{"id":1468,"date":"2020-01-31T02:06:14","date_gmt":"2020-01-31T02:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1468"},"modified":"2020-01-31T02:06:14","modified_gmt":"2020-01-31T02:06:14","slug":"tasting-dessert-wines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1468","title":{"rendered":"Tasting Dessert Wines"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Back in the day, there was a pop song called, \u201cKisses Sweeter than Wine\u201d.\u00a0 That singer wasn\u2019t talking about an ultra-brut Champagne or a Chianti.\u00a0 Today, most people who enjoy wine tasting are sipping table wines, not dessert wines.\u00a0 Sweet wines have been around since Biblical times, but they aren\u2019t the focus of winemaking in most parts of Wine Country.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/botrytis.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1469 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/botrytis-300x198.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"648\" height=\"428\" srcset=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/botrytis-300x198.png 300w, http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/botrytis-768x507.png 768w, http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/botrytis.png 975w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 648px) 100vw, 648px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Sauternes grapes, shriveled with botrytis.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of Decanter.com.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Now there are some great sweet wines available.\u00a0 The best known are from Sauternes in France and Portugal, with Ch\u00e2teau d\u2019Yquem the best known in the former and a lot of great producers of the latter.\u00a0 There is Passito from Sicily, or more properly from the tiny island of Pantelleria near Sicily.\u00a0 In Valpolicella you can find Recioto, which is Amarone for which they stop fermentation while much of the sugars remain.\u00a0 The Australians make some great ones and call them \u201cstickies\u201d.\u00a0 And many Canadian and American wineries make fine dessert wines as well.\u00a0 But with some notable exceptions, these sweet wines are the encore, not the main show.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/dessert2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-1470 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/dessert2-300x198.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"618\" height=\"408\" srcset=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/dessert2-300x198.png 300w, http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/dessert2-768x506.png 768w, http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/dessert2.png 975w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 618px) 100vw, 618px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Photo courtesy of Wine Enthusiast.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re in most of Wine Country and you want to find out what the wineries have to offer for after-dinner sipping, there are some things you ought to do.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Find out if they have dessert wines.<\/strong> Few wineries list dessert wines on their tasting lists, but many have some below the bar.\u00a0 When you\u2019ve finished your allotted tastes, there\u2019s nothing wrong with asking, \u201cDo you make a sweet wine\u201d.\u00a0 Note that we don\u2019t recommend asking if they have any <em>available for tasting<\/em>.\u00a0 Many wineries only make dessert wines when conditions (weather, size of the crop, spread of a fungus) permit.\u00a0 So they may make some but not have it for tasting.\u00a0 By asking as we suggest, you stay on the right side of politeness.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Know what you\u2019re tasting.<\/strong> Too many California wineries make what they call a Port, but really they\u2019re just red dessert wines, never approaching what you can find in Portugal.\u00a0 Whites include late harvest, ice wines (and fakes made by putting grapes in the freezer) and wines made from grapes affected by botrytis, a fungus also known as the Noble Rot.\u00a0 These are listed in order of rarity and cost. They each have their own character, some but not all of which is apparent at a wine tasting. \u00a0The best ones change in color, sweetness, density and concentration as they age.\u00a0 What you\u2019re going to get in a tasting room are young wines, which may very well be your preference.\u00a0 But remember that the ages of Ports and Madeiras are measured in decades.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sip s-l-o-w-l-y<\/strong>. If a winery has a dessert wine available for tasting, you\u2019re likely to get one or two thimblefuls, served in a tiny glass.\u00a0 Take a small sip and let it spread in your mouth.\u00a0 Think about the flavors: honey, peach, pear, citrus, honeysuckle and other delights.\u00a0 Then, once your mouth has been primed, try another sip.\u00a0 It may not seem the same, because you\u2019ve passed the shock of the sugars on your tongue.\u00a0 This is when the real character of a dessert wine becomes apparent.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Dessert wines are made from shriveled grapes, in which the juice is extremely concentrated.\u00a0 Naturally, you don\u2019t get a lot of wine from a bunch of scrawny grapes and that\u2019s what makes dessert wines so expensive.\u00a0 They are often sold in half-bottles, so maybe allow yourself a luxury purchase after you\u2019ve tasted some that you liked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Back in the day, there was a pop song called, \u201cKisses Sweeter than Wine\u201d.\u00a0 That singer wasn\u2019t talking about an ultra-brut Champagne or a Chianti.\u00a0 Today, most people who enjoy wine tasting are sipping table wines, not dessert wines.\u00a0 Sweet wines have been around since Biblical times, but they aren\u2019t the focus of winemaking in &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1468\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Tasting Dessert Wines<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1468"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1468"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1471,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1468\/revisions\/1471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}