The Unsung Ballad of Sweet Wine
By Rachel Brown
In the world of wine, many consumers associate ‘serious’ wine drinking with only one specific style: dry red. While dry reds are often fine and full of finesse, another category that’s rarely even spoken about and often regarded in a less than serious manner can also be described this way: sweet wine.
Sweet wine has taken an unfortunate brunt in the wine world. Because of bulk production, sweet wines received the connotation of being full of sucrose, made poorly, and sent to the market to appease people who didn’t know what they liked to drink and were only looking for a good time and a quick buzz. These associations have resulted in many who typically drink dryer styles being quick to dismiss flavors and textures that can be at once harmonious, complex, and bright.
As someone who has done hundreds and hundreds of tastings, I’ve witnessed this phenomena first hand. And let me tell you, it’s incredibly disappointing.
First, those that do tend to lean towards the sweeter portfolio are full of apologies.
“I’m sorry, I only like sweet wine.”
“I drink sweet wines, is that okay?”
“I’m not a big fan of dry wines. I know that’s not good.”
I’ve had countless customers and tasters alike tell me that I was probably wasting my time explaining wines to them, considering they only drink sweet. In my mind, we should be treating sweet and even semi-sweet wines with the same exact caliber as any of their dry brothers and sisters.
There’s something to keep in mind when tasting wine, no matter the style. It's something WSET teaches and helps one remove the personal bias of different styles of wine, and that’s BLIC.
BLIC stands for balance, length, intensity and complexity. This is the marker in which we measure up wines. Is the wine balanced on the palate? Is the alcohol and acid in check? Do the tannins (if applicable) match the style of wine? How long is the length? How long does it linger in your mouth, what do you taste when it does? Is it intense? Is it consistent throughout the palate? Is it complex? Are the nuances of flowers, fruit, oak and spice? These are the markers that determine a good wine. A simple system of checks and balances that help us remove the stigma of wines in different categories.
That being said, let’s talk about sweet wines.
A wine that is labeled as ‘sweet’ or ‘semi-sweet’, will have a balance of residual sugar. This can come from left over sugars after fermentation. Specific styles of wine will naturally have higher levels of Brix, or natural sugars in the grape. There are many different categories of sweet wine and some of the highest and well-regarded wines in the world are on the sweeter side.
The German hierarchy of wines is an excellent example. Germany is infamous for their sweeter, dessert style wines. They have an entire system dedicated to it called the Pradikatswein. This system labels wines from sweet to dry, ranging from kabinet (off-dry styles, like Reisling) to Trockenbeerenauslese, which translates to ‘dry berry select harvest’.
Rieslings that fall under the Kabinet bracket maintain their acidity levels but soften the palate with undercurrents of peach and melon. Like their close cousins Gewurztraminer or Traminette, these wines with amounts of residual sugar are great to pair alongside roasted pork with apples, crispy duck skin, or spicy noodles. The spicier the dish, the sweeter the wine!
The wines that are labeled as Trockenbeerenauslese are the rarest, and are made from grapes that have been allowed to raisin. The sugars in these grapes are incredibly concentrated, and can result in rich, luxurious, and luscious wines.
Eiswein rounds out that Pradikatswein. While it may have originated in Germany, Eiswein has become increasingly popular in the Finger Lakes Region in New York and into the Niagara Peninsula in Canada. Eiswein is incredibly difficult to make and hinges entirely upon chance and lightning-fast speed. Ever find one out on the market and wonder why the price is so high?
Eiswein is made from grapes that have been left on the vine for so long that they encounter the first frost. This freeze concentrates the sugars in the grape, typically resulting in over 260+ grams per liter. The terrifying part of making this wine is that if you wait too long or miss the perfect opportunity to harvest these grapes and press them immediately, your crop can be lost. With such a small window of time and such a risk of creativity, 375ML bottles can retail between $20-$150 a bottle!
These wines show true finesse, are rich with honey, bruised fruit, peaches and caramel. They are layered and textured and quite frankly, downright tasty. They pair across the board, from rich cheeses like gorgonzola to Roquefort even to Sashimi! On the dessert scale, they sing alongside sweet fruit-based dishes.
While bulk production of sweet wine may have given this style a bit of a bad reputation, we have to understand that it’s not a one-size-fits-all generalization. Wines that fall under the sweet moniker receive the same time, attention and care (often times, even more so!) as any dry red or white does, and are just as important to the world of wine.
Sweet wines and dessert wines absolutely have a place in wine discourse and are long overdue for a seat at the table. So, if you fall into the crowd that tends to look askance at sweet wines, I encourage you to head out, try something new, remember to BLIC - and see what you find!
(For even more info on different styles of sweet wine, check out our throwback article Why Sweet Wine Should be on Your List.)