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Dessert Wines: What Makes Them Sweet

By: Corrie Duana Home | Food-and-Drink | Wine


One of the most famous beverages in the world is wine. Indeed, wine has been used as an important drink in many rituals, ceremonies and events. It is even drunk in sessions of fun.

Some wines are also drunk before or with meals. Table wines are examples of these kinds of wines. But there are also wines that are taken after meals. They are aptly called dessert wines. Dessert wines are either served with desserts such as pastries and fruits or enjoyed alone.

There are many kinds of dessert wines. For example, there are wines that late harvested such as Spatlese which are made of overripe grapes. There are also wines like the Recioto and Vin Santo from Italy which are made of dried grapes. There are also dessert wines made from the mold Botrytis Cinerea. Examples of these wines are Sauternes from Bordeaux, Tokaji Asz from Hungary, Tokaj from Slovakia and Beerenauslese from Germany.

Dessert wines taste sweet. Their sweetness range from slight, with less than 50 grams of sugar per liter of wine to incredibly sweet, containing over 400 grams of sugar per liter of wine.

People and companies that make dessert wines aim to produce wines to contain high amounts of sugar and alcohol, with sugar being produced from alcohol. Wine makers have special procedures to increase the sweetness content in dessert wines.

Some of these ways involve growing sweet grapes naturally. The sugar in these grapes will be enough for both the sweetness and the level of alcohol.

Another way is to add sugar itself. This could be done by chaptalization. This method involves adding sugar or honey before fermentation. Another method is to add sugar or honey to after fermentation. This is called sussreserve and involves the usage of sulphites.

Sweetening dessert wines can also be done by adding alcohol to the natural sugar in grape juice. This method is called fortification or mutage. Usually, the alcohol used is brandy.

Removing the water from the grape juice can make the sugar more concentrated. In warmer weather places, this is done by air during the grapes, the main component of raisin wine. In cold climates, concentrating the sugar is done by freezing some of the water in grape juice. Finally, in damp temperate climates, the grapes are purposely inflicted with the fungus Botrytis cinerea to desiccate the grapes with noble rot.

When serving dessert wines with food, it is important to note that the wine must be sweeter than the food it is served with. White dessert wines are best served chilled. Red dessert wines are served at room temperature.


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