Dessert Wine Tasting Results Are In!

I have never been able to wrap my head around dessert wines. I don’t really understand their purpose. The few I have tried have been sickly sweet and I would rather eat dessert than drink it so, really, what is the point? But after watching Big Red savor his port, and recognizing this deficiency in my wine knowledge, I decided to do a bit of research and focus the December My Wine Tribe tasting on dessert wines.

First, a little background:

Technically, dessert wine is any wine that contains over 14% alcohol by volume. For practical purposes, dessert wine is any sweet wine that you might serve as or pair with dessert.

Dessert wines can be sweetened in one of four ways:

• The winemaker can use naturally sweet grape varieties, such as Muscat, Ortega or Huxelrebe.
• The winemaker can add sugar before or after fermentation.
• The winemaker can “fortify” the wine by adding alcohol before all the sugar has fermented. (Fortified wines include port, sherry, vermouth and Madeira.)
• The winemaker can concentrate the sugar by removing water. This dehydration can happen in several different ways. In hot climates, the winemaker can simply air dry the grapes to produce a raisin wine. Cold climates argue for freezing out the water to make what is known as ice wine. In damp climates, winemakers typically add the fungus botrytis, or “noble rot,” which sucks the water out of the grape. (Sauternes and Tokaji, a Hungarian dessert wine, are made this way). Gotta love the French. They invented this method and can work wonders with mold!

Some serving basics: Dessert wines are for sipping, so plan on small pours for each guest. This isn’t an all night long kind of drink. Also the wine should always be sweeter than the food it is served with. Some typical pairings include cheese with Sauternes, fruity desserts with ice wine and chocolate with black muscat or port.

Now on to the tasting . . .

I offered up the Saracco 2011 Moscato d’ Asti ($15.95); the Heinz Eifel Eiswein, or ice wine ($19.95); and two types of port: the Warre’s Warrior Porto Wine Reserve ($16.99), described by my friends at Esquin as a “ruby-esque” port, and the Taylor Fladgate 10-year old Tawny Port ($28.99). Not surprisingly, the tribes had really strong opinions about the lineup.

The Accessible and Balanced tribes liked the Moscato d’Asti—and that was the only one they liked. They found the Moscato lacking in aroma but bursting with apple, peach, honey and lavender flavors. And the wine’s effervescence was a hit. Both Balanced and Accessibles panned the Eiswein—too honeyed and heavy on the butterscotch. And they definitely didn’t go for the ports. The Tawny, their least favorite of the two, evoked prunes and raisins and had the consistency of cough syrup. Or so they said . . .

The Developed Tribe had a somewhat different reaction. They liked the Moscato for many of the same reasons given by the Balanced and Accessible tribes. But they really liked the Tawny, both with dessert pairings and all by itself. They detected prunes, but also found hints of tobacco, spice, caramel and smoke.

The Complex tribe stood out for their appreciation of all the wines. They did have favorites: the Tawny port and the Eiswein, which they found spicy sweet with not so subtle hints of honeycomb and raisins.

In summary, if you need a crowd pleaser for dessert, go with the Moscato d’ Asti. If you know you are trying to please folks with a Developed or Complex palate, Tawny port will be a winner. (Just keep it away from the Accessible and Balanced Tribes.) And if you haven’t taken the quiz yet to see which tribe you belong to, what are you waiting for? Cheers!

PS: Given that dessert wines are a brave new world for me I would love any recommendations you have.

PPS: I found this interesting note on the web about synonyms for Muscat wines. Muscat, or Moscatel, or Muscatel, or Muscadel, or Moscato, but not Muscadet, which is a dry (and delicious) white wine. Must stay sober to remember that  . . .