice dinner with a small amount of sweet desert wine. Dessert wines can be made from grapes that are naturally high in sugar or grapes that are late harvested to achieve maximum sugar. Then, the fermentation process is cut short, so all of the sugar is not turned into alcohol. Dessert wine can be made from many different grapes, both white and red. We want to highlight three types of dessert wines that we enjoy. They are Moscato, Sauternes and Port.


Moscato is a white grape that is naturally high in sugar. The wine made from these grapes is aged in stainless steel. The semi sweet wine has aromas and flavors of pears, peaches and tropical fruit. The alcohol content is low and this is a pleasant finish to a meal of seafood or poultry. Terrific Moscato comes from Italy as well as California.  Bartenura Moscato from Italy is a top seller and we bought this bottle for $11.99 at Total Wine.





Sauternes is an exceptional dessert wine from Bordeaux France. Unusual climate conditions cause the Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc grapes to shrivel like raisins, which concentrates the sugars. The fermented wine is then aged in French oak. The sweet wine has flavors of honeysuckle and tropical fruit. Sauternes can be expensive but you only drink a small amount at a time. Any good wine shop will have a selection of Sauternes and we bought 375 ml. Chateau St Vincent 2015 Sauternes for $23 at Wine Xpress in Simpsonville.





Port is a red wine from Portugal that has been fortified with Brandy. The wine is sweet because the fermentation process is cut short but the alcohol content is very high from the Brandy. Typical flavors include raspberry, blackberry and chocolate. American wineries from New York to California produce port style wines which are also enjoyable. The wine is typically consumed in small amounts but it can be kept for a few weeks in a refrigerator if the air has been pumped out of the bottle. We are currently enjoying Dow's LBV Port from Portugal which we bought at the Total Wine liquor store for $25.49.



I think it is time for dessert!


Note:  This blog was presented by Wine Joe and Wine Jane as part of the Furman University Osher Lifelong Learning Institute "OlliLive" summer broadcast.  You can view this on  youtube  at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCQtiFCBrvI

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