Signature Styles & Characteristics
While styles of dessert wines differ by grape from country to country and regionally, virtually all wine-growing areas make and adore their sticky wines. Almost all great dessert wines are products of accident. No one at the time most of those wines were born made a conscious effort to define or produce distinguished sweet wines. They just happened.
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Dryness/Residual Sugar
Dessert Wine: 100 percent on a scale from Dry to Sweet of Dryness/Residual Sugar.
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Acid (potential)
Dessert Wine: 100 percent on a scale from Low to High of Acid (potential).
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Alcohol (potential)
Dessert Wine: 100 percent on a scale from Low to High of Alcohol (potential).
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Body (weight on palate)
Dessert Wine: 70 percent on a scale from Light to Full of Body (weight on palate).
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Texture
Dessert Wine: 100 percent on a scale from Round and Smooth to Creamy of Texture.
- Production Methods
- Late-harvested (includes Botrytis-affected and passito), fortified, and sparkling
- Styles
- Single grape (e.g., Late Harvest Semillon or Zinfandel); Vin Doux Naturel (addition of brandy to arrest fermentation and preserve natural sweetness), e.g. Port or Banyuls; sparkling, i.e., naturally sweet/filtered pre-effervescence, with a higher added dosage post all fermentation(s), e.g, Demi-Sec or Doux bottlings
- Ageability
- 1-50 years, depending on style, grape(s), and vintage; in some instances longer
- Late Harvested Single Grape
- Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Muscat, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Malbec, hybrid grapes, Madeira Bual/Malmsey, Assyrtiko, Savagnin, Cabernet Franc, Torrontés
- Late Harvested Classic Blends
- White Bordeaux grapes (Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Muscadelle de Bordelais); Tokaji (Furmint, Hárslevelü); Italian Vin Santo (Trebbiano/Malvasia); Amarone styles (Corvina, Rondinella, Molinara); Lambrusco (Maestri, Sorbara, Grasparossa, and Salamino)
- Fortified
- Port grapes (Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinto Roriz, etc.); Southern French red (Grenache/blends); Southern French whites (Grenache Blanc/blends); Sherry blends (Palomino, Pedro Ximenez); Australian Tawny (various, including Shiraz/Syrah, Grenache, Mataro, Portuguese grapes, etc.)
- Sparkling
- Champenois/Traditionelle (Pinot Noir/Chardonnay/Pinot Meunier), Muscat, Brachetto, Chenin Blanc, Lambrusco (see above)
Late-Harvest Wine Flavors
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Fruit
Apricot, peach, nectarine, yellow apple, pear, fruit salad, sultana (golden raisin), kumquat, loquat, custard apple, quince, pineapple, mango, banana, marmalade, fig, citrus peel, prune, lychee, guava, candied citrus -
Floral
Acacia, fresh herbs, verbena, saffron -
Earth
Mineral, stone -
Wood
Toffee, caramel, flan, butterscotch, vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, clove, chocolate, rancio -
Other
Almond, nut, Botrytis (honey), marzipan, fruitcake, beeswax, lanolin
Fortified Wine Flavors
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Fruit and Vegetable
Blackberry, black or red cherry, black currant, plum, prune, dark or golden raisin, fig (dried or fresh), citrus peel, tangerine, mandarin orange, lychee, squash, rhubarb -
Floral
Anise, herbal, mint, menthol, violets, lavender, straw, rose petal -
Earth
Dust, truffle -
Wood (oak)
Chocolate, coffee, mocha, burnt sugar, molasses, maple syrup, coconut, vanilla, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, pie spice -
Other
Nougat, marzipan, walnut, pecan, malt, rancio, honey
Sparkling Wine Flavors
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Fruit
Apple, pear, lemon, lime, grapefruit, melon (green- or orange-fleshed), strawberry, passion fruit, pineapple, lychee, apricot, guava, fruit salad, peach, quince, raisin, marmalade, lemon curd, watermelon -
Floral
Grass, lavender, citrus blossom, honeysuckle, gardenia, freesia, straw -
Earth
Mineral, chalk, dust, flint -
Wood (oak)
n/a (in most cases) -
Other
Honey, lanolin, yeast, dough, nut, butter, toffee, brioche, perfume, custard