Walk into most wine bars and order a sweet wine from Rioja and your server will look at you like you have two heads.

If, however, you happen to be in one of the few establishments with access to the wines of Bodega Ojuel, you may be met with a knowing smile and a nod, and be on your way to tasting a part of Rioja’s history that was once given up as lost.

Miguel Martínez didn’t mean to recover supurao, Rioja’s ancestral sweet wine, or even to become a winemaker. The way he explains it, he just sort of fell into it.

During his early 20s, he got a job in his grandparents’ village in the Sierra de Moncalvillo mountains restoring neveras – structures built to store snow that was later taken down to the cities to preserve food.

Older people would visit to see what the workers were doing, he explains, and tell stories about how they used to live.

One story that stayed with Martínez was how people would bring grapes home to eat during the winter.

When the grapes turned into raisins, instead of discarding them, locals would press them and make a sweet wine that they drank on special occasions such as weddings and baptisms.

It was known by different names, but the most common was supurao.

Something special

When Martínez asked his wine-loving friends about supurao, none had heard of it.

‘No one was making it any more,’ he says. ‘The only people who remembered it were very old, because it went back to their grandparents’ or great-grandparents’ time and had been lost a long time ago.’

Listening to their stories gave him his first inkling that supurao was something special.

When the old people talked about it, they would smile, he recalls. ‘And you know, with that generation, they didn’t always smile,’ he says. ‘But you’d ask them about the wine and they’d remember the special times in their lives.’

Martínez decided the wine needed to be brought back – not with any intention of selling it, he explains, but ‘just out of curiosity, to recover it’.

To source the grapes he would need, he turned to his grandparents’ old Garnacha and Tempranillo vineyards.

After painstakingly restoring them, he found and rebuilt an old, run-down barn in which to hang his grapes through the winter until they turned into raisins.

‘Then came the question: What do I do now?’ he recalls.

Pressing raisined grapes is incredibly difficult, requiring small presses with lots of force to extract tiny amounts of liquid. In the end, he achieved good results by using traditional olive oil presses.

There was just one more problem: he knew nothing about winemaking.

After a process of trial and error, Martínez made one small, 125-litre barrel, or about 300 half-bottles,

in 2009. He began selling his supurao locally, at village markets, where he was amazed by the reception among older people, who would taste it and share their own experiences with sweet wine.

At one such fair, an elderly woman told him she still had a bottle of supurao her father gave her on her wedding day. ‘I went to her apartment, and her grandson opened the door,’ Martínez recalls.

‘I started telling him what I’d come to see and he said, “Oh, yeah, that old thing.” And I said to myself, how things have changed, right?’ The bottle was from the 1970s. It had been opened and was partially oxidised, but it was still perfectly drinkable decades later.

‘That’s when everything started to make sense,’ Martínez says. ‘This wine had real historical importance.'

Attracting attention

Singlehandedly reviving a lost winemaking style didn’t go unnoticed, and over time, what he was doing started to attract attention.

Sommeliers, producers, famous winemakers and people connected to top restaurants began to visit. From there, his life changed.

‘Visitors would ask, “Don’t you make red or white wine?” So I started working more of those old vineyard plots and producing other wines,’ he says.

Now, he makes about 15,000 bottles a year, 3,000 of which are half-bottles of supurao.

In a region with access to vast quantities of wine from large, established wineries, Martínez’s fight to recover supurao is a way of bringing Rioja back to something that he says is ‘very much a grower’s wine, made by the person who owned the vineyards’. At the end of the day, ‘it was about caring about this wine again’.

Without realising it, the young man who fell into winemaking has helped bring a forgotten tradition back to life and shifted the way Rioja understands its past.

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Redbreast’s latest release in its Iberian Series is the Moscatel Wine Cask Edition. It’s the most recent in a long list of Irish pot-still whiskeys finished in a sweet, fortified-wine cask. And it’s not just pot-still. In 2025, Jameson blended whiskey released its Triple Triple Marsala Cask Edition, and Bushmills replaced its 10 Year Old malt with a Marsala-finished 12 Year Old, so that its entire single-malt range is now sweet fortified-finished.

Far more than Scotch, which tends to stick to Sherry, Irish whiskey in its various forms has been finished with success in an array of fortified wine casks. Why the affinity?

A little bit of history repeating

Dave McCabe, Irish Distillers’ Master Blender, responsible for Redbreast, says: ‘Our master cooper, Ger Buckley, told me that bourbon casks didn‘t arrive at our Midleton distillery until the 1960s – before that it was all Sherry and other wine casks.‘

In the 1800s, there was a lot of sea trade between Ireland and the Mediterranean. Whiskey bonders (who bought new-make spirits from distilleries, aged them and blended them) were wine merchants too, so it was logical what they would use. And fortified wine was best suited for ship transport.

Michael Cowman, co-founder of independent bottler Redacted, points to older connections. ‘There’s a straight line from northern Spain to the west coast of Ireland. It’s been a smuggling route, a fishing ground for Spanish ships. And there are the Catholic alliances – a lot of Spanish settled on the west coast after the Armada was wrecked off the coast.’

McCabe says: ‘You can take it even further back, with the Irish involved in setting up monasteries around Europe, where they produced wines.’

That explains the tradition. But why does it work so well?

The right spirit

Pot-still whiskey, claims McCabe, is ideal for a dessert- or fortified-wine finish. ‘The inclusion of unmalted barley adds a mouth-coating, creamy texture. When you age that in a PX or Moscatel wine cask, which has a sugar content of between 200g/L and 400g/L, I think there’s a level of decadence. When it comes to dessert wines in Spain, they mightn’t even drink them – they’ll pour it over ice cream as a syrup.’

Irish single malt does not have the Robinson’s Barley Water element of pot still at the raw spirit stage, as Bushmills brand ambassador Janice Snowden points out, but that doesn’t seem to be a hurdle. ‘The 12 Year Old Marsala finish has texture but the tears on the glass are from the finish... We’re not about making a really gooey new-make spirit – it’s more medium-bodied than oily.’

Arguably one of the most contentious finishes in Scotch is Port (particularly ruby Port), which can taste like someone spilt blackcurrant jam in the bottle. But the Ribena note on Port-finished Irish single malt is not as jarring.

‘Even before I worked for Bushmills,’ says Snowden, ‘the 16 Year Old was my favourite Irish whiskey. And I have yet to find a Scotch whisky with a Port-cask finish that comes close to it. It’s not overwhelming; it just complements the spirit character – especially those red and green apple notes of the new-make.’

Make it a triple

What Irish single malt and pot still share is triple distillation. Alex Huskinson, WSET Educator for The Whisky Exchange explains: ‘Triple distillation in Irish whiskey isn‘t the same as for vodka – they’re not aiming for a neutral spirit. But it does result in a brighter, more fruity spirit.’

He adds: ‘If it’s a single malt, it concentrates the malt character... nuts, honey, citrus. For pot still, the unmalted barley will give you green notes and fresh spice. Triple distillation hones in on flavours which will be enhanced by sweet wine influence.’

Some Scotch malts will work with these wines, but often whiskies that are umami-rich or smoky, for example, clash instead.

Cowman, who bottled a Sauternes-finished Dingle whiskey in 2023 adds: ‘I think triple distillation gives you a really good canvas to paint on, as long as you select really good casks to finish in.’

Quality casks

And that is key. Like all matters in wine and spirits, the modern level of detail, sophistication and quality control is a world away from 19th-century traditions of trading casks at the quayside.

‘If we just bought old casks a bodega was trying to offload, we would get all the sweetness from the wine, but without that nicely balanced tannin from the oak,’ says McCabe. ‘That‘s why we work directly with bodegas to produce bespoke casks seasoned with the fortified wine.’

For Redbreast‘s Moscatel edition, he worked with Bodegas Quitapenas in Málaga, which took toasted European oak hogsheads and seasoned them for two years with a wine chosen from a selection of 30, before they were shipped to the distillery in Cork.

Variety is the spice

The sheer range of different fortified and naturally sweet wines – even from individual winemakers – is exciting for whiskey makers. Both Snowden and McCabe get animated when talking about the estufagem heating process in Madeira (leaning towards stewed apricots) or Marsala‘s addition of mosto cotto (cooked grape must, giving whiskey extra nuttiness and tobacco).

Cowman is a champion of the less global Irish whiskey makers. He has tasted limited editions finished in Vin Santo, ice wine and Rivesaltes casks. At the moment, he is searching for a good Hungarian Tokaji cask to finish a whiskey in. ‘There are lots of possibilities if people are prepared to push the envelope on what’s possible,’ he concludes.

Six sweet fortified-wine cask Irish whiskeys to try

Boann Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey Madeira Cask

Boann distillery in Meath is an envelope-pusher extraordinaire. Its core pot-still range is all fortified-wine-aged (Madeira, PX and Marsala) and it’s tough to choose the best. Justino’s Madeira Wines has supplied casks from various vintages and colheitas, as well as the different Madeira styles – including boal and sercial – for an exquisite balance of peaches and cream, floral aromas, walnuts and fruit cake. Alcohol 47%

Bushmills 12 Year Old Single Malt

With only a six-month finish in Marsala casks, you might expect the first 12 years in oloroso and bourbon to have more influence here. But the fresh apple notes are caramelised, there are candied nuts, honey and spices... It’s a remarkable step up from the old 10 Year Old. Alc 40%

Jameson Triple Triple Marsala Cask Edition

Jameson is a blended whiskey, combining pot still and grain whiskey – the latter is also a good canvas for flavour. The triples refer to the distillation of course, and three woods: bourbon, Sherry and American oak seasoned with Marsala from Cantine Florio in Sicily. It gives an exotic twist to the original Jameson, with banana, kiwi and ginger notes. The Marsala Cask Edition is exclusive to travel retail. Alc 40%

Redbreast Moscatel Wine Cask Edition

For this non-age-statement whiskey (believed to be at least nine years old), Master Blender Dave McCabe took liquids aged in ex-American whiskey and ex-oloroso casks and finished them for a chunky 16 months in Moscatel casks. It takes you on a citrus journey, with lime juice and bitter orange peel, plus creamy vanilla fudge and floral honey, with some pepper and allspice. Alc 46%

Red Spot 1991

Normally, Master Blender Dave McCabe would blend casks to balance distillery character, wood influence and the wine finish. But this rare single Marsala cask was all perfectly balanced and matured for 31 years, rich and fresh in equal measure. Expect apricots and peaches, tobacco and cocoa, prunes and raisins, with a scattering of herbs and spices. Exclusive to The Whisky Exchange. Alc 55.9%

Two Stacks 9 Year Old Single Pot Still Cab Franc Ice Wine Finish

Two Stacks is one of the new era of Irish whiskey bonders, a movement revived by JJ Corry a decade ago. For this release, they gave a pot-still whiskey (understood to be from Great Northern Distillery) a long, 18-month rest in barrels that previously held Cabernet Franc ice wine from Canada. Name a red berry or plum variety and it’s in here, but with great tannic structure and wood notes to avoid excessive jamminess. Alc 54%

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Whether you’re pulling out all the stops or hiding away from the hype this Valentine’s Day, the links between wine and romance are undeniable. 

Our Valentine’s Day-themed quiz takes you through historical love and wine connections, romantic labels, quotes and even cocktail ingredients. Try your luck with our 10 multiple-choice questions below.

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In the run-up to the festive season, sweet wines ought to be on every wine lover’s shopping list. But this can be a difficult category to understand, with wines grown all round the world, many different styles and varied production methods, leading to a daunting spectrum of flavours and sweetness levels.

Consumers sometimes shy away from wines that aren’t dry, perhaps fearing sugary concoctions that are difficult to match with food. Yet, when done well, sweet wines are among the most thrilling that money can buy.

It’s a mystery why estates continue to produce sweeter styles, given the costs involved. And the increasing unpredictability of the climate means heightened risk of adverse weather drastically reducing quantity and quality.

Wines reliant on botrytis (a fungus, also known as noble rot, that splits the skins of grapes, causing evaporation of water within the berry and concentration of the juice) or the right conditions for drying grapes, are particularly vulnerable.

Fortified styles can be less challenging in the vineyard but require lengthy, costly ageing in wood or bottle before producers see cash-flow benefits.

‘When done well, sweet wines are among the most thrilling that money can buy’

A question of style

Fortified wines are one of the two broad categories into which sweeter styles are divided, the other being the naturally sweet styles. The former – which include Port, Madeira, Rutherglen Muscat, Banyuls and Rivesaltes – rely on the addition of grape spirit to stop the fermentation before completion, leaving typically 80g-250g of natural sugar per litre in the wine.

Subsequently aged in wood – or for vintage Port, many years in bottle – these are great accompaniments to hard or blue cheeses, or perhaps matched with nuts and dried fruit at the end of a meal.

Naturally sweet wines rely on concentration through the onset of noble rot or complex techniques such as cordon cutting (whereby the canes that feed the grapes are severed before they’re completely ripe, keeping the acidity high and halting the supply of water to the fruit, causing the juice to concentrate), or drying (either on the vine or by being exposed to sun and air post-picking).

Some of these wines are aged in wood, while others see no wood influence, accentuating freshness. Sugar levels can reach more than 300g/L, but the best wines balance this with a rapier-like line of acidity.

Enjoy these with fruit desserts, soft and hard cheese, dried fruit and nuts – or even better, savour them slowly on their own. And there’s no rush to drink any of these wines – many of these will save very well once opened. Simply put the cork back in, store in the fridge and enjoy over several weeks.

Sweet treats: Andy’s pick of 21

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In the realm of tasting notes, the word ‘sweet’ tends to be spoken with a certain vitriol. It’s an insult of the highest order – as if sweetness has wronged drinkers personally, poisoned their families, foreclosed their homes.

We’re looking for your absolute driest white, you’ll hear in many a wine shop. I’ll drink anything as long as it’s not sweet. Please, god, make it dry as the desert. Anything but sweet, I beg of you.

Then again, much like with the anti-Chardonnay movement, the oddly aggressive aversion seems to be mired in an allergy to the word more than a firm distaste for residual sugar (RS) itself.

Surely there are valid reasons for the widespread loathing of ‘sweet’ notes in wine. Perhaps you were burned by some screw-top bottle of grocery store wine loaded up with RS to mask general inadequacy. Maybe it was the Riesling you pounded in college before puking in the back of a taxi, or the saccharine Prosecco poured inexplicably at all too many weddings.

All the same, the sweetness-revulsion generalisation seems as if it’s largely been internalised by folks who were spurned by a particular tragic bottle – the likes of whom now conflate said poison apple with the whole spectrum of sweet or off-dry wines.

‘Right now, we have a sparkling rosé with the tiniest bit of residual sugar on the by-the-glass list,’ says Joseph Signa, a server at Brooklyn wine bar, Anais. ‘Often, people will come in and say they want something dry, and I’ll taste them through a handful of things they don’t want. Then, I’ll pour them a glass of these bubbles, and they’ll love it.’

Of course, as he explains it, he’d never describe the wine as sweet. Instead, he’d say it’s full of ripe red fruits. That it’s bright and juicy. And quelle surprise, guests are delighted. It’s not the touch of sugar they dislike; it’s the moniker… the broad categorisation of sweet wine.

It’s worth keeping in mind: sweet is hardly a tasting note.

Signa’s method is not dishonest… it’s just that ‘ripe red fruits’ more accurately describes the palate on the Cabernet Franc in question.

Think about it: What kind of writer would I be if ‘sweet’ were the only adjective I had on hand for the wild salad of fruit, mineral and floral-forward notes present in a glass of wine? Or for that matter, anything at all?

Now, when I posted on the World Wide Web soliciting ‘sweet wine’ opinions, I was met with a host of recommendations for this Tissot Macvin, or that off-dry Riesling – largely from a battery of wine professionals, all of whom had a number of sweet wines to recommend that they, themselves, enjoy drinking after dinner, on ice in the afternoon, with red meats, with stinky cheeses. On the other hand, I was also met with a litany of responses à la: ‘I haven’t had sweet wine since the Moscato at my batmitzvah.’ Or even, in an economy of language: ‘Ew’.

The thing is: We’re! Missing! Out! And I’d bet money on the fact that we’re crouching on the brink of a proper sweet wine renaissance… not merely as a dessert accompaniment (or replacement). In fact, the tastemakers (so to speak) have already… spoken.

Take Château d’Yquem, for example – a rather legendary estate known for its sweet white wines from Sauternes in the Bordeaux region of France. While oft-classified as a dessert wine, Beyoncé and Jay-Z reportedly went nuts over the stuff served alongside cream sauce and fresh truffle ravioli at a wedding last year.

