{"id":2215,"date":"2022-10-28T17:21:32","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T17:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2215"},"modified":"2022-10-28T17:21:32","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T17:21:32","slug":"white-dessert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2215","title":{"rendered":"White Dessert"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few issues ago, we focused on red dessert wines<\/a> that you might encounter at some wineries, where they are almost an afterthought compared with the table wines made there.\u00a0 Of course, there are certain parts of the world where dessert wines are the main event and some of those are red: Port from Portugal, vin doux naturel<\/em> from the south of France, Recioto from Italy\u2019s Valpolicella region and Mavrodaphne from Greece.<\/p>\n

In the United States, there are few if any wineries that specialize in dessert wines, and those who do usually make them from white grapes: Reisling, Vidal, Rousanne and sometimes Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc.\u00a0 There are many renowned wineries that do have white dessert wines on their lists, sometimes<\/em>.\u00a0 They don\u2019t have the proper climatic conditions every year to make these wines so visitors won\u2019t always have a chance to try them.\u00a0 As is often the case, if those who come to taste the main production show genuine interest and some knowledge, we have experienced that the server \u201cjust happened\u201d to have a bottle of their dessert offering in the refrigerator that could be shared.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em>Grapes that have been attacked by botrytis, the Noble Rot.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of Vinoble.<\/em><\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, California produces the most white dessert wines in the US.\u00a0 But they are also to be found in Washington and New York states.\u00a0 Some are the result of what is known as the Noble Rot, botrytis cinerea<\/em>, a fungus that attacks the grapes, sucks most of the water out of them and leaves very concentrated sugars behind.\u00a0 Naturally, it takes a lot of shriveled grapes to make even a half bottle, so that\u2019s why producers are a bit reluctant to share tastes.\u00a0 Botrytis doesn\u2019t always occur \u2013 another reason it\u2019s hard to find and get a chance to taste these wines, but in the Sauternes region of France it\u2019s routine.\u00a0 A trip to the Bordeaux region is incomplete without visiting Sauternes.<\/p>\n

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Making ice wine.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of New York Upstate.<\/em><\/p>\n

Another common way of making dessert wines is to let the grapes freeze.\u00a0 The resulting ice crystals puncture the skins of the grapes, also letting out much of the water when they defrost.\u00a0 In the US and Canada, we call these ice wines.\u00a0 Of course, this requires very cold conditions while the grapes are still on the vines.\u00a0 This does happen in Canada every year, so the Canadians are the world champs of ice wine, mostly in Ontario but also in Qu\u00e9bec.\u00a0 These wines tend not to be as sweet and are better at accompanying fruits and cheeses than with chocolate.<\/p>\n

Lastly, there are late harvest dessert wines, made from grapes that are left on the vines to dry out.\u00a0 They tend to be a bit raisin-y for that reason.\u00a0 They are more frequently made in Europe than in North America.\u00a0 Late harvest wines are known as Vendage Tardive<\/em> in France (particularly in Alsace) and Sp\u00e4tlese<\/em> in Germany.\u00a0 Visitors to those places will surely get a chance to taste their dessert wines, after sampling Reislings and Gewurtztraminers.<\/p>\n

Wine tasting in regions that specialize in white dessert wines can overload the senses a bit, but you can be certain to try them.\u00a0 In regions of Wine Country where dessert is not the main reason to visit, tasters need a bit of luck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few issues ago, we focused on red dessert wines that you might encounter at some wineries, where they are almost an afterthought compared with the table wines made there.\u00a0 Of course, there are certain parts of the world where dessert wines are the main event and some of those are red: Port from Portugal, … Continue reading White Dessert<\/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":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2215"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2215"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2218,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2215\/revisions\/2218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}