Quick guide to dessert wines

If desserts are your thing, here is a quick guide to the different types of wines that can help your desserts stand out. Dessert wines can be divided into five main styles, which we will detail below.

1. Sparkling wine

Sparkling wine, the main protagonist during the festive season, is one of the great companions we can find for our desserts. This is because both the bubbles and the high acidity make it taste less sweet than it really is.

Obviously, the level of sweetness will depend on how much sugar the wine contains. To know this, we can be guided by the label. In general, sweet wines in French will appear with the word demi-sec, doux, or moelleux, while amabile, semi secco or dolce is how it is used in Italian, and dulce in Spanish.

2. Sweet white wine

Light, vibrant and refreshing, aromatic, fragrant and fruity white wines are well suited to fruit or vanilla based desserts. Wines made from grapes such as Gewürztraminer, Chenin Blanc or Viognier can be perfectly aligned in this style.

3. Unfortified very sweet dessert wine

Very sweet wines are made from the highest quality grapes in an unfortified style. Many of these wines can age for more than 50 years because the sweetness and acidity retain their freshness.

These wines can be, for example, late harvested, which offers grapes with much higher sugar concentration. This is often the case with Chenin Blanc or Riesling wines.

4. Sweet red wine

Although they do not have the best reputation, sweet reds have good examples to offer. Most of the well-made sweet red wines worth tasting come from Italy, labelled “Amabile” and “Dolce” and use esoteric grapes.

5. Fortified wine

Fortified wines are made by adding grape spirit to a wine, and can result in dry or sweet wines. Most fortified wines have a higher alcohol content (around 17-20%) and have a longer shelf life after opening.

The best known examples are Port, made in northern Portugal from traditional Portuguese grapes, such as Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz, or Sherry (Andalusia, Spain), which are made from Palomino, Pedro Ximénez (a grape, not a person) and Moscatel grapes.