At the same time, we’re watching steak and Madeira pairings – a fortified wine produced on the Portuguese island of Madeira – gain traction online and in restaurants fairly ubiquitously. And while not a new phenomenon by any stretch (the two have been served together since time immemorial), the coupling is making a distinct comeback now that it seems opinions are slowly warming to the oh-so-petrifying prospect of sweet wines.

It’s worth mentioning that Madeira is a fortified wine – meaning that brandy (or other neutral spirits) is added during the fermenting process – but nonetheless, the flavour profile falls within the bounds of what is, indeed, known as a sweet wine. And when enjoyed with steak, the nutty, umami profile cuts through the char immaculately, and the low, caramelised flavours meld brilliantly with red meat.

In short, the pairing works, and if we could just get over the whole sweet classification, there’d be so much to explore. And the wine need not be Château d’Yquem to carry the point.

‘A well-made sweet wine will have more than just sugar. Most of them actually have quite a high amount of acidity or freshness behind that sugar, which makes them balanced, and oh so sumptuous,’ says Ramon Manglano, head sommelier at trending uptown Manhattan French restaurant, Chez Fifi, where he says he particularly likes to pour a sweet wine – 1997 Doisy-Daene – with the chef’s poulet rôti, a chicken dish topped with with cubes of seared foie gras.

‘I was trying to think of something to gild the lily a little… without pulling away from the savouryness of the chicken and morels,’ he explains of the pairing. ‘Older Sauternes style wines get these beautiful mushroomy, saffron, gingery aromas – while the rich honey and sweet fruit tones tend to mellow out – all of which makes sense for the dish, especially with the flavour of the foie gras.’

Tell me that doesn’t sound delicious, I dare you. And what’s more, it makes sense: While we’ve long proselytised the absolute delight of the salty-sweet coupling in food, for whatever reason, we’ve neglected to assume such a combo could play out so gracefully in a wine pairing, too.

The point is, ‘sweet’ as a signifier is rudely diminishing to wines with such expansive and complex profiles, the likes of which are designed to converse brilliantly with so many savoury foods (or, frankly, nothing at all).

‘Sweet doesn’t actually feel like its own tasting note,’ adds Signa. ‘You’ll get the whole fruit leather thing, the rich toasted nut thing, the dried currant thing. It’s so good with dessert because great sweet wines have such excellent acidity. They actually cut through the sweetness.’

While harvesting grapes in Alsace in 2023 – les vendanges, so it’s called en Français – the cellar manager with whom I worked, a 25-year-old boy with a bun and an immaculate palate, scoffed at my juvenile insistence that I was not a dessert wine person.

In response to his monologue in favour of a good fortified or off-dry wine to pair with the typical French after-dinner cheese course, I’d whined that I’d still prefer to drink something without residual sugar.

‘You’re going to taste these together, and you’re going to like it,’ he told me one evening in clipped French, handing me a small, delicate glass of fortified Riesling with a crumbled wedge of blue cheese.

Fully prepared to reaffirm my stance, I obeyed… and let me tell you: However needlessly, radically stubborn I may be, I had no ground left to stand on. Both flavours were large, loud, and self-assured, but neither entirely overpowered the other. The acidity in the wine cut through the richness of the cheese so cleanly. The nutty apricot-honey undertones interlaced seamlessly with the savoury funk. It all made sense; it worked. So, naturally, I admitted defeat and asked for a second glass.

‘The truth is, everyone wants to drink something that makes them happy,’ says Signa. ‘And sugar makes people happy.’

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I once attended a festival in Mád in the heart of Tokaj in northern Hungary. It was dark, the streets empty, the houses shuttered. But if you happened upon the right address, you were suddenly thrust into a disco-themed cheese tasting or a lively pop concert in one of the village’s wineries. It was, dare I say it, wonderfully mad.

Tokaj: we all know the region’s name, its history and the superlative quality of its wines, but how many of us have recently explored its lesser-known paths and hidden corners?

Yes, there’s a limited market for sweet wines, and Tokaji wines aren’t cheap (quite rightly, due to the heavy manual labour involved). And there has been a strong marketing focus on dry wines since they made their debut in the early 2000s.

But the selection that follows reminds us that Tokaj is still one of the greatest regions for sweet wines that can both elevate and surprise.

Scroll down for notes and scores of 18 superb sweet Tokaji wines

Sublime stars

The stars of the show are the sublime Aszú wines, which feature strongly in my selection. Produced using shrivelled, botrytis-affected berries, with sweetness levels indicated via the quantity of botrytised berries added (historically measured in ‘puttonyos’ – wooden baskets), these sweet wines of Tokaj are so heavily dependent on harvest conditions that it’s worth examining a few of the vintages.

Six wines here come from the 2017 vintage and four from 2021. Both were outstanding Aszú years, offering great structure and elegance, as well as hallmark luscious tropical fruit. 2016 was another very good year, producing classical wines with fabulous intensity, and 2013 was also outstanding; I’ve included a beautifully aged wine from this vintage.

Given the impressive longevity of these wines, it’s worth seeking them out for cellaring.

When it comes to the sweet édes Szamorodni (which means ‘as it comes’; the dry version is called száraz) wines, producers seem to have reached new heights. A blend of both botrytised and healthy grapes, Szamorodni is a somewhat more immediate and (slightly!) less concentrated wine.

Change for good

In 2014, the authorities discarded the three and four puttonyos categories of Aszú; perhaps better-quality édes Szamorodni wines have filled that gap. Generally at a lower price point, they’re a fantastic introduction into the region but still have the capacity to age gracefully.

Within the selection, there are also a couple of delightful late-harvest wines with lighter-bodied, refreshing profiles. These wines show great versatility, equally adept at partnering cheese, dessert or an aromatic Thai curry.

There isn’t any Eszencia (syrupy nectars made using only aszú berries) in this list – there are hefty costs involved in sampling these rarities! But some of the producers featured here also make the best examples of this unique wine.

Winemakers in the region are keenly focused on expressing the personality of Tokaj’s volcanic terroir, whether in the form of a late-harvest or Aszú wine. Newer and established producers alike appear to be setting an unparalleled quality level: we might be heading into a new golden age of sweet Tokaji wines.

See notes and scores for 18 sumptuous sweet Tokaji wines

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See Decanter's in-depth report on the Bordeaux 2023 vintage and the top-scoring wines from more than 600 tasted.

Here we present a quick and easy way to see tasting notes and scores for all 21 sweet wines tasted.

See also

Bordeaux 2023: Our en primeur verdict and top-scoring wines

Bordeaux 2023: How weather conditions shaped the vintage

Bordeaux 2023 en primeur: Decoding the yields

Bordeaux 2023 wine styles: What to expect

You can be forgiven if you are unfamiliar with the Quarts de Chaume appellation. After all, when I mentioned to a well-known wine-writer colleague based in San Francisco that I was writing about it, he said, ‘What’s that?’

The appellation should be on every wine lover ’s radar, because it’s home to one of the world’s greatest sweet wines.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Domaine des Baumard’s Quarts de Chaume

Only about 40ha in size, and shrinking, the appellation sits within the wider AP Coteaux du Layon in the Anjou district, in western Loire. It has the distinction of being the Loire’s sole grand cru, approved by the French National Institute for Origin and Quality (INAO) in 2014.

About 20 producers bottle just over 50,000 bottles annually, which helps explain why the wines are not as well-known as they rightly should be – compare that figure to the five million bottles produced each year in Sauternes and Barsac, home to another of the world’s finest sweet wines.

Domaine des Baumard, with its 6ha, is the largest producer of Quarts de Chaume, and is certainly one of, if not the, best producers.

Just below this pinnacle lies two appellations, Coteaux du Layon Premier Cru Chaume and Bonnezeaux. Rounding out the area for sweet wines is the broader Coteaux du Layon appellation.

Quarts de Chaume’s history

Quality wine from this section of the Loire has been known for 1,000 years. Indeed, Quarts de Chaume takes its name from the custom of winegrowers paying the Abbess of Ronceray in Angers in the Middle Ages a quarter (quart, in French) of the crop from the famed south-facing slope that comprises the appellation.

Because of its complexity – a mixture of schist, sandstone, quartz, rhyolites and spilites (volcanic rock like basalt) – winemakers have called the soil of this sunny hillside along the Layon river, a tributary of the Loire, ‘geological chaos’.

Exposure to morning mist rising from the Layon allows for the development of botrytis cinerea, also known as noble rot. Though Chenin Blanc is required for producing Quarts de Chaume, botrytis is not necessary, according to the appellation regulations. Indeed, Florent Baumard, who took the reins from his father, Jean, in 1990, explains that botrytis has the potential to overwhelm the character of wines and to obliterate the sense of terroir.

Chenin Blanc is excellent for transmitting the taste of the vineyard, according to Baumard, so in his mind, it is important not to overshadow it with botrytis. He likes a blend of roughly a third each of botrytis-affected grapes, concentrated berries and ripe ones, ‘to bring freshness, happiness and elegance’, to the wine.

Domaine des Baumard chronicled

Baumard dates the domaine to 1634 when his ancestors were cultivating grapes on land that is still part of the estate. After phylloxera, Baumard family members became nurserymen, supplying the region with new vines.

In 1955, the modern history of the domaine began in earnest with the arrival of Jean Baumard. Having trained in oenology in Dijon and Bordeaux, he started buying vineyards, including, in 1957, the 6ha of Quarts de Chaume, whose vines now average 35 years of age.

Jean is widely credited with the revival of the appellation. His son, Florent, returned to the domaine in 1987 after studying in England and the US, and became general director on Jean’s retirement in 1990.

In the vineyard and cellar

The two critical points in winemaking are picking and pressing the grapes, according to Baumard. He explains that harvesting Chenin Blanc for Quarts de Chaume is especially difficult because ripeness of the berries even within a bunch is variable.

As in other parts of the world known for sweet or late harvest wines, pickers go through the vineyard multiple times, harvesting by hand, selecting only the best bunches and discarding unsatisfactory fruit. Baumard notes that ‘the whole vineyard can change in a couple of days’.

The team uses small baskets, as though they were harvesting peaches, to collect the grape bunches, because ‘the grapes, like peaches, need to be pristine for the terroir to show,’ says Baumard. Between picking and pressing, the grapes are left in a cold room to avoid oxidation.

Baumard emphasises that gentle pressing is essential, otherwise the inherent quality of the fruit is lost, and along with it the unique sense of place. Since they press with low pressure, each run can last six to 12 hours.

They will then often collect six to eight different portions, or cuts, of juice from the same press run. The first cut is set apart because it is ‘dirty’, containing skins and water. Baumard explains how since the acidity and sugar levels vary in subsequent cuts, they ferment them separately because the yeast won’t work the same way in each batch. The cuts are blended only after fermentation is complete.

Baumard says that they ‘are not looking for super extraction or super richness, just the purest juice’. He says that if they make a mistake in the picking or the pressing, there’s no way to correct it.

Fermentation is slow, occurring at low temperature to preserve fruitiness and freshness. The wines then spend nine to 18 months on the lees in stainless steel vats. Oak barrels, which would alter the harmony of the flavours, are never used.

Starting with the 2003 vintage, Domaine des Baumard has bottled its wines under screwcaps. A vocal proponent of the closure, Baumard says: ‘I was so stupid. I should have used them 20 years earlier.’

Perfect food and wine pairing companions

As though the plethora of flavours and sensations that come with the yin-yang of sweetness and acidity is not sufficient, versatility is another major attribute of Quarts de Chaume.

Young vintages display floral and delicate honeysuckle sweetness, making them a good choice as standalone aperitifs. And while their sheer vibrancy is refreshing, the faint allure of sweetness is neither heavy nor overpowering. Thus, they brilliantly balance the brininess of olives or the saltiness of nuts. For the same reasons, a young Quarts de Chaume is an ideal foil to starters, such as smoked salmon or savoury patés.

While broad generalisations about sweet wines pairing well with Chinese and Indian food are true to an extent, they are overly simplistic. How could the same wine pair with both Sichuan and Cantonese dishes?

The charms and subtleties of most wines, including Quarts de Chaume, will be overwhelmed by very hot food, such as Hunan cuisine or a fiery Indian curry, so I’d stick to beer on those occasions. However, the vibrancy and gentle sweetness of youthful Quarts de Chaume is a superb way to offset and balance the gentler spice found in many Asian and Latin American dishes. They also work extremely well with the parade of flavours inherent in a sushi dish or an omakase meal.

With increasing age, Quarts de Chaume morphs from delicately honeyed to a richer amalgam of apricot skin and orange-like citrus flavours. Finally, with more bottle age still, they even acquire lush caramel nuances.

At the more mature stages, Quarts de Chaume maintains an enlivening and uplifting acidity, which makes them an excellent choice with both hot and cold foie gras. It’s a perfect Christmas splurge.

More practically, aged Quarts de Chaume is a superb choice with cheese, especially blue or other strongly flavoured varieties. After all, what better pairing could there be than Quarts de Chaume and Colston Bassett Stilton? That said, you might be surprised at how engaging these lovely wines are, especially the younger versions, with fresh or creamy goat’s cheese, or the nuttiness of well-aged Comté.

Although some favour sweet wines with dessert, I find that the sweetness in the dessert can fight and frequently overwhelm the wine. Far better, in my opinion, is a glass of Quarts de Chaume all by itself, as a dessert in its own right.

Looking to the future

Baumard notes that climate change has been beneficial for Quarts de Chaume, because it has aided maturation of the grapes. He recounts that in the 1970s, his father harvested in mid-October, and even by then the grapes often were not ripe, necessitating chaptalisation. But since 1987, with warming growing seasons, Baumard has not needed to chaptalise, even though harvest is earlier.

Growers are increasingly requesting permission from the INAO to make dry wines from the appellation, because the market for Quarts de Chaume and sweet wine in general, sadly, has been shrinking. As Baumard notes: ‘Everyone knows about Sauternes, few about Quarts de Chaume.’

In 1996, the INAO required growers in both Quarts de Chaume and nearby Savennières to choose whether to make dry or sweet wines from Chenin Blanc. Quarts de Chaume chose sweet. ‘A historic mistake,’ according to Ivan Massonnat, co-director of the Quarts de Chaume growers’ association, which they are now trying to correct – Savennières resisted and finally the INAO relented and granted its producers permission to make both.

Currently, the dry wines from Quarts de Chaume can be sold only as Anjou Blanc. To distinguish them, many producers are labelling them under the umbrella term, Ronceray, after the abbey, or writing Dry Chenin Blanc prominently on the label. In my limited experience – I tasted about a half-dozen Ronceray, mostly from the 2020 vintage, last year – they are a most welcome addition, showing great minerality and verve.

The best wines from Quarts de Chaume, especially those from Baumard, have a lightness and grace that distinguishes them from the heavier wines of Sauternes. With its delicacy, Quarts de Chaume is more akin to German late-harvest sweet wines.

Quarts de Chaume can stay fresh and invigorating for at least a week or two after opening, though the odds any will be left in the bottle even after a week are small.

These wines develop magnificently in bottle, reaching a plateau and remaining there for decades, making them a good choice for laying down a few bottles for the future.

Tasting notes and scores for Domaine des Baumard’s Quarts de Chaume

Wines are listed in score order

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Once the most famed and coveted wine style in the world, sweet wines have the ability to inspire otherworldly experiences.

Outstanding examples divulge layers of complexity wrapped up in luscious texture yet are never cloying, with aromas and flavours that continue to develop gracefully with age.

Lying behind the term ‘sweet wine’ are centuries of history, tradition and varying production techniques, from grapes affected by noble rot or dried in the sun, to those left on the vine until frozen. Whatever the process, it’s often a labour of love that gives small quantities in return.

The quality and absolute joy of sweet wines is recognised annually during Decanter World Wine Awards, whereby hundreds of sweet wines from regions all around the world are rated by leading experts, invariably with brilliant results.

Scroll down to see 15 top-scoring sweet wines from DWWA 2023

The 2023 competition saw two of the Top 50 Best in Show medals awarded to sweet wines from Austria and Greece, with eight more awarded 97 points in the Platinum category.

From notable classics to new discoveries, a total of 41 sweet wines from 12 countries were awarded 95 points (Gold) or more, with wines from the Czech Republic, Portugal and China on quality par with the great sweets of France, Germany and Hungary.

‘The Decanter World Wine Awards has become a kind of international benchmark for the wine world,’ explains Co-Chair Andrew Jefford – and a look at results within a specific region, grape variety, colour or style category, as here, reflects this.

As an aperitif, a sweet treat to complete a meal, or savoured on its own, below discover the liquid Gold of the DWWA competition – this year’s global sweet wine benchmarks – with more to search and find at awards.decanter.com

Liquid Gold: Top-awarded sweet wines to try

Austria

Tschida Angerhof, Schilfwein Muskat Ottonel, Neusiedlersee 2021

Best in Show, 97 points 

£73.25/37.5cl Astrum Wine Cellars, Sociovino

Aromas of honeyed, musky enchantment: seduction exemplified. Palate-teasingly rich (308g/L sugars) yet never cloying, thanks principally to those head-turning perfumes and to a lesser extent to its subdued orange-decked acidity. Creamy and rich, and it leaves the mouth with a jasmine freshness. Resist it if you can. Alcohol 8%

Greece

Estate Argyros, First Release Vinsanto, Santorini 2015

Best in Show, 97 points

£45.55-£60/50cl Clark Foyster, Epinoia, Tanners, Wine & Greene

Waxy, incense-like aromas almost seem to evoke the interior of Orthodox churches. The flavours are deep, dense and close-knit, the balance riveting – extravagant sugars (250g/L) are offset by the distinctive acid cut of Assyrtiko and a ‘rancio’ oxidative tang and tannic grip, the legacy of long wood-ageing. Classic Santorini salinity adds a further layer to a unique wine experience. Alc 13%

Australia

De Bortoli, Noble One Botrytis Semillon, New South Wales 2019

Platinum, 97 points 

£21.95/37.5cl (2020) Eynsham Cellars, Gwin Dylanwad, WoodWinters

Big, unctuous and brimming with masses of honey, crystalline sugar, lemon rind and burnt orange. Lusciously sweet crème caramel texture, all held together by a succulent, cleansing acidity. Long, intense and mouthfilling. Divine. Alc 10%

China

Yajianggu Winery, Vidal Icewine, Tonghua, Jilin 2017

Gold, 95 points 

The nose displays lovely scents of flowers with notes of tropical mango and pineapple, caramel and fresh honey. Crisp and lemony on the palate. Alc 10.6%

Croatia

Benvenuti, San Salvatore Muškat, Istria 2018

Gold, 95 points

benvenutivina.com

A rich and intricate flavour profile features notes of raisin, caramel and dried apricot. Its texture is velvety smooth, with hints of peach and beeswax, the finish sweet and long-lasting. Truly impressive. Alc 11%

Czech Republic

Portz Insel, Cibulka Ryzlink Vlašský, Mikulovská, Moravia 2018

Gold, 95 points

vinocibulka.cz

Truly fabulous, showing elegant aromas of honeyed peaches, apple pie, orange peel and fresh citrus fruits. Sweet and unctuous, with harmonious and lively acidity. Alc 12%

France

Domaine des Petits Quarts, Clos des Melleresses, Bonnezeaux, Loire 2021

Platinum, 97 points

domainedespetitsquarts.fr

Has layers of sumptuous candied orange peel and rich honeyed citrus fruit. Caressingly rich and lavish with a hugely concentrated, mouthwatering texture and a seamlessly fresh, contrasting line of acidity. Delectable, delicious and endless. Alc 11.5%

Germany

Dr Loosen, Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling TBA, Mosel 2013

Platinum, 97 points 

POA ABS Wine Agencies

Waves of sublime honeyed apricot, dried pineapple, mango and marmalade with a luscious backbone of exotic saffron and rosehip bathed in vibrant acidity which cleanses the sweetness. Delightfully poised and pristine, incredible length. Alc 7.5%

Hans Wirsching, Iphöfer Julius-Echter -Berg Rieslaner TBA, Franken 2021

Platinum, 97 points

POA The WineBarn

Enticing, intense aromas of dried apricot, candied orange peel, marmalade, peach jam and pineapple dive into a sweet-sour tightrope of tension and delectable oily viscosity, with distinctive acidity and lifted, Angelica root-infused finish. Alc 7%

Korrell, Kreuznacher Paradies Riesling Eiswein, Nahe 2021

Platinum, 97 points

korrell.com

Emblazoned with mouthwatering honeyed peach and apricot fruit, lemon curd and dried blossom with a tingling knife-edge acidity and seamless minerality piercing through the staggeringly intense sweetness. An utterly mindblowing experience. Alc 6%

Hungary

Gizella, Szamorodni, Tokaj 2019

Platinum, 97 points

£33.99/50cl Novel Wines

Smoulderingly rich with swathes of succulent apricot, honeyed white peach, dried mango and passion fruit encased in a penetrating lime and grapefruit freshness. Decadent, full and rapturously luscious with a wonderfully long and youthful finish. Alc 11%

Italy

La Colombaia Ville di Bagnolo, Torri della Colombaia, Vin Santo del Chianti, Tuscany 2009

Platinum, 97 points

villadibagnolo.it

Mesmerising shades of crushed walnuts, dried mango, peach and ginger spice are engulfed in a luscious caramel intensity. Deeply rich and sublimely sweet, a suggestion of toasty vanilla and a lipsmacking tang of refreshing acidity. Very long. Alc 15%

Portugal

Companhia das Lezírias, Séries Singulares Colheita Tardia, Tejo 2021

Gold, 96 points

vinhoazeite.cl.pt

Absolutely impeccable. Heady and unctuous cut lime, pear, lychee, Turkish delight and butterscotch with a harmony of grapefruit acidity and a long, super- spicy finish. Alc 13%

South Africa

Paul Cluver, Noble Late Harvest Riesling, Elgin 2021

Gold, 95 points 

£22-£27.50/37.5cl Christopher Piper, Dunell’s, Frontier Fine Wines, The Oxford Wine Co, Vinvm

Thrilling layers of sundried mango, pineapple, honey and marmalade with a surge of crisp lime acid precision. Hugely generous and enticing with a very long finish. Alc 10%

Search all DWWA 2023 results

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After tasting more than 900 Bordeaux 2022 en primeur samples, Georgie Hindle has given her full verdict on the new vintage.

Here we present a quick and easy way to see tasting notes and scores for all 34 sweet wines from Sauternes and Barsac.

See also

Bordeaux 2022: Our en primeur verdict and top-scoring wines

Bordeaux 2022 en primeur: Vintage analysis and first thoughts

Decanter contributors, staff and DWWA Regional Chairs nominated their top three stand-out bottles of 2022, which were then tasted blind and scored by an expert panel to determine the best and most exciting wines of 2022.

Here we present a quick and easy way to see tasting notes and scores for all six sweet and fortified wines that scored 95 points or above.

See also

Wines of the Year 2022: top-scoring bottles

The 11 sparkling wines were a highlight among the 125 global entries assessed over two days at Decanter’s Wines of the Year 2022 tasting.

After the initial judging, two Champagnes stood above the rest, each scoring 98 points. And they provoked much debate between Pedro Ballesteros Torres MW, Vincenzo Arnese and Amanda Barnes as to which would be crowned Sparkling Wine of the Year.

Scroll down for the top sparklings, sweets and fortifieds from Decanter’s Wines of the Year 2022 tasting

‘We discussed these two a lot because they were quite different styles but both completely incredible,’ said Ballesteros Torres.

‘The eventual winner – and it was so close – was outstanding,’ said Arnese. ‘Elegant, rich and generous, with great integration and complexity, not just now but also for the future.’

Ballesteros Torres commended the entries from other regions for ‘being at an equal level to Champagne, with different and delicious expressions,’ but personally felt ‘it’s impossible for anyone to do it better.’

However Arnese was full of praise for English sparkling wine, including the two entries in this line up. ‘The style is more integrated and refined than ever,’ he said. ‘The prospect for England is looking more interesting – and competitive as well. Perhaps we will see this in future Wines of the Year?’

Impressive sweet and fortified wines

We don’t award a Sweet or Fortified Wine of the Year but, if we did, the judges were in agreement that it would be the Terrantez from Madeira in Portugal.

‘Devastatingly good,’ enthused Arnese. ‘The level of complexity, the layers of flavour, the balance between the sweetness and acidity… I could talk for hours about this wine!’

His fellow judges were equally effusive, although Barnes also highlighted the Fino from Jerez. ‘I just loved its sweaty funkiness, expressing real complexity and eccentricity,’ she said.

‘The five fortified nominations were all really sophisticated, which I don’t expect any less of from Decanter’s experts!’

There were only three sweet wine nominations but each from a different region and grape variety. ‘My personal favourite was the Tokaji for its punchy acidity that offset the sweetness,’ said Barnes. ‘But it was also wonderful to have a beautiful Chenin Blanc straw wine from South Africa – waxy and intense – as well as an exuberantly sweet Rieslaner from Pfalz in Germany, which offered a different expression completely.’

Full list of all sparkling, sweet and fortified wines

SPARKLING WINE OF THE YEAR – 99 points

Champagne Louis Roederer, Cristal Brut, Champagne, France 2013 (nominated by Peter Liem; Classic)

98 points

Billecart-Salmon, Louis Salmon Blanc de Blancs Brut, Champagne, France 2008 (Charlotte Hale; Classic)

96 points

Charles Heidsieck, Blanc des Millénaires Brut, Côte des Blancs, Champagne, France 2007 (Michael Hill Smith MW, Classic)

Henri Giraud, Blanc de Craie Brut, Champagne, France NV (Charlotte Hale; Classic)

Marguet, Sapience 1er Cru Brut Nature, Champagne, France 2010 (Yohan Castaing; Classic)

95 points

Fleur de Miraval, ER2 Exclusivement Rosé, Côte des Blancs, Champagne, France NV (Elizabeth Gabay MW; Classic)

Gusbourne Estate, Blanc de Blancs Brut, Kent/West Sussex, England 2016 (Charlotte Hale; Classic)

94 points

Roederer Estate, Quartet Brut, Anderson Valley, California, USA NV (Brooke Herron; Value)

93 points

Balnaves of Coonawarra, Sparkling Cabernet, Coonawarra, South Australia NV (David Sly; Offbeat)

Hattingley Valley, Kings Cuvée, Hampshire, England 2015 (Anthony Rose; Classic)

90 points

No1 Family Estate, No1 Rosé, Marlborough, New Zealand NV (Cameron Douglas MS, Classic)

SWEET WINE

96 points

Balassa, Villő Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos, Tokaj, Hungary 2017 (Caroline Gilby MW; Classic)

95 points

Mullineux, Olerasay 3 Chenin Blanc, Swartland, South Africa NV (Malu Lambert; Offbeat)

93 points

Müller-Catoir, Herzog Rieslaner TBA VDP Erste Lage, Pfalz, Germany 2017 (Darrel Joseph; Classic)

FORTIFIED WINE

98 points

Henriques & Henriques, 20 Year Old Terrantez, Madeira, Portugal (Richard Mayson; Classic)

97 points

San Francisco Javier, Viña Corrales Fino Bottled 2021, Jerez, Spain (Paz Levinson; Classic)

96 points

Blandy’s, 20 Year Old Malmsey, Madeira, Portugal (Demetri Walters MW; Classic)

95 points

Bodegas de Alberto, Dorado, Rueda, Spain (Gabriela Colotto; Classic)

93 points

Sopla Poniente, Fino en Rama Cerro del Majuelo, Montilla-Moriles, Spain 2020 (Rod Smith MW; Offbeat)

Wines of the Year 2022: the top sparkling, sweet and fortified

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Buy tickets for Decanter Wines of the Year Tasting on Thursday 26 January

Nathan Kendall, who makes wines under his label Nathan K and at Hickory Hollow Winery, told me: ‘If I could only make one wine in the Finger Lakes, it would be sparkling.’

He added: ‘After all, the region was founded on sparkling wines [in the 19th century]. There is no disease pressure when you don’t have to hang for ripeness, and the climate is well-suited for that—with other wines, it’s a juggling act since the weather is consistently inconsistent.’

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for nine Finger Lakes sparkling and sweet wines

PLUS see recommendations for Finger Lakes white and red wines

Kendall is so committed to the sparkling wine that he hand-riddles and hand-disgorges each bottle since the equipment is prohibitively expensive.

Many well-established producers have invested significantly and led the charge on sparkling wine, including Dr Frank, Hermann J. Weimer, Red Tail Ridge and Ravines.

A number of this group have submitted samples to a tasting panel of Manhattan insiders to gain feedback.

The group of tasters includes Mary Gorman-McAdams MW, who commented: ‘When they were good, they were exact, with an interesting sort of verticality and a tension…there’s a little bit of work to go, but there are pockets of brilliance.’

The producers are also interested in promoting a charter for quality sparkling wine for the Finger Lakes, similar to the Cap Classique standard in South Africa.

However, traditional method sparkling production challenges have driven some producers to work on alternatives, including pét-nat and Piquette.

These styles do not require the extended lees ageing or the special equipment in the winery that traditional method sparkling wines need.

These wines tend to be less expensive and appeal to a younger demographic. The flexible production techniques allow winemakers to experiment, and many are now trialling hybrid varieties such as Léon Millot, Catawba and Delaware.

These hybrids are cold-hardy, which is why they were among the first grapes planted in the 19th century, but they can lack the finesse of vinifera varieties. Kendall notes, ‘ The producers of the incredibly popular sparkling Catawbas of the 19th century didn’t leave us a recipe.’ He recently moved his popular Chëpìka bottling from pét-nat to a traditional method to smooth the edges.

See Charles Curtis MW’s tasting notes and scores for nine Finger Lakes sparkling and sweet wines

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Expert’s choice: South American sparkling

From outstanding classics to new-wave discoveries, the world of sweet wines is well worth exploring. The best examples can be transformative – which is perhaps why dessert wines go hand in hand with the end-of-year holiday season – yet these sweet treats deserve attention year-round.

Bringing to light some of the finest sweet wines from across the globe, results from the 2022 Decanter World Wine Awards saw a number of luscious dessert wines awarded top scores.

Of the classics, Tokaji Aszú was ‘in great form thanks to the glorious 2017 vintage’ according to Caroline Gilby MW, Regional Chair for North, Central & Eastern Europe. Sauternes, too, impressed the experts, with Château Laville 2019 awarded the competition’s first-ever Best in Show for the appellation.

Scroll down to discover 15 top-scoring sweet wines from DWWA 2022

From Croatia, Slovenia and Greece to Canada, South Africa and China, nations around the world saw sweet success.

‘There’s always a “handbag” wine – one you want to smuggle out at the end of the day,’ commented Sarah Jane Evans MW of Simčič’s Leonardo 2013 from Primorska, Slovenia, which was awarded a Platinum medal at the 2019 competition, Best in Show the following year, and was Slovenia’s highest-scoring sweet wine in 2022. It’s just one to look out for.

Below discover a selection of the highest-scoring sweet wines, from 15 different countries, at this year’s competition, with many more to search at awards.decanter.com

Decanter World Wine Awards: the world’s best sweet wines

France

Château Laville, Sauternes, Bordeaux 2019

97 Best in Show

£23/37.5cl Tim Syrad

The first Best in Show for a Sauternes. It has ample luscious sweetness, botrytis complexities and lanolin oak. Generous, creamy palate, with crème anglaise and chantilly richness, and a hint of lemon. It’s not a Sauternes to keep for a decade or more, but it offers fine value and huge pleasure in the short term. Alcohol 13%

Italy

Colmano, Vin Santo del Chianti Riserva, Tuscany 2000

97 Best in Show

@ColmanoAziendaAgricola

This distinguished vin santo is a light, translucent russet brown. The aromas evoke old libraries, but with a falling crystalline sweetness. On the palate, it is intense and almost bracing, despite its extravagant sweetness. Lingering flavours of fig, dried fruit, caramel and toasted almond. Alc 13.5%

Canada

Jackson-Triggs, Okanagan Estate Reserve Riesling Icewine, British Columbia 2018

97 Platinum

jacksontriggswinery.com

Perfumed and inviting, with gorgeous aromatics of lifted, floral rose, plus apricot and lush mango, leading on to a textured, honeyed palate of zesty tangerine and inviting caramel, all underpinned with a laser-like acidity. Top class! Alc 9%

Croatia

Benvenuti, San Salvatore Muškat, Istria, Coastal 2017

97 Platinum

benvenutivina.com

A classic style that’s powerful, rich and reminiscent of Sauternes. Fully botrytised, it has gorgeously concentrated

dried apricot, orange peel, brown sugar, buckwheat, honey and baked apple flavours, finishing with a long honeyed tail. Alc 13%

Germany

Hans Wirsching, Iphöfer Kalb Gewürztraminer, Trockenbeerenauslese, Franken 2018

97 Platinum

wirsching-shop.de

Aromatic, with rose water, Turkish delight, lychee and Oriental spices. There’s an opulent sweetness on the palate, balanced by a noble acidity. A reverberating finish. Alc 6.5%

Greece

Estate Argyros, Vinsanto Late Release, Santorini 2002

97 Platinum

estateargyros.com

A beautifully developed nose opens with burnt caramel, fig, buckwheat, honey and notes of pine forest. The palate is

rounded and lusciously sweet, offering toffee, caramel and candied black fruit. Well developed, with outstanding

freshness. Alc 13.5%

Hungary

Gróf Degenfeld, Aszú 6 Puttonyos, Tokaj 2017

97 Platinum

£45/50cl Best of Hungary

Pristine apricot and ginger jam, peaches and cream, honeysuckle and orange blossom, with a lovely touch of warming spice. New Hungarian oak adds toasted, woody notes, and the palate finishes with an assertive and imposing texture. Alc 11%

Austria

Stift Klosterneuburg, Grüner Veltliner Eiswein, Niederösterreich 2018

96 Gold

£19.99/37.5cl Cockburns of Leith

A honeyed and rich, expressive nose showing crystal-clear yellow stone fruit, quince, black radish and peppery spiciness. Generous and juicy on the palate. Alc 11%

South Africa

Klein Constantia, Vin de Constance, Constantia, Cape Town 2018

96 Gold

£51-£70/50cl Widely available

via independent merchants

Exotic Muscat perfume: potpourri, jasmine, barley sugar. Concentrated on the palate with dried apricot and confit orange, plus savoury, nutty notes. Has a fresh and nevercloying elegance. Alc 14%

Switzerland

Adrian & Diego Mathier, Gemma, Valais 2019

96 Gold

mathier.com

Inviting and attractive aromas of peach, apricot and honeyed mango, leading to a textured palate of lush yellow plum, caramel and baked apple. A beautiful mineral finish. Alc 13.5%

China

Sanhe, Cailonglin Jinding Icewine, Huanren, Liaoning 2016

95 Gold

Liaoning Sanhe Wine Co

A lovely scent of zesty citrus fruit on the nose, with fresh and vivid touches of pineapple and raisin. Honeyed, almost lactic on the palate. Alc 12%

New Zealand

Seifried, Winemaker’s Collection Sweet Agnes Riesling, Nelson 2021

95 Gold

£17.49/37.5cl Waitrose Cellar

Subtle nectarine and lime rind aromas with notes of apple and apricot. A honeyed palate, with a fantastic acid line and a mouthwatering finish. Delicious. Alc 10.5%

Slovenia

Marjan Simčič, Leonardo, Goriška Brda, Primorska 2016

94 Silver

£54.95/37.5cl Orbit Wines

Red fruit characters with honey and apricot joining notes of lanolin, camomile and herbs. A spicy palate with swathes of tannins. Alc 13%

Spain

Gorka Izagirre, Arima, Txakoli de Bizkaia 2019

94 Silver

gorkaizagirre.com

Juicy and elegant, with apricot, peach, raisin, orange marmalade and beeswax aromas and flavours, tangy acidity and a long finish. A second glass, please! Alc 12%

Australia

De Bortoli, Deen Vat 5 Botrytis Semillon, Riverina, New South Wales 2018

93 Silver

£9.69-£10.50/37.5cl

Le Vignoble, TJ Wines

A complex bouquet of nutty barrel-fermented elements, and lots of caramel and vanilla botrytis flavours. Sweet and nicely structured with some backbone. A lovely wine. Alc 11.5%

Search all DWWA 2022 results

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Selecting the finest vineyard sites is a fraught matter in any country, and Austria is no exception. Owners of specific sites are understandably keen to have them validated; other owners have less of a vested interest. Moreover, in some areas, precise boundaries between vineyards have sometimes been difficult to pin down, and some vineyards, such as Gaisberg in Kamptal, belong to more than one village.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 12 top white wine picks from Lower Austria

Despite all this, the growers’ association called the Oesterreichische Traditionsweingüter (Austrian traditional wine estates) has – off its own bat – created a selection of what its members consider the finest vineyards (Rieden) in Lower Austria. The association has no official standing, but is widely respected and few would quarrel with its choice of some 90 sites as Erste Lagen (first growths).

Not many are household names, but the same might well be true of the premier cru vineyards of Santenay or St Aubin. As with the official DAC classification, only traditional varieties win the association’s seal of approval for each site.

There is one serious flaw in the Erste Lage classification: the Wachau, arguably Austria’s most prestigious wine region, is not included, as Wachau growers have their own growers’ association, Vinea Wachau. And by definition, regions outside Lower Austria, such as the Burgenland and Styria, are excluded.

Nonetheless, there is widespread agreement about which vineyards repeatedly deliver outstanding results. The selection below cannot be definitive, as it is dependent on other factors such as the competence of owners.

Wachau

Achleiten (22 ha): For Heinz Frischengruber, technical director of the fine cooperative Domäne Wachau, this is the greatest vineyard in all of Austria. That may be hyperbole, but many would agree that it’s the top site of the Wachau.

It lies within the village of Weissenkirchen. Its soils, with mica schist lower down and gneiss higher up, as well as patches of loess and limestone, generate highly mineral wines that are exceptionally pungent and expressive. Elevation is an important factor, as it ranges from 200 to 360 metres, all on terraces with very little topsoil.

Most of the terraces, which enjoy excellent ventilation, face south and southwest. Both Riesling and Grüner Veltliner are structured and long-lived, though Toni Bodenstein of the Prager estate describes them as relatively feminine.

Kellerberg (15 ha): The Wachau is not immune from global warming, and some growers fear that certain esteemed sites, such as Loibenberg, are now becoming too hot for ideal ripening. Vineyards in Spitz, the most westerly and coolest village, are consequently becoming more prized. Nonetheless, certain traditionally renowned vineyards have maintained their reputation.

Dürnsteiner Kellerberg is one example. The sandy loess topsoil is a bit deeper than that of Achleiten, but not far from the surface there’s primary rock, with gneiss and quartz.

Kellerberg produces powerful wines, but a side valley brings in cooler air to refresh the vines.

Kamptal

Zöbinger Heiligenstein (35 ha): If Achleiten is Austria’s most revered vineyard, then Heiligenstein is surely its best known. It rises loftily above surrounding vineyards, which have mostly loam and loess soils, and offers a more complex soil profile. The elevation ranges from 240 to 350 metres, and the technical name for its geological structure is ‘perm’, a mind of brittle volcanic sandstone and feldspar.

This bedrock is sufficiently fissured to allow roots to descend in search of nutrients. South-facing, it’s a very warm location, but cool winds from the north help to maintain acidity. The vineyards are terraced and this is one of the few spots in the Kamptal where Riesling reigns supreme.

Heiligenstein is a large site, with over a dozen proprietors. So quality is not always that consistent, but the owners include some of Austria’s most illustrious names: Bründlmayer, Gobelsburg, Jurtschitsch, Hirsch, and Loimer. Bründlmayer actually produces three different Rieslings from here.

Given its size and the diversity of producers, it’s hard to generalise about flavour profiles, but Heiligenstein Riesling often displays a pronounced citric character and the wines can be very long-lived, rivalling the top growths of the Wachau.

Kammerner Lamm (25 ha): Lamm is situated on the southeastern flank of Heiligenstein, and is largely composed of the loam and loess that are absent from its neighbour, although the highest sector has some sandstone too. It offers a completely different expression of Kamptal terroir. For a start, it is planted solely with Grüner Veltliner, and its lower elevation, up to 280 metres, means that the site is exceptionally warm. That warmth is mitigated by excellent ventilation. In the 1990s, when super-rich wines were in vigour, it was not uncommon to encounter Lamm wines with over 15% alcohol.

Fortunately, today’s wines show more restraint and elegance. Nonetheless, these are broad-shouldered wines with considerable power, but the best of them age well too.

Here too there are multiple owners. Bründlmayer and Gobelsburg are the best known, but excellent wines are also produced by Eichinger, Jurtschitsch, and Hirsch.

Kremstal

This is the most diverse Lower Austrian region in terms of its geological makeup. Most of the vineyards are calcareous, but may also contain deep beds of loess near or below the surface. The same applies to the flatter vineyards on the south side of the Danube. Sites close to the river may also contain a significant proportion of gravel. However, just west of Krems itself, behind the adjoining town of Stein, are steeply terraced sites of primary rock, often gneiss or mica, that resemble the vineyards of the Wachau, which they border.

In addition, around Senftenberg, well away from the river, is a group of dramatic and steep terraced vineyards. Here there may be patches of loam and loess, but the sites are dominated by primary rock that often lies close to the surface.

Hochäcker (14 ha): This medium-sized terraced vineyard is in the village of Senftenberg and is the upward extension of another well-known suite, Pellingen. It was first documented in 1425. Some years ago Hochäcker was not that esteemed, because of its cold and windy microclimate, since the elevation rises to 380 metres. But with global warming, those very conditions are seen as advantageous.

The wild landscape here protects an abundance of flora and fauna which provide Hockäcker with its biodiversity. The wines are very concentrated and mineral, with exemplary finesse and good ageing potential. The weathered soil is rich in iron and gneiss, making it ideal for Riesling. There are two principal proprietors: Proidl and Nigl.

Vienna

Until recently the over 600 hectares of vineyards within the capital’s city limits were not that highly regarded, as most of the grapes were used to supply the numerous Heurigen, or wine inns, in villages such as Grinzing, Heiligenstadt, and Neustift. Most of those who flocked to the Heurigen were more interested in quantity than quality, so standards were not especially high, although the top wineries, such as Wieninger and Mayer, have always sold their best wines in bottle, and not just in Vienna.

The most famous vineyard, overlooking the city’s most bucolic suburbs, is the Nussberg, but it’s a very large site that isn’t uniform in quality. The best producers bottle wines from sectors within the Nussberg, such as Gollin or Preussen.

Preussen (11.5 ha): First documented in 1277, Preussen has a rather complex geological structure with sandstone, quartz, limestone, and some marine sediments too. It’s a fine source of Rieslings and also of Vienna’s DAC wine Wiener Gemischter Satz, which honours the ancient tradition of field blends that are still common in this area.

Stephen Brook’s top white wine picks from Lower Austria

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Decanter contributors, staff and DWWA Regional Chairs nominated their top three stand-out bottles of 2021, which were then tasted blind and scored by an expert panel to determine the best and most exciting wines of 2021.

Here we present a quick and easy way to see tasting notes and scores for the 17 sparkling wines (listed white, rosé then red), three sweet and two fortified wines from the tasting.

See also

Wines of the Year 2021: top-scoring bottles

Bruce Nicholson has spent over 34 years crafting wine in Canada’s British Columbia and Niagara regions at both Jackson Triggs British Columbia and Inniskillin Niagara wineries. As head winemaker of two of the country’s leading icewine producers, he has a lot to say about Canada’s most revered wine export, however his early inspiration was anything but icewine…

‘I was at a wine festival out west 35 years ago and I tried a Chardonnay from the Okanagan that was the real deal. It really inspired me and is certainly one of my favourite varieties to work with to this day.’

‘I like to try different vintages of my own wine to see how they’re progressing and where they’re heading and, did I make some of the right decisions along the way?’ Apparently so because the 2019 vintage of Nicholson’s prized Inniskillin’s Montague Vineyard grown Chardonnay was recently awarded a gold medal at the National Wine Awards of Canada.

Nicholson has decided to retire this year. ‘One of the proudest moments of my career was winning the inaugural Karl Kaiser Canadian Winemaking Award in 2018, in memoriam of somebody who I admired, and it was where I was able to finally thank my wife for all her patience and support over the years.’

Karl Kaiser’s influence on the burgeoning Canadian wine industry in the 1970s had a profound effect on Nicholson. ‘It’s people like Donald Ziraldo, Karl Kaiser and Allan Jackson, Don Triggs, these people are the reason we are here. This is why there is a Canadian wine industry. These were the pioneers. Many people today, yesterday and in the future can thank them for their vision.’

Nicholson is confident in his successor, Nick Gizuk. ‘Inniskillin has been very fortunate to have Nick. In all my years, it’s very rewarding and special to have someone who is as passionate and dedicated as he is. To be a winemaker, you have to be all in. You can’t be 85%, you have to be 100% in all aspects of the process, and he is like that.’

Making icewine

Having overseen over three decades of winemaking, Nicholson has not experienced a single year where the conditions for icewine production did not materialise. But he admits there are still some challenges. ‘In all the years that I’ve lived, growing was good. I mean, it’s going to get to -8°C, -10°C. There’s no doubt about it.’

‘Wherever you are in the world’s wine-producing regions, you have a pretty good idea of when you’re going to pick those grapes. It might be a week one way or the other. But with icewine, it can happen in parts of November, December, or in January and sometimes as late as February or even March. The later it becomes, the more nervous the winemaker and the grower become, because the elements can take a hold of the vineyard… Wildlife, birds, the dehydration process or the wind that will knock the grapes off the vine.’

The sweet spot for icewine is not a soaring high sugar levels, according to Nicholson. ‘When I started at Innniskillin, I thought higher Brix would make better icewine. While it’s legal to have grapes at a lower sugar level and at much higher sugar levels, I have a smaller window… It’s a challenge finding the night that’s going to stay cold enough to get the grapes into the winery and pressed at the levels you want. I don’t like to pick Vidal on a first pick, unlike the vinifera which I like to pick at the very first opportunity. First the Riesling and then the thicker-skinned Cabernet Franc. I like the freezing to be thawing a bit.’

Over the years, Nicholson has learned to manage the prevalence of volatile acidity in sweet wines and icewines. ‘If you get a high VA in a delicate Riesling, Pinot Grigio or even Chardonnay, it becomes obvious and a fault. But you can have amazingly high VA [in icewine] as a result of the osmotic pressure that the yeast is responding to from the high sugar. It has a tendency to go up fairly quickly and then it levels off. That’s part of the profile. If it’s your first time [making icewine] you may get awful nervous when the VA starts to rise. It’s a response to the high viscosity, high sugar. That’s one of the reasons I don’t like my Brix too high.’

Sparkling success

Sparkling icewine is a rarely exported Canadian delicacy that Nicholson continues to champion. ‘It’s a Charmat method, it’s got to be because once you’ve stopped a fermentation, it is impossible to get it to start again. If there was one wine that I had to take to the Queen of England or to a high dignitary in the world, I would take a sparkling icewine. At the London Wine Fair in 2007, people came from all over the world and said: “We have to try your sparkling icewine and I’ve been told we have to buy your sparkling wine.’”

Finding the right time to open a bottle of icewine may prove as agonising for consumers as the process of making icewine is for winemakers. So Nicholson has some words of advice: ‘The right occasion is any occasion. It’s a small bottle and it’s a high price, and rightfully so because I know the process of making it. But if you can get together, particularly nowadays when we haven’t been with family and friends – the whole world – for almost two years, then go down to your cellar and have that bottle of wine.’

‘Some of my earliest memories are spending time with friends and family. I missed spending Christmas Day with my family [last year]. I enjoy having my daughter and my son here, all together, and sharing good food and great wine with the people that mean the most to you. With my daughter getting married, I now have a son-in-law, which is just going to add to the memories and enjoyment of the holidays.’

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With its long lunches and decadent dinners, Christmas is undoubtedly a time for indulgence. And few bottles scream ‘indulgent’ like a sweet wine.

Whether it’s a golden Sauternes from Bordeaux or a Hungarian Tokaji to accompany dessert, or a richer Italian appassimento or New World sticky to sip by the fireside, sweet wines are part of many families’ Christmas routines. Yet those traditional niches are just the tip of this sugary iceberg.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for Peter Ranscombe’s best sweet wines from around the world

Sweeter Champagnes not only make fine food matches but also provide a warming aperitif to kick off an evening, while the vibrant red hues of a sparkling Shiraz can become a real talking point to get a party started. Once the kids are tucked up in bed, a sweet red can be the ideal accompaniment when raiding that favourite chocolate selection box.

In Europe, wines stop being ‘dry’ if they contain more than four grams of residual sugar in each litre of liquid – a measure of the sweetness left over after sugars in the grapes’ juice are fermented into alcohol.

By the time that residual sugar reaches 45g/L, wines are classed as sweet. Other factors play tricks with our tastebuds though: high acidity masks sweetness, while the palate also perceives alcohol itself as sweet.

Finish with a flourish

Many popular supermarket red table wines – especially from warm, sunny regions like Australia, California and Italy – also contain high residual sugar, some bordering on 20g/L, which may appeal to generations raised on sugary soft drinks. Yet the world’s finest sweet wines have healthy levels of acidity that stop them becoming cloying.

Their sweetness comes from removing water, whether it’s by harvesting grapes later so they raisin on the vine or freeze during winter, for ice wine, or by laying them on mats to dry in the sun for appassimento. The backbone of many styles is noble rot, or Botrytis cinerea. This airborne fungus causes punctures in grapes’ skin so that the water within evaporates, and it’s this that creates famous wines such as Sauternes and Tokaji.

Winemaking regions throughout the world enjoy their sweet wines in different settings at Christmas.

In Bordeaux, Sauternes accompanies festive foie gras or blue and soft cheeses – in both cases, that combination of sweet and salty hits the spot.

Germans opt for an eiswein to serve with their ripe blue cheese, while also enjoying spätlese or auslese Gewürztraminer with gingerbread or Christmas cinnamon biscuits. Their fresher fruit desserts call for spätlese or auslese Riesling.

Christmas may fall during the southern hemisphere’s summer, but that doesn’t stop New World wine regions from breaking out celebratory stickies.

In Australia, lighter Moscato d’Asti pairs with pavlova, while fruitier desserts demand a cane cut-style Semillon or Riesling [where bunches are left hanging on branches that have been detached from the vine until the fruit has become dried]. Botrytised Semillon appeals to traditionalists opting for heavier Christmas pudding.

South Africans choose botrytised sweet wines to serve chilled or over ice alongside crème brûlée, ice cream or panna cotta, while Chileans love late-harvest wines after family lunches or with chocolates. If pumpkin pie is served at Thanksgiving or at Christmas, then Californians reach for an Orange Muscat, or a late-harvest Zinfandel if chocolate or fruitcake is on the menu.

Peter Ranscombe’s best sweet wines from around the world

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Instead of the usual mixture of base wine and sucrose, Justin Howard-Sneyd MW of Domaine of the Bee is trialling a range of sweet wines as dosage to add an extra twist to his English wines, made in collaboration with Ridgeview.

What is dosage?

For sparkling wines made using the traditional method (méthode Champenoise), dosage is the winemakers’ final touch of adjustment to the fizz in the bottle.

The liquid mixture, or ‘liqueur d’expédition’, is added right after disgorgement, so as to top up the bottle while adding some sweetness, if wanted, to the sparkling wine before final corking.

Spot the difference: Tirage and dosage in Champagne – ask Decanter

Roughly speaking, dosage is composed of sugar (such as rectified concentrated grape must, RCGM) and base wine. Winemakers also have the option to not add any sugar at all, if the bone-dry, ‘zero dosage’ or ‘brut nature‘ style is what they desire.

Sweet wine as dosage

The inspiration of using sweet wine as dosage first came from ‘Champagne cocktails my father used to make for Christmas’, said Justin Howard-Sneyd MW.

He decided to commit to the idea with a more professional approach, after a gathering of Masters of Wines in London which saw people pouring Sauternes into the sparkling wines in their glasses.

Scroll down to see the six tasting notes and scores of the ‘special dosage’ series

But he isn’t the only one who has thought about the idea.

Existing examples include Canadian producer Peller Estate, which uses ice wine to garnish their ‘Ice Cuvee Classic’. From the old world, Equipo Navazos add Sherry to their ‘Colet Navazos Extra Brut’ to give a nutty hint to their herbal and buttery Cava.

Thankfully, the English Quality Sparkling Wine PDO regulations ‘are still very open about what is allowed to be added at this stage,’ according to Howard-Sneyd.

These findings encouraged Howard-Sneyd to extend the trial to his 2014 vintage ‘Hart of Gold’ sparkling wine, sourced from a vineyard in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire on the Welsh border.

2014 was a ‘dream vintage’ for English wines, with little frost and a warm harvest season to ensure ripeness. Before disgorgement in March 2020, this wine had ‘spent nearly six years in the bottle in contact with the lees’, he added.

Preparing the ‘Special Dosage’

After trials and errors, Howard-Sneyd settled on five sweet wines to create his ‘special dosage’ cuvées.

• Cuvée ‘S’ – The Sauternes finish

Wine: Château Coutet, Sauternes, 2001 – 40ml

• Cuvée ‘T’ – The Tokaji finish

Wine: Royal Tokaji 5 Puttonyos 2013 – Blue Label – 16ml

• Cuvée ‘P’ – The Port finish

Wine: Taylor’s 10-year-old Tawny – 22.5ml

• Cuvée ‘M’ – The Madeira finish

Wine: Blandy’s 15-year-old Bual – 25ml

• Cuvée ‘J’ – The Sherry finish

Wine: Lustau – East India Solera – 17.9ml

‘I have previously played around with a couple of different sherry and Madeira styles, and the Coutet 2001 which I have in my cellar, but chose the wines we settled on as being a good match.’

The amount of each sweet wine is carefully measured to impart enough, but subtle, extra flavours to the base wine, said the MW.

In action, the ‘special dosage’ is prepared by firstly ‘removing a little wine into a jug to create space, then the calculated volume of each wine was added by hand using a pipette, followed by any balancing RCGM, and finally topping back up with as much of the wine as was needed to reach the correct file level, before corking’, Howard-Sneyd explained.

‘This is the same process as any manual dosage (and often practised when filling large format bottles), and the risk of oxidation is minimal.’

The final sugar level sits at 8g/l, right in the ‘Brut’ zone. Alcohol levels stay at 12%, following the regulations that dosage should not increase the alcohol strength by more than 0.5%.

The winemaking team at Ridgeview has been supportive of his special dosage trials; ‘They were curious about the results, too,’ he said.

The wines

The resulting sparkling wines vary in flavour and texture, but are certainly intriguing – see tasting notes below.

When compared with the Zero Dosage version, Cuvée ‘S’ – the Sauternes finish showed the most apparent change in texture, thanks to as much as 40ml of the wine added to the bottle, the most in volume compared to the other four cuvées.

The 2001 Coutet gave the English fizz a much rounder, riper mouthfeel compared to the fresh and zesty Zero Dosage, with a very mild hint of blossom, honey and figs on the nose.

A brighter nose of botrytis was brought by the 2013 vintage of Royal Tokaji 5 Puttonyos, along with fresher limey acidity on the palate.

Among the fortified versions, Cuvée ‘P’ – The Port finish was the highlight. Taylor’s 10-year-old Tawny Port not only gave the wine a pink hue but also an interesting hint of tannin on the gums. The red berry fruits and nutty flavours mingled in surprising harmony with the yeasty, blood-orange notes and buttery mouthfeel of the wine.

The striking almond, burnt sugar notes of the Blandy’s 15-year-old Bual Madeira seems to have, more or less, overpowered the original flavours of the Hart of Gold 2014.

The Lustau Oloroso version gave a savoury, nutty nose, which may still appeal to sherry fans.

The innovative approach

The heavy manual efforts involved means that only 18 bottles of each ‘special dosage’ cuvées were made for the 2014 vintage Hart of Gold. The range also includes a Cuvée ‘Z’ – a zero dosage style to complete the set of six and as a point of comparison.

The set of six is sold at £300 per case, but the initial 10 cases released have already been sold out, said Howard-Sneyd. He is now planning the disgorgement of the 2015 vintage, with the hope to expand the production of these ‘special dosage’ editions.

‘I would love to do more extensive trials,’ said the MW, mentioning younger vintages as base wines, and further refinement on the amount of each sweet wine added for the liqueur d’expédition.

Howard-Sneyd is also looking for sweet wine producers to collaborate and further explore the idea of ‘genre-blending, a fusion between drinks categories’ as a novel take on English sparkling wines.

See the six tasting notes and scores of the ‘special dosage’ series

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We all know what to do with white, red, rosé and sparkling – but what about sweet and fortified wines? These unmatched, flavour-laden classics – because that is what they are – are often overlooked simply because we’re not sure how, when and with what to serve them. We have therefore consulted the experts to provide practical answers and some surprising food pairings. It turns out there are whole worlds to discover beyond the delicious but clichéd Port-Stilton and Sauternes-foie gras combos of yore.

Nobly sweet wines

Heidi Schröck, the Austrian doyenne of nobly sweet Ruster Ausbruch, as well as auslese, beerenauslese (BA) and trockenbeerenauslese (TBA) from Rust in Austria’s Burgenland region – prefers to serve her wines between 12°C-14°C. She loves ‘creative and unexpected’ flavour combinations and signals this clearly on her labels.

‘Ottolenghi recipes lend themselves excellently,’ she says, but also suggests prosciutto with spätlese, aged Gouda with BA, chili-cheese sausages or lamb tagine with Ausbruch. She notes that desserts should not be too sweet – apple tart with rosemary would be perfect.

Aline Baly, who runs Château Coutet in Barsac, Bordeaux, has perfected the art of serving sweet wines with every course. While her ‘absolute favourite’ pairing is lobster, she swears by shellfish starters, roast chicken for main and fresh strawberries for dessert. So don’t restrict yourself to aperitif or dessert for these intense, golden wines.

Baly avoids small dessert wine glasses and goes for white wine glasses instead. She recommends serving at 9°C-10°C, but suggests, ‘a cooler temperature when wines are served with a spicy dish or a sweet dessert. Cooler is also better for very young and much older vintages. Middle-age wines can be served a couple of degrees warmer to allow the warm baking spices to express themselves.’

Leftovers keep well when refrigerated. ‘These wines are resilient,’ Baly says. ‘That you can keep a bottle open for more than a week is a fact unknown to many.’ Schröck agrees: Auslesen last for 10 days, while concentrated Ausbruch can keep for up to three weeks.

Matching Sauternes and Barsac with food

Port

Anthony Symington, brand manager for Symington Family Estates (maker of the Port brands Graham’s, Warre’s, Dow’s and Cockburn’s), says that only vintage Ports need be decanted. He distinguishes between the ‘robust, youthful aromas of red fruits’ of bottle-aged ruby and reserve Ports and the ‘greater complexity, nut and raisin characteristics’ of barrel-aged tawny Ports.

Ruby and reserve ‘should be served at room temperature and are delicious with cheese or dark chocolate’. An open bottle will last three to four weeks. Tawny Ports, on the other hand, should ‘always be served slightly chilled from the fridge and are delicious with creamy desserts such as ice cream, crème brûlée, or a sneaky square of chocolate.’ But he also suggests pairing a 10-year-old tawny with foie gras: ‘The acidity cuts through the richness, and the sweetness complements it perfectly.’

Tawny will last up to six weeks in the fridge. If you are lucky enough to have mature vintage Port, Symington says: ‘Think creamy cheeses rather than Stilton, which can overpower these wonderful old wines. Fresh fruit is also an exceptional pairing.’ Vintage is the only style you have to drink up quickly – it fades within three days.

Cream & sweet Sherry

Tim Holt, Bodegas Barbadillo’s UK area director, lifts the lid on sweet Sherry styles – sweet oloroso and tooth-breakingly sweet Pedro Ximénez, or PX – and even resurrects the much-maligned cream Sherry. He says cream and oloroso should be served chilled and that any tulip-shaped wine glass will do. For PX, he counsels: ‘Pour it on ice cream or try it in a tumbler glass over crushed ice. It works extremely well that way.’

Bourbon vanilla ice cream is particularly delicious with PX. Holt says a classic PX pairing is the Asturian blue cheese Cabrales, but he has fond memories of raw Virginia Bay oysters, too. Hot Mexican habanero and Sichuan dishes are also recommended: ‘The high sugar level has a balsamic effect, so it works for these extremely hot dishes.’ Now you know what to do with that leftover turkey.

Holt stays in Asia for cream Sherry and sweet oloroso, too: ‘They go very well with some Chinese foods, specifically Peking duck and Shanghai cuisine generally.’ While sweet oloroso lasts in the fridge for up to three months, PX does not need chilling, and is so sweet ‘it can last from one year to the next.’

Sherry and chocolate pairing ideas

Madeira

Even Madeira labelled ‘dry’ has some rounding sweetness, so Chris Blandy of Blandy’s Madeira says: ‘We suggest that dry and medium-dry styles (ie, Sercial and Verdelho) be served at 12°C, and medium-rich and rich styles (Bual and Malmsey) be served at 15°C-16°C.’

None of the wines need decanting, and a tulip-shaped Port glass, or slender white wine glass is best. The good news is that ‘Madeira is pretty much indestructible,’ Blandy says, ‘so simply put a stopper back in, stand the bottle upright and store in a cool, dark cupboard.’

With these food combinations, however, it will be hard to resist these utterly complex and even otherworldly wines, especially when you have time to savour slowly. Blandy loves ‘Comté with Sercial, roast chicken with Verdelho, foie gras with Bual’. The sweetest style, Malmsey, is a match made in heaven with Madeiran honey cake or bolo de mel – a moist, dark, spiced molasses cake. But who’s to say that Christmas cake, Lebkuchen or mince pies won’t work almost as well?

Leftover lusciousness: use every drop

At Quinta do Noval in the Douro Valley, cook Maria João turns leftover late bottled vintage or vintage Port into a fruity, sweet sauce for pancakes.

For four people you need: ‘A generous pat of butter, two tablespoons of brown sugar and a full glass of Port. You melt the butter with the sugar in a pan, when it is bubbling you add the Port. Using a wooden spoon, never stop stirring. Let the alcohol evaporate until the sauce thickens, about four minutes.’ She adds that this is ‘not an exact science and needs a little intuition’.

Amontillado is a key ingredient in Bramdean pudding, a speciality passed down through generations at Davy’s London pub The Boot & Flogger in Southwark – but oloroso will also work. For each pudding you need a small ramekin dish. Into this you crumble a digestive biscuit, top it with a few sultanas, pour over 30ml of Sherry followed by a layer of fresh custard. Once set, top with a layer of double cream.

What can I do with leftover wine? Ask Decanter

Bordeaux is rightly famous for the great sweet white wines of Sauternes and Barsac. These standalongside trockenbeerenauslese from Germany, Hungarian Tokaji and Tuscany’s vin santo as some of the finest and most delectable wines available.

And yet making a sweet white wine is not for the faint-hearted. Minimal yields and uncertainty about the prospects for viability every year combine with high costs of production. Add to the equation the weak demand for sweet wines, and it’s a wonder that any is produced at all.

Scroll down for Andy Howard MW’s top 12 sweet wines beyond Sauternes

The most famous sweet wines of Bordeaux are generally referred to as ‘Sauternes’, although five distinct communes are permitted to use this name, including Barsac, Bommes, Fargues and Preignac, as well as Sauternes itself.

Appellation rules dictate a minimum planting density of 6,500 vines per hectare, together with a maximum yield of 25hl/ha. Harvesting by hand is mandatory, with successive passes through the vineyard tries in French) required to pick the best grapes.

Soils here are diverse, with clay, gravel and sand, with a higher limestone presence in Barsac. What makes the area unique is the presence of mists caused by the confluence of the warm Garonne and the colder Ciron rivers. In the autumn, these conditions encourage the development of ‘noble rot’ – Botrytis cinerea. The effect of noble rot is to dry out and concentrate grapes (particularly the thin-skinned Semillon) and promote the flavours found in botrytised grapes: marmalade, fruit zest, mushroom and honey.

With all the constraints on production, Sauternes can never be cheap. However, in the post-war years, the region managed to damage its reputation with the production of many poor-quality wines.

With shortcuts taken at harvest and minimal grape selection, often the only way to preserve the fermented wine was the application of extremely high levels of sulphur dioxide. As a result, demand for Bordeaux’s sweet wines reduced, and although quality has dramatically improved in recent decades, consumers remain reluctant to purchase sweet wines.

Today, with substantial investment in vineyards and wineries, the quality of classed-growth Sauternes and Barsac wines has soared. Yquem, Suduiraut, Climens, Rieussec and many others produce astonishing wines in most years.

Noteworthy neighbours

In addition to Sauternes, Bordeaux also has a number of ‘under the radar’ sweet wine appellations that deserve to be more widely known:

• Cérons
• Ste-Croix-du-Mont
• Loupiac
• Cadillac

Located close to Sauternes and Barsac, these APs share many similarities with their more illustrious siblings, while adding their own character. Encouragingly, the wines are always keenly priced in comparison.

Similarly, Monbazillac and Haut-Montravel are two other appellations renowned for sweet wine, but these are located in the Dordogne so are not considered part of Bordeaux.

In 2018, the area under vine for Sauternes stood at 1,550ha, with 365ha in Barsac. In comparison, Ste-Croix totalled 329ha, Loupiac 309ha, Cadillac 110ha and Cérons just 33ha.

The number of producers is comparable between Barsac (33), Ste-Croix (40) and Loupiac (35) but, significantly, the volumes produced are markedly different.

In 2018, sweet wine production in Ste-Croix amounted to 10,845hl and Loupiac 10,218hl, whereas Barsac stood at 5,602hl. These numbers (CIVB/Service Economie et Etudes) reflect oneof the key differences between the appellation rules: maximum permitted yields. With higher yields, the wines from Ste-Croix, Loupiac, Cadillac and Cérons will rarely match the concentration and higher sugar levels of Sauternes/Barsac, but make up for this with a lightness of touch, freshness, floral notes and lower residual sugar.

Vintage guide: best years for Bordeaux sweet wines

2017 Yields heavily affected by severe frosts in late April. Despite this, some very fine sweet wines with acidity and freshness were made. Noble rot was uneven, so careful selection was necessary.

2016 Good quality with very healthy grapes, albeit less marked by botrytis. Stone-fruit characters more evident than bitter orange notes. Fresh but lacking the extra dimensions of the best years.

2015 Wines with a lovely combination of power, richness and abundant botrytis. High-quality, concentrated wines which will age very well.

2014 An excellent year for Bordeaux sweet wines. A cold, wet spring led to very poor flowering and low yields. September and October were very warm, with an abundance of noble rot, though the grapes preserved acidity.

2013 Unlike Bordeaux’s reds, there are some standout sweet wines from 2013. With a very wet spring and very low yields, great weather in the autumn encouraged botrytis. Rich wines, full of candied fruit flavours.

2011 A great year for Sauternes, compared by some to 2001 and 2007. Rich wines with an abundance of noble rot, concentration and essential freshness.

2009 A year renowned for high temperatures and rich, alcoholic reds. Sweet wines reflect the growing season – high-quality, healthy grapes with more tropical fruit than noble rot character.

Cérons

Of these lesser-known sweet appellations, Cérons is geographically different, given its location on the left bank of the Garonne river close to Barsac. Dating back to Gallo-Roman times, wine production developed as a result of proximity to the port of Cirione. The Cérons wine syndicat was formed in 1920, with its own appellation granted even before that of Sauternes.

Soils are similar to Barsac, with limestone covered by layers of gravel. Yields of 40hl/ha are permitted. Although very small in size, there are some fine estates in Cérons producing red, dry white and sweet wines, with Château de Cérons and Château du Seuil two of the best. Xavier and Caroline Perromat run the former and have made significant investments in the cellar with gravity-fed vats along with extensive replanting in the vineyard. Sean and Nicola Allison now manage Château du Seuil and have converted to organic production, while using three to four tries in thevineyard to select only the most suitable botrytised grapes.

Cadillac

Across the river, on the right bank of the Garonne running north to south, lie the AOPs of Cadillac, Loupiac and Ste-Croix-du-Mont. Cadillac – part of the Premières Côtes de Bordeaux – has its own sweet wine appellation to reflect that certain Premières Côtes plots are more prone to botrytis. It is perhaps the least distinctive of the three appellations with just a few notable estates, although Château Fayau has produced some fine wines over many years.

Loupiac

A little further south, Loupiac raises the bar. Located directly across the river from Barsac, this appellation has soils with more clay and there are some prime, south-facing plots that achieve very high ripeness. Yields are a maximum of 40hl/ha – no doubt enhancing the lighter style seen in many Loupiac wines. Château de Ricaud, owned by Alain Thiénot from Champagne, is part of the Dourthe portfolio. This is another estate where significant investment has been made, and the wines show a lot of promise, albeit without the intensity of Sauternes. However, prices are much more reasonable.

Ste-Croix-du-Mont

The most noteworthy wines are those from Ste-Croix-du-Mont, and in the best years, from the best producers, these can at least rival the second-tier wines from Sauternes and Barsac. Ste-Croix differs from its neighbours in terms of topography. Rather than gentle slopes running down to the Garonne, the village of Ste-Croix stands on top of a dramatic cliff 120m above the river.

Many estates are located on clay-limestone soils on the plateau, but Ste-Croix has its own secret weapon – a thick band of fossilised oyster shells dating back 20 million years to the early Miocene epoch. From here, producers in Ste-Croix lie opposite many of the famous names of Sauternes – Yquem, Suduiraut and Lafaurie-Peyraguey – which are just a little more than 3km away.

Maximum yields are also 40hl/ha, but the wines of Ste-Croix have more richness and substance than Loupiac and Cadillac. Botrytis is a common feature, although residual sugar (usually between 80g/L-100g/L) is lower than in Sauternes. Add to this the influence of the fossilised oyster beds and the result is elegant, fresh and highly drinkable sweet wines. These can age for many years and work surprisingly well with food at all stages of a meal. During my most recent visit, older Ste-Croix wines were paired with a delicious dinner. At every point – aperitif, fish starter and poultry main course – they were a perfect accompaniment.

Château Crabitan-Bellevue, Grand Peyrot and La Rame are some of the leading properties in Ste-Croix, and these estates can be heartily recommended. Virginie Tinon runs Grand Peyrot and strives to highlight the character of the oyster beds with salty, mineral flavours through her wines. At Château La Rame, Angelique Armand and husband Olivier Allo are also raising the quality bar, with freshness, purity and drinkability the key objective. The team at La Rame supplies various UK retailers with different interpretations of the Ste-Croix terroir. Some wines are barrel-fermented, some are aged in barrel, while others are matured in stainless steel to enhance fresh fruit and bright acidity.

These are all high-quality wines at very attractive prices, and each is a worthy alternative to the richer, glossier, more expensive wines of Sauternes and Barsac.

Noble sweets: Andy Howard MW reveals his top 12 Bordeaux sweet wines beyond Sauternes

See also

Bordeaux first growths: How the 2000 vintage tastes now

Best Bordeaux 2019 wines: Second labels

Best Sauternes & Barsac 2019 wines tasted en primeur

New World wine is a useful shorthand in the absence of anything better, but it can seem strangely inappropriate when talking about vineyards dating back 330 years and a wine, Constantia, that was already a phenomenon in the 18th century, at which time European courts fell over themselves to buy it. The Cape’s most famous wine is an exception – is unique, in fact – but there are other producers outside Europe who have significant history under their belts. The Campbells have been making wine in Rutherglen, Australia for 150 years and started their ‘rare solera’ back in the 1920s.

Even the groundbreaking De Bortoli Noble One was created in Australia nearly four decades ago. Paul Cluver in South Africa and Framingham in New Zealand have both been making botrytis Rieslings for more than 20 years. In contrast, the 2016 Canadian ice wine Rebel Pi is the debut vintage and, had this been a top 20, I might also have included one of the new Chinese ice wines.

As it is, I’ve chosen wines from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, made from eight separate grape varieties (counting two different Muscats) and, demonstrating the diversity at the top level, in five styles: lateharvest, botrytised, straw wine, solera-aged and ice wine. Botrytis Riesling was the hardest category to whittle down on my original long list, and I reluctantly had to let several go. You might expect there to be more botrytis Semillons modelled on Sauternes. Although Semillon plantings have been declining for decades, there’s still quite a lot of it, especially in Australia. What there’s less of are the necessary humid conditions to develop botrytis cinerea (noble rot: you can induce it, but the best producers don’t). It’s also a challenge to make, but then there’s not a sweet wine here that isn’t – either in the vineyard or the winery, but mostly in both.

Bravo to producers everywhere.

Framingham MARLBOROUGH, NEW ZEALAND

‘It takes some experience, and even after all these years of doing it, it still feels like guesswork!’ Dr Andrew Hedley, winemaker at Framingham since 2001, is talking about judging the degree of dehydration, and thus the amount of sugar there’ll be in the must, in

clusters with significant botrytis for his Noble Riesling. It may feel like guesswork, but the wines, and his global reputation for Riesling, speak for themselves. Whatever the year – and conditions weren’t right to make any botrytis wine in 2001 and 2010 – it’s never easy. Or, in his words, it’s ‘a pain in the ass to make’.

Picking is, necessarily, by hand and is selective even in botrytised sections of Framingham’s 38-year-old vineyard. It can drag on too (into July in 2012), involving as many as eight or nine picks. Keeping volatile acidity down during fermentation requires special techniques, clarification/filtration is multifold and the ‘bottling is the worst one of the year’. In short, he says, ‘you have to want to make these sorts of wines to do it well’.

Fortunately for us, he does.

Mullineux SWARTLAND, SOUTH AFRICA

‘With late-harvest wine, acid drops away as the grapes ripen. The beauty of straw wine,’ says Chris Mullineux, ‘is that acid and sugar both go up.’ Despite the Cape’s long history of sweet wine, straw wine – from grapes picked at normal ripeness then shrivelled naturally – only began in the late 1990s. The first vintage at Mullineux was 2008 and it now makes 10 barrels from about 30 tonnes of Chenin – ‘old vines that give really good acidity’. The volume is one reason why drying on straw matting became impractical: ‘If we spread the grapes out it would be the size of a rugby field.’ They now use ventilated wooden racks, placed in the shade, ‘otherwise the grapes go brown like Coca-Cola’. Drying takes three to four weeks, during which time both sugar and acid more-or-less double, leaving just 10-15 litres of juice from each 100kg of grapes. Fermentation, with natural yeasts, is very slow and long (six to nine months), at the end of which sugar is 240-300g/L, acidity is 10-11g/L and alcohol is 9.5%-11%.

Paul Cluver ELGIN, SOUTH AFRICA

The Cluver family didn’t plan to make a noble harvest Riesling. ‘It just happened. We realised we had quite a lot of botrytis and started making a dessert wine,’ says winemaker Andries Burger, Paul Cluver’s son-in-law.

That was 1998 and it was made every year up to 2014, when the family chose to focus solely on great vintages. ‘If it’s just good enough, then it’s not good enough,’ Burger notes. The only vintage since is 2017. Not only was the vintage good, he tried a new technique to improve texture: an essencia-style addition made from a tank of individually selected botrytised berries topped up with juice and fermented to 2% alcohol and about 600g/L residual sugar.

‘If the essencia opportunity occurs again, we’ll do it, but the cost is massive.’ Fortunately, the business model doesn’t rely on noble harvest Riesling. ‘If you take everything into account, it’s the one wine that doesn’t make money, but it adds something to our portfolio,’ says Burger, with his fingers firmly crossed for noble rot in 2020.

Campbells RUTHERGLEN, AUSTRALIA

In a world where wine styles are replicated from one continent to the next, it’s heartwarming that nowhere else can produce anything like the majestic sweet fortifieds of Rutherglen in northeast Victoria. John Campbell arrived here from Scotland in 1870 on the Merchant Prince. Today the fourth and fifth generations work alongside each other, led by Colin Campbell. Merchant Prince Rare Rutherglen Muscat, Campbells’ ultimate expression, was launched by Colin and his late brother Malcolm in 1983. It comes from the ‘rare solera’, which has an average age of 50 years and is topped up only every 10-15 years when it has reached 20° Baumé (above 400g/L sugar).

You might expect anything containing so much sugar to be cloying; however, the long, mellowing maturation of the Muscat à Petits Grains Rouges, the rejuvenating effect of the five-stage solera, Rutherglen’s significant day and night temperature differences and, not least, the Campbells house style, emphasising elegance and purity of raisined flavours, as well as richness and complexity, all coalesce in an extraordinarily multilayered, balanced liquid.

Klein Constantia , CONSTANTIA, SOUTH AFRICA

It’s easy to home in on the long history of Constantia and its glory days in the 18th and 19th centuries without realising that for 100 years the legendary raisined-grape dessert wine wasn’t made. Phylloxera saw it off in 1886 and it wasn’t until after the Jooste family bought the estate for a song in 1980 that it was recreated as Vin de Constance six years later – using Muscat de Frontignan vines selected, it is believed, from the original Constantia stock. It’s had a further boost since 2011, with a new winemaker, Matthew Day, another change of ownership, new plantings focused on quality clones, bush vines and experimental plots of Petit Mansen and Furmint, and a newcellar. The long-term aim is to improve quality and for Day that means balanced wine: ‘This is a wine that ages extremely well. The key is balance. You have to get the sugar, alcohol and acidity right.’ He is aiming for more consistent sugar and alcohol levels and has also lightened up on the oak to get a less evolved, less marmaladey character.

Greywacke MARLBOROUGH, NEW ZEALAND

After 25 years as chief winemaker putting Cloudy Bay and New Zealand Sauvignon on the global stage, Kevin Judd turned 50, thought ‘it’s now or never’ and left to set up on his own, naming Greywacke after the distinctive, rounded river stones in his first vineyard. Inevitably Greywacke is best known for its Sauvignon, but Judd has made seven wines from the outset, all in a ripe style, with a hands-off approach.

He likes ‘sweet wines that aren’t too sweet’, so the Botrytis Pinot Gris is typically 105-110g/L residual sugar, but it’s a lavishly flavoured wine. The shrivelled 2015 grapes – even smaller and more concentrated than usual – were handpicked on 8 June in an 18-year-old vineyard with a high proportion of the eponymous stones around Greywacke HQ. They were ‘squeezed rather than pressed overnight’ and fermented in old barrels, 60% spontaneously. Fermentation was eventually halted in September and the wine left in barrel until bottling in July 2016. Where will Judd be in 10 years’ time? ‘I’m happy with where we are now.’

Rebel Pi, OKANAGAN VALLEY, CANADA

Canadians are generous about promoting each other’s wines – anything to show unaware wine drinkers that Canada’s best are world class. Even so, some may raise an eyebrow on seeing Rebel Pi, Roussanne Ice Wine 2016 here. It’s the first vintage from a new producer with no previous involvement in wine – and it’s the world’s first Roussanne ice wine.

In view of those facts, it may be a relief to know that Jackie Fast, the London-based Canadian businesswoman behind it, didn’t make the wine. Pentâge in Penticton did, from its own Roussanne; Fast selected it with a team that includes sommeliers and winemakers. The next Rebel Pi ice wine isn’t Roussanne and it’s from Ontario because, for Fast, ‘it’s not about this ice wine from this place, it’s about how it’s made’. Once she discovered that ice wine was not the sweet, syrupy wine she thought it was, she ‘fell in love with the story, the risk, the craftsmanship’. She then set about ‘bringing the best ice wine of the year to the UK and beyond’ and telling its story. Taste it. You may well be surprised.

Seifried, NELSON, NEW ZEALAND

Chris and Heidi Seifried, two of the three siblings working with their parents in the business they founded in 1973, first made Nelson Sweet Agnes Riesling in 2006 and, although volumes vary, they can make it every year because it’s a late-harvest rather than a botrytis wine. Not much was produced in 2018, but there’s a lot of the recently bottled 2019 and the quality, according to Chris, is stunning. As their most awarded wine (not least in the DWWA), is there anything they could do to improve it?

‘We talk each year about putting it in neutral barriques for about six months to add complexity, but then we taste it and say, “No, we like it like this”. Oak would soften it, give it a bit more weight, but it would also take away a bit of the fruit character – the apricot and Christmas cake,’ explains Chris. So far, it’s showing some longevity. Chris sampled the 2009 recently and says it was ‘absolutely beautiful’. As for the 2018, a tighter, leaner, crisper vintage with lower sugar than most, he is confident it will age for 20 years. I’ll happily test that.

Peller Estates, NIAGARA PENINSULA, CANADA

Ice wine production started in the 1980s in Ontario, and Peller Estates’ oldest vines, planted 40 years ago, are among the Niagara Peninsula’s most senior for ice wine. Thanks to the

climate-moderating effect of the vineyards’ lakeside location, Peller has never missed a vintage of ice wine.

But moderate is a relative word here. Ice wine grapes have to be harvested at -8°C or colder. Peller’s winemaker, Katie Dickieson, goes for colder. ‘Minus 10°C is ideal,’ she says. ‘The grapes are even more frozen and the juice even more concentrated.’ * Yields are even lower, but she believes the flavour justifies the means – and all the other challenges of making ice wine, which include netting every vine to protect the grapes from birds and animals and coaxing sluggish yeasts to convert the extremely concentrated juice. The Peller style is ice wines to pair with food so, whether Vidal (80% of production), Riesling or Cabernet Franc, the focus is on refreshing acidity balancing slightly lower sugar and higher alcohol. But, again, it’s relative: the 2017 Vidal has 210g/L sugar, 9.1g/L acid and 11% alcohol.

De Bortoli, RIVERINA, AUSTRALIA

When Noble One, an opulent botrytis Semillon, was launched on an unsuspecting world in the early 1980s, often tasted with and outperforming top Sauternes, no region could have seemed a less likely source than the flat, fertile plains and hot, dry climate of Riverina. But that’s to overlook the autumn rain and fog, the humid mornings and dry afternoons. The botrytis cinerea is all naturally occurring.

‘We use the same vineyards each year, so the microflora is in the vineyard and we just need Mother Nature to give the right conditions at the right time,’ says winemaker Julie Mortlock. Mother Nature has failed only twice, ruining both 1989 and 2012 with rain. Residual sugar has ranged from 150-230g/L (2016 is at the upper end), alcohol is usually 10%-11%, and acidity is fine-tuned to balance the sweetness. Production remains very similar to how it was in 1982, but the style has evolved slightly – lightened by the use of some unoaked components in the blend.

Originally published in the January 2020 issue of Decanter magazine.

Top 10 New World sweet wines

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At the Mentzendorff portfolio tasting on 3^rd March, Hans Anstrom (Klein Constantia’s Managing Director led a masterclass on the iconic Vin de Constance. Under new ownership since 2012, quality at this ultra-historical estate has been on a steep upward curve since then. 2016 is the latest release and is another stunning vintage for Vin de Constance. So, what makes this sweet wine so special?

Many wines claim to have ‘history’ but only a handful worldwide have the credentials of Vin de Constance – the sweet wine from Klein Constantia estate. Founded in 1685 by Simon van der Stel, the 10^th Commander of the Cape, the estate is located south of Table Mountain, in a sheltered valley freshened by proximity to the cooling waters of False Bay. From the earliest vintages it was apparent that this was a wonderful location for fine wine, with Constantia (the original name for the sweet wine) renowned around the globe.

By the late eighteenth-century Constantia featured in prestigious courts – Frederick the Great of Prussia’s cellar in October 1777 held 409 bottles, whilst Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette’s recorded 2,634 in November 1782. US Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were fans, as were Jane Austen, Dickens and Napoleon. However, changes in ownership, the abolition of slavery, the arrival of oidium and falling demand resulted in a decline with production ceasing in 1872.

For almost 100 years, Constantia lived on as a memory. In 1980 the estate was sold to the Jooste family who set out to restore its former glory, with the first wine from the new-era released in 1986. In 2011, Klein Constantia was sold to new owners – businessmen Zdenek Bakala and Charles Harman – and in 2012 the estate merged with Anwilka in Stellenbosch, bringing Bruno Prats and Hubert de Boüard on-board as shareholders. In perhaps the most significant move, young rising star Matt Day was promoted to head winemaker.

New team

Day, viticulturist Craig Harris and Anstrom have presided over the further elevation of Vin de Constance, with the quality (once again) on a par with the world’s best sweet wines. Although Vin de Constance is often favourably compared with Yquem and the greatest Tokaji wines, it is fundamentally different. This is a wine produced exclusively from ultra-late harvested Muscat de Frontignan, with the absence of both botrytis and dried grapes.

Highly selective grape-picking was introduced by the new team in 2012 – the first vintage over which they had total control. In 2015, 15 passes were made through the vineyard with berries picked individually. Some grapes are picked early to add freshness and to initiate natural fermentation, with the majority picked, selectively, over a 90-day harvest ‘window’. Fermentation is often stopped by the addition of Essencia juice with 650g/l residual sugar.

Since the 1986, Vin de Constance has gone through a number of stylistic phases. Vintages from 1993-1997 averaged 120g/l residual with 8.6g/l total acidity. From 2012-2016, the same measures show an average of 167g/l residual sugar and 6.7g/l acidity. Recent vintages have seen maturation in 50% new French foudres and 50% 500 litre barrels. Purity and balance are the essence here, with wines approachable when youthful but with the capability to age 40+ years. At the end of the tasting, Anstrom very neatly summed up Vin de Constance – ‘this is not a dessert wine, it’s a dessert in itself’.

A taste of Vin de Constance wines

There will be no German ice wine produced in the 2019 vintage as temperatures across Germany’s wine-producing regions have been too warm this winter.

None of the country’s 13 wine-growing regions reached the figure of -7C necessary for the production of the famous dessert wine, which is made from grapes that have frozen while still on the vine.

‘Due to the mild winter, the minimum required temperature for an ice wine harvest was not reached in any German wine region. And the coming days are also no longer expected to have frosty nights,’ said Ernst Büscher from the German Wine Institute (DWI).

It is the first vintage in history that ice wine has not been produced in Germany, and the failed 2019 harvest follows a number of poor years for the sweet wine. According to the DWI only seven producers could harvest ice wine nationwide in 2017, while the 2014/15 winter was so mild that ice wine from the 2014 vintage is also ‘an absolute rarity’.

The future doesn’t look too bright either. ‘If the warm winters continue in the next few years, ice wines from German wine regions will soon become even more of a rarity than they already are,’ said Büscher.

Further challenges

The DWI says that another problem for ice wine production is that in recent years the dates for a possible ice harvest – the times of year when the temperature falls below 7C – have shifted more and more into January and February, while the grapes have tended to ripen earlier and earlier. ‘As a result, the period that the grapes have to survive in a healthy state until a possible ice wine harvest is becoming longer,’ claims the Institute.

A further challenge is created when the yields across the regular grape harvest are low, which lessens the willingness of growers to leave grapes hanging for ice wine production. ‘The harvest amount for ice wine is usually only around 500 liters per hectare on average,’ says the DWI.

Adapting to climate change

Wine producers are increasingly having to consider how to adapt to face the challenges of rising temperatures, a point that was addressed by Dirceu Vianna Junior MW in his Portuguese wines Discovery Theatre at the Decanter Spain and Portugal Encounter on 29th February.

‘We used to laugh at people planting in Central Otago – too cold we thought – and same for England,’ he said. He also noted the decision made last summer to permit different grapes, including Touriga Nacional, in Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur wines.

A recent study found that more than half the world’s vineyards could be unviable if the planet warms by two degrees Celsius.

Additional reporting by Ellie Douglas. 

Climate change and wine: Time to act

In the third and final part of our results from our wines of the year tasting, we bring the top scoring sparkling, fortified and sweet wines.

After over 100 wines were nominated by Decanter experts and in-house team, Sarah Jane Evans MW, Dirceu Vianna Junior MW and Tina Gellie spent two days tasting them against each other, to come out with our list of most exciting wines of 2019.

Find more top wines of 2019 here. 

Most exciting wines of 2019: Sparkling, fortified and sweet

Saphir Capital has increased its shareholding in Wine Source Group to 51%, following a ‘seven-figure capital investment’, the companies announced this week.

Wine Source launched in 2009 as a ‘fine wine concierge’ service, supplying wines from both established and more under-the-radar producers in highly regarded wine regions to top hotels and restaurants, as well as private clients.

It specialises in sourcing specific vintages and rare wines direct from winery cellars.

Some of the bigger names in its network include Châteaux Cheval Blanc, d’Yquem, Margaux, Haut-Bailly and Palmer in Bordeaux, as well as Promontory in Napa Valley, Hirsch Vineyards in Sonoma County and Eric Rodez in Champagne.

The group said it would use the extra investment to expand its operations globally.

It said that it has opened a commercial office in Bordeaux, moved its headquarters to France and appointed a chief operating officer, Matthew Grimsdale, following ‘significant investment’ from Saphir.

Philippe Kalmbach, CEO of Wine Source Group, said he was delighted with the new partnership with the private equity firm.

‘The last 6 months have been a proven testament of the capabilities of our business as we compete amongst the top fine wine merchants around the world, bringing unique and personalised offerings to our clients.’

Daria Polunina, director of Saphir UK, said, ‘We are delighted to have joined the Wine Source Group as a majority stakeholder and look forward to seeing the offering, portfolio and team grow as a result of our investment.’

See also: Fine wine prices fall as Bordeaux and Burgundy weaken

Decanter magazine: January 2019

To read all of the January 2019 articles online, click here. 

50 most exciting wines of 2018: Tina Gellie leads our panel to pick the very best of the many excellent wines our Decanterexperts have most enjoyed in 2018 – all priced at £60 or less

Interview: Thomas Duroux: He takes a no-fuss approach and remains fully committed to biodynamics. Jane Anson meets the CEO of Bordeaux’s Château Palmer

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Switzerland: Unknown territory to many, Robin Kick MW profiles the four main grape varieties and picks 10 of her favourite wines

Terroir and taste: Do the rocks and stones in a vineyard actually matter? No, says geologist Alex Maltman. Whatever the notes say, we can’t taste ‘minerals’ in a wine

Anniversary wines: Anthony Rose looks back over the decades to find the best bottles for your landmark celebrations in 2019

Sweet & fortified wines for Christmas: These treats come into their own at this time of year. Andy Howard MW highlights 20 top-value wines to try

Handing over: Chef de cave transitions: Passing on the art of the Champagne blend is never a quick process. Anne Krebiehl MW finds out what it takes

Festive wine top buys: Pushing the boat out? Tina Gellie recommends 34 great-value seasonal wines at £35 or under

Haut-Médoc 2010 & 2014 panel tasting – 88 wines tasted: Two well-rated vintages living up to their billing – and perfectly suited for your Christmas lunch

Prosecco Conegliano Valdobbiadene panel tasting – 87 wines tasted: A great choice of both brut and sweeter styles, with consistency and quality throughout

Expert’s choice: South American Riesling – It’s beginning to flourish in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. Patricio Tapia recommends his top 12

A New World Christmas: Fiona Beckett talks to winemakers in Canada, Argentina, Australia and South Africa about the food and drink traditions that make their Christmas special

Travel: My Aspen: Kelly J Hayes picks his favourite wine destinations in thi skiing fan’s paradise in Colorado, USA

Wine legend: Szepsy, Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos, Hungary 1999

Wine labels can be confusing when it comes to indicating how sweet a wine will taste. But help is at hand, as Matt Walls offers some useful pointers to help you navigate the space between sweet and dry...

It happens to us all once in a while. You open a bottle, take a sip, and instead of a dry wine, your tongue flags up an unexpected sweetness.

It’s rarely an issue with red wines, and fully sweet dessert wines are relatively easy to spot (smaller bottles, higher prices, usually merchandised separately), but some medium-dry and medium-sweet white wines can appear to the eye almost identical to their dry counterparts.

However, there are certain clues you can gather from grape variety, regional tradition or label terminology that can lead you in the right direction.

Scroll down for Walls’ top 15 suggestions to explore sweetness in wine

And by ‘right’ direction, I don’t necessarily mean towards a dry wine.

Dryness can mistakenly be seen as a sign of sophistication or quality, perhaps because many mass-market wines contain some sugar.

But sweetness is nothing to be wary of. On the contrary, the judicious withholding of residual sugar gives winemakers scope to play with structure, balance and flavour.

Not all of the greatest wines are fully dry or fully sweet. The tricky part is knowing when best to drink them.Except for some regional curiosities, semi-sweet wines are usually produced in cool-climate regions, especially the Loire, Alsace and Germany.

Either that, or they’re made elsewhere with associated grape varieties. And no grape is more closely intertwined with semi-sweet styles than Riesling.

Germany and Riesling

Even a glimpse of the traditional German flute-shaped bottle can suggest sweetness. It’s understandable: Riesling retains acidity as it ripens, so a degree of natural unfermented grape sugar in the wine is fairly common to bring balance. Germany has also sometimes struggled to fully ripen its grapes, so a little sweetness was prized.

But tastes are changing. According to Steffen Schindler of the German Wine Institute: ‘German wine is drier than ever. Today, almost 70% of all wine produced in Germany is dry or semi-dry. Back in the 1970s, more than two-thirds were sweet.’

The most useful term when identifying whether a German Riesling is dry or not is ‘trocken’, meaning ‘dry’. The impression of sweetness in a wine isn’t just down to residual sugar, it’s also affected by the level of acidity.

So, a trocken wine can have up to four grams per litre of residual sugar (4g/l RS), or up to 9g/l RS provided that the total acidity (TA) is no less than 2g/l below the level of residual sugar (so if a wine has 9g/l RS, it would need at least 7g/l TA). The terms ‘halbtrocken’ and ‘feinherb’ mean medium-dry. But usage of any of these terms is not obligatory.

If none of these words feature on the label, another way of checking is by looking for any German Prädikat terminology. Prädikatweine is the category once called QmP or Qualitätswein mit Prädikat – the highest level of wine quality in Germany. It’s effectively a scale that refers to the ‘must weight’ of the grapes used (their degree of fermentable sugars before fermentation) rather than the sweetness of the finished wine. In ascending order of must weight: kabinett, spätlese, auslese, beerenauslese and eiswein, trockenbeerenauslese. The last four are nowadays always sweet. Kabinett and spätlese can go either way, but an alcohol level of 12% or more would suggest that all the fermentable sugars have turned to alcohol and the wine is dry. The final term (I promise) worth knowing is grosses gewächs – a prestige category of German wines that is always dry.

All this German terminology is necessarily technical and is relatively complex compared to other regions, but at least it helps you make an educated guess. With New World Rieslings you have to rely on descriptions on the label or know the producer. But generally speaking Australian Rieslings are usually bone dry; New Zealand Rieslings also tend towards dryness, but you can find some excellent medium-dry and medium-sweet examples, such as Pegasus Bay’s Bel Canto and Aria.

Beyond sugar

The impression of sweetness in a wine isn’t just down to how much residual sugar and acidity it has. The following list of factors can also play a role:

Oak

Ageing in contact with oak can release sweet-tasting compounds into the wine. It can also impart flavours that are associated with sweetness, such as naturally occurring vanillin, or caramel or coffee flavours produced from toasting the oak over a flame.

Ripeness

The flavours of very ripe grapes – overripe, jammy or dried fruits – can prompt us to think of the sweetness that would usually accompany these flavours in nature, even if the wine which contains these flavours has been fermented to dryness.

Alcohol

Alcohol can taste sweet (as can glycerol), so a wine with a high alcohol content can taste slightly sweet even if it contains practically no residual sugar.

Serving temperature

The lower the serving temperature, the less sensitive the palate is to sweetness. A very sweet wine can taste cloying at room temperature, but more refreshing and drinkable when chilled.

The treasures of Alsace

Alsace is arguably the greatest white wine region in the world, and this is in part thanks to the way it has embraced sweetness – a kind of third dimension that can make other wine regions look flat in comparison. But speaking commercially, sugar is also its greatest weakness; without the same terminology as Germany, it’s even easier to be caught out by unexpected sweetness here than over the border. Opening a semi-sweet wine when you’re expecting a dry one needn’t be a big deal, but most of us have an idea of the style we feel like drinking at any given time. So, for many, it’s a case of once bitten, twice shy.

Unusually for France, the grape varieties are usually stated on the label; they are your first clue. Pinot Blanc, Sylvaner and Muscat are almost always dry. Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer are usually off-dry but can be anywhere from dry to medium-sweet (grand cru examples are often more noticeably sweet). Riesling is usually dry – but not always. So how can you tell?

It’s increasingly common to see a sweetness scale on the label, depicted either graphically or numerically. It’s helpful but not mandatory. However, within the next year or two, it’s highly likely that producers will be obliged to use ‘sec’ on the label if the wine is technically dry. ‘Vendange tardive’ and ‘sélection de grains nobles’ wines are reliably fully sweet.

Alsace Riesling has been rapidly evolving. The traditional style has long been dry, but in the 1990s there was a trend towards a sweeter expression. Trimbach makes exclusively dry Rieslings, and they have always championed the dry style. Owner Jean Trimbach says: ‘I’m happy to say for the last 10 years many of [the producers] who fell into sweetness – a sort of false richness – are back to dryness again.’

But to taste the Rieslings of an estate such as Domaine Rolly Gassmann, whose wines all have some degree of residual sweetness, demonstrates that medium-dry Alsace Riesling can be compellingly delicious. Pierre Gassmann explains that there’s no indication as to sweetness on his labels because his wines are made with long ageing in mind, and as wines mature, the sensation of sweetness gradually fades.

Gewurztraminer is now grown around the world, and outside Alsace it’s usually dry. Pinot Gris is just as widespread, and though normally dry, it often denotes a richer style than when the grape is labelled Pinot Grigio.

Chenin Blanc and the Loire

Chenin Blanc is another grape that retains its acidity as it ripens, so winemakers can play with a range of sweetness levels in a similar way to Riesling. Its heartland is the Middle Loire region in northern France, and although a number of appellations such as Anjou and even Savennières make a tiny amount of semi-sweet Chenin Blanc, its greatest exponents are the appellations of Vouvray and Montlouis-sur-Loire.

It’s obligatory for their dry wines to display the word ‘sec’ on the label; it is measured in a similar way to how trocken wines are measured in Germany. For sweeter wines, there is a sliding scale upwards from sec, to sec tendre, to demi-sec to moelleux, but these aren’t legally defined and are used at the producer’s discretion. ‘Liquoreux’ and ‘sélection de grains nobles’ indicate fully sweet wines.

Philippe Foreau of Domaine du Clos Naudin makes Vouvrays of varying sweetness. He sees more demand for dry styles from restaurants, while home drinkers buy across the board. Dry styles are the easiest to match with food, but demi-sec can work brilliantly with savoury dishes too, particularly with white meats, rich sauces or strong spicing. Moelleux wines are often best drunk alone, before or after a meal. But it’s these sweeter styles that, according to Sarah Hwang of Domaine Huet, ‘best radiate the heart and soul’ of her domaine ‘and carry on the winemaking traditions of Vouvray’.

In years to come, we may wonder why so many of the wines we drank were huddled at the other end of the spectrum.

See Walls’ top 15 suggestions to explore sweetness in wine

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What is Icewine? Ask Decanter 

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Heard of ‘Icewine’ but not quite sure what it is, or how it is made? Read on...

What is Icewine? Ask Decanter

Icewine – or ‘Eiswein’ – is a type of sweet wine, originally made in Germany and Austria, but also more recently in Canada and China.

The grapes are left on the vine into the winter, and eventually the water in the grapes will freeze.

These frozen grapes are quickly picked and pressed, so that the juice made is very high in sugar, which is then made in to wine, which is luscious and sweet.

The main grapes for ice wine are Riesling and Vidal Blanc.

‘The temperature needs to be below -7°C or -8ºC before the grapes can be picked for these ultra-concentrated sweet wines,’ said Natasha Hughes in the January 2013 issue of Decanter magazine.

‘Harvest often takes place overnight at a time of year when the vineyards are usually blanketed in a thick layer of snow.

‘Such conditions must create additional peril for those picking grapes on the already dangerously steep slopes of the Mosel, yet harvesting casualties are luckily rare.’

What Icewine tastes of

Ice wines tend to have flavours such as citrus and tropical fruits, honey and marmalade.

‘You’re unlikely to find any botrytis on any of these grapes – the idea is to create wines with intense fruit flavours,’ said Hughes.

See also: Tasting notes decoded

In the 2018 Decanter World Wine Awards, the Wayne Gretzky Estates, No.99 Vidal Icewine won a Platinum medal.

‘A tropical nose with hints of orange and honey leads to an intense palate of peach, mango and well balanced caramel over citrus zest.’

The Chateau Changyu Icewine 2015 from China also won a gold medal.

Judges praised it for ‘Savoury notes are overlaid by flowers and lime on the nose. The palate shows candied peel mingled with hints of tea and oodles of marmalade.’

More wine questions answered

Hard to make and unappreciated, yet some of the most complex, hedonistic wines of the world. Are you a sweet fan or do you neglect the end of a meal with a shrug? How much do you know about the sweet wines of the world - find out...

From Sauternes to Rutherglen Muscat, how much do you know about the sweet wines of the world? Let’s find out…

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Decanter has organised a Masterclass in Beijing to showcase five Decanter Asia Wine Awards 2016 Gold Medal winners at this year’s TopWine China wine fair.

Over 100 Chinese wine professionals attended the masterclass, hosted by Denis Lin, a wine and food journalist and Decanter Asia Wine Awards (DAWA) judge.

Wines tasted in the session included one Australian sparkling, three red wines from New Zealand, Spain and the USA, and one ice wine from China.

‘I was very happy and honoured to host this masterclass of DAWA Gold winners,’ Denis Lin told DecanterChina.com.

‘The audience were eager to learn more wine knowledge, and they were curious about the judging of the Decanter Gold winners.

‘The wines we introduced consisted of different types, countries and grape varieties, which gave the audience a good understanding of the judging criteria and standard of the Decanter Awards. This helped people to be more confident of the strictness, fairness and professionalism of the competition.’

Decanter Asia Wine Awards was launched six years ago with the sole purpose of bringing the world’s finest wines to the attention of Asia’s rapidly growing number of wine lovers.

Wines entering the competition are rigorously blind tasted by more than 40 of Asia’s most influential and expert wine palates. The judging panel is led by DAWA chair Steven Spurrier, and vice-chairs Ch’ng Poh Tiong, Gerard Basset MS MW OBE, Andrew Jefford, Shinya Tasaki, Michael Hill-Smith and Li Demei.

The Chinese Gold winner, Heilongjiang Luyuan Winery’s Château Fenhe Ice Wine 2014 vintage attracted much attention and received praise from the audience.

Wen Hui, the winery’s spokesperson, said, ‘We were grateful to have this opportunity to showcase our ice wine. Winning a Gold Medal in a world-class wine competition shows the recognition of Chinese ice wine. We hope to gain more development opportunities through these kind of events.’

Decanter also offered tastings of these award-winning wines at its stand to all attendees at TopWine China 2017.

‘I was glad to visit the Decanter stand at TopWine China and taste the well-selected high quality wines.’ LI Xinbang, technical director of EuroCellar (Beijing) Wine Technology Co. Ltd said.

‘The Arras sparkling from Australia, the Cabernet Sauvignon of Cakebread Cellars from Napa Valley and the Château Fenhe Ice Wine were very impressive.’

See the list of wines available in TopWine China here. 

Decanter Asia Wine Awards 2017 is now open for entries. The judging week will take place in Hong Kong in early September. For more information, please visit the Decanter Asia Wine Awards homepage www.decanter.com/decanter-awards/decanter-asia-wine-awards/.

Decanter's tastings team pick out ten bottles of sweet wine worth having in the fridge this Christmas...

A crowded table may not be the best time to pull out a treasured bottle of expensive Sauternes, especially if you need to stick to a budget.

It’s good to know there are plenty of different options available, from Chilean Riesling to Beaumes de Venise. Here are ten sweet wines worth considering for your table this Christmas, covering all budgets from under £10 all the way to £50.

Three ways to enjoy sweet wine:

• With a terrine or foie gras starter

• With the cheeseboard

• With Christmas pudding

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Discover why De Bortoli, Noble One 1982 makes the Decanter wine hall of fame...

De Bortoli, Noble One 1982: The facts

Bottles produced 48,000

Composition 100% Semillon

Yield N/A

Alcohol 12.8%

Release price AUD$25 (about $81/£35 intoday’s money)

Price today £150 at The Wine Press

A legend because…

Although Australia has a long tradition of sweet wine production (mostly fortified), Noble One, first made in 1982 and labelled as ‘Sauternes’ until 1990, was a new departure. Placed as a ringer among a few dozen 1983 Sauternes in a blind tasting in 1987, I was one of the tasters who, while puzzled by the wine, acclaimed its quality. It was, I noted, ‘worryingly mature for a 1983 Sauternes’, but its plump, unctuous character gave it immediate appeal.

Looking back De Bortoli is a family winery, founded in 1928. In the early 1980s it was run by the late Deen De Bortoli. His son Darren had been enchanted by the 1975 Château Coutet he’d had drunk while a student at Adelaide’s Roseworthy College; moreover, Deen had already experimented with botrytis wines in the 1970s, though with little success. Their decision to embark on a significant production of a botrytis-affected Semillon did not meet with universal approval within the family, but they were vindicated.

The 1982 Noble One has gone on to win (on the Australian wine show circuit) more than 11 trophies and 46 gold medals. As the wine was re-entered into subsequent wine shows, it garnered 138 trophies and 425 golds. The De Bortolis have since made the wine every year except in washed-out 1989 and 2012. The vintage Preceding years in Riverina had been hit by drought, but in 1982 there was abundant rain, and growers were confronted with lots of botrytised fruit.

Initially abject at having to discard part of their crop, the growers were delighted when the De Bortolis offered to buy the best of it. This was something of a gamble on their part, as it was not immediately clear whether the mould was the noble botrytis cinerea or the less desirable brown rot. Fortunately it was mostly the former.

The terroir

The grapes came mostly from the De Bortoli vineyards in Griffith, an area within the Riverina region that has won a reputation for botrytis-affected wines, especially Semillon. Although the grapes were grown on differing soil types, there were some factors in common: moisture-retentive clay soils and regular morning dews that helped to provoke botrytis infection; while warm sunny days helped to concentrate and ripen the fruit. The use of flood irrigation also contributes to the necessary humidity for noble rot.

The wine

After a manual harvest, the juice is settled overnight, then clarified before being inoculated with yeasts to start fermentation, which can take up to three months. The 1982 was picked at a potential alcohol of more than 23%. Early vintages of what became Noble One were unoaked, but from 1990 the wine was aged mostly in tight-grained Seguin-Moreau barriques, although about 10% to 15% remains in tanks to preserve freshness.

The reaction

In 1986, Stephen Brook noted: ‘Lush, stylish botrytis nose. Plump, rounded, but very intense with delicious peachy fruit, and the botrytis bringing viscosity. Good length, but there’s a slight lack of acidity on the finish. Excellent.’

In 2009, Sarah Ahmed admired the wine: ‘The nose shows a spicy marmalade/orange-peel character with a barley sugar twist. Quite warm, with flavours of barley sugar, apricot and buttery bruléed apple tart. Good acidity still, with texture, tannin and a spicy marmalade finish.’

In the same year Australian wine writer Jeremy Oliver found it very evolved: ‘Now very mature with a complex, dusty and nutty bouquet suggestive of herbal and citrussy notes. It’s beginning to break down and dry out towards the finish but delivers charming intensity and elegance, finishing with savoury and vanilla aspects.’

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Vin de Constance 1986 is a legend because…

Constantia was one of the most famous and expensive sweet wines in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Jane Austen and Charles Baudelaire referred to the wine in their writings, and it was favoured by the likes of Frederick the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, George IV of England and Otto von Bismarck. Most of those fortunate enough to taste 19th-century bottles, including Michael Broadbent, are of the opinion that Constantia was fortified.

The outbreak of phylloxera in the late 19th century brought production to an end, and with it the precise details of how it was made. Nonetheless, in the 1980s Duggie Jooste of the Klein Constantia estate, together with winemaker Ross Gower, resolved to try to recreate the original wine.

The idea was first proposed by viticulturist Professor Chris Orffer. His formula has proved a great success, with consistent quality over the years. The 1986 was the first year of production, but that wine was never released commercially, as the Joostes had no idea how well the wine would turn out. The special bottle, still in use, was designed in Italy.

• John Stimpfig tastes Vin de Constance 2012

Looking back

Klein Constantia is one of the original estates in the Constantia zone close to Cape Town. It forms part of the larger 900-hectare estate created in 1685 by Simon Van der Stel, who planted grapes here. Its long history explains why South African producers bristle when they are patronisingly described as ‘New World’ estates. Constantia seems to have made its first appearances in Europe in the 1720s. The Jooste family, who sold the property in 2011, was an admirable custodian of the estate, one of the finest in the region.

• Cape Town: Restaurants and wine bars

The vintage

1986 is remembered as a good vintage for red wines in the Cape. Very dry conditions in January and February led to early ripening and to perfect conditions for the Muscat de Frontignan to form perfect raisins.

The terroir

The wine is made from Muscat de Frontignan (aka Muscat à Petits Grains) and picked very ripe with no botrytis. The eight hectares of vines were planted in 1983 on a slope with varied soils: sandstone higher up, clay and decomposed granite in the middle, and sand below. For the maiden 1986 vintage, most of the crop was thinned so as not to stress the young plants and a small amount was left to mature on the vines until it raisined.

The wine

Very little is known about how the 1986 vintage was made, but the tiny harvest would have been macerated on the skins before a hard pressing designed to extract not just sugar and flavour but tannins too, giving the finished wine more texture.

The wine was fermented in two 500-litre barrels and aged for 18 months before being bottled. There is no fortification and fermentation stops naturally because of the high levels of sugar and alcohol.

In current vintages the grapes are picked in various stages to bring in a range of sugar and acidity levels. Each batch is made using a variety of methods: some are fermented on the skins, while others are macerated for two weeks.

Then the finished wine is aged in barrels for up to five years, providing a light oxidation that forms the stable yet complex character so typical of Vin de Constance.

The reaction

As the wine was never released, printed comments are scarce. South African wine writer Angela Lloyd tasted the wine in 2002 and wrote: ‘Intense, lifted, fresh honey and lemon bouquet. Racy, minerally acid lends vivid clarity to the rich fruit, silky texture. Excellent balance. Incisively clean, long. Amazingly youthful.’

A few years later, Tuscan wine producer Sebastiano Castiglioni of Querciabella acquired some cases at the Nederburg auction, so more bottles may become available for tasting. In 2014 Klein Constantia winemaker Matthew Day brought a bottle to London for tasting.

I noted: ‘Startling caramelised orange nose, smoky, a touch of rancio, vivid. Mediumbodied, moderate concentration, good acidity, a trace of oxidation, yet vibrant, with some tropical fruit. Peppery finish, fine length.’

The facts

Bottles produced 950 500ml bottles

Composition 100% Muscat de Frontignan

Yield 3.3hl/ha

Alcohol 13.7%

Release price Not sold, but the 1987 was ZAR22 ex-cellar (about £6.80)

Price today N/A

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An ‘outstanding’ performance in Asia helped Penfolds, Wolf Blass and Beringer owner Treasury Wine Estates to more than double profits in the first half of its financial year.

Penfolds owner Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) said net profits before one-off charges reached A$87.6m in the first half of the wine firm’s fianancial year, to the end of December 2015.After charges, profits were still up by 42%, at A$60.6m.

Net sales increased by 15% versus the same six months of the previous year.

The Australia-based wine business saw its share price increase by 10% this week to A$9.4 (ended 19 February), putting it 13.5% up in 2016 so far and 85% higher than at this point last year. The firm rejected a takeover offer of A$5.20 per share in 2014.

Treasury, which bought most of Diageo’s wine interests in late 2015, said it was now building a more balanced business, with each of its regions – Australia/NZ, Americas, Europe and Asia – delivering earnings growth.

But Asia was the star performer, more than doubling sales volumes to 1.195m cases, with sales up by 123% and profits rising by A$26m to A$46.5m.

Treasury attributed this to growing consumer demand for imported wine and enhanced routes-to-market in China, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan, with Penfolds, Wolf Blass, Rawson’s Retreat, Beringer and Lindemans leading the charge.

• READ: China set to overtake UK for Australian wine exports

Profits had grown ahead of revenues, the company added, thanks to better sales of higher-priced wines.

Treasury said the fundamentals of the Asia markets ‘continue to be highly attractive, with Asian consumers increasingly turning to imported wine as the alcoholic beverage of choice’.

Elsewhere, Australia and New Zealand reported 6% profits growth as Treasury out-performed a flat market in Australia, while the Americas posted a 67% profits boost on good growth for higher-priced wines and favourable exchange rates. Europe’s profits more than doubled to A$17.2m.

‘Our interim result demonstrates a continuation of the momentum delivered in fiscal 2015 and highlights the benefits of having repositioned our business to deliver strong earnings growth on a balanced, sustainable base,’ said Treasury CEO Michael Clarke.

Link: Find more WSET stories

- This article is written by a journalist on a journey of discovery - and on a mission to learn about wine.

By Yiyao Wu from Shanghai – the Chinese perspective

Use the where to study map on the WSET website to see which courses are available near you.

About ten years ago quite a number of wine consumers in China would add soft drinks such as Sprite to wines because they believed it would make wines taste softer, sweeter and more friendly to beginner drinkers. While some believe this was an innovative, local-know-how to boost wine consumption, many would frown at such methods of “blending” regarding it as a crime against nature.

In recent years as more wine varieties are known and accessible to consumers, blending soft drinks into wine is rarely seen. For those who would love a glass of sweet wine, there are a variety of different methods of production of sweet wines, each with different results:

Interrupting the fermentation

One method of production of sweet wines is to interrupt fermentation by removing the yeast, which transfers sugar into alcohol, by using a fine filter to ensure that no yeast remains in the wine. With no yeast to ‘eat’ the sugar, it remains creating a lower alcohol, sweet wine. Many of the popular off-dry wines are made in this way.

Adding alcohol to fortify the wine or adding sulfur dioxide to wine can kill yeast to stop fermentation. This is a common technique that is used to make fortified sweet Muscat wines.

We tasted un-aged Vins Doux Naturels at classroom, which have high alcohol but are well-balanced with sweetness. They have refreshing, sweet and pronounced aroma of fresh grape, peach and perfume.

Adding a sweet component to the blend

It is not permitted to add sugar to wines (that’s perhaps why adding Sprite to wines is frowned upon) but you can add a sweet component, including unfermented grape juice, or Sussreserve to sweeten the blend. In Germany some sweet and off-dry wines are made with this technique.

Concentration of sugars in the grapes

High-quality sweet wines are often made from grapes with concentrated sugars of their own. This concentration process can occur in one of three ways: by drying the grapes or to allow the growth of the Botrytis cinerea rot or noble rot to accelerate evaporation of water or by freezing the grapes which makes icewine.

• READ: Top Sauternes and Barsac 2011 and 2013

We tasted a glass of Ricioto from Italy, which is a kind of sweet red wine using dried grapes. It tastes like syrup with flavours of coffee and tobacco with a trace of honey. It’s full with a soft body and rich aroma that is quite impressive.

My teacher also let us taste sweet Tokaji Aszu, which uses noble rot attacked grapes; it has botrytis flavours and a hint of marmalade. As noble rot wines must use hand-picked grapes which has high labour costs, they are often expensive. I recalled a banquet two years ago when a sweet noble rot wine was paired with dessert. If Tokaji Aszu was on the menu, there was no need for the dessert as the wine itself was a delicious enough dessert; you can literally “chew” the full-bodied, amber-coloured wine.

On a wine-tasting event after the class I was offered a glass of icewine from Canada’s Inniskillin. The high latitude, cold and dry climate helps production of quality icewine that is high in acid and low in alcohol with a pure and refreshing taste. Production of quality icewines is limited as only a small number of producers are blessed with the geographic conditions and climate required. They are not produced every year.

Interested in studying for a WSET qualification like John? Learn more here.

Yiyao Wu Biography – WSET, China Based Journalist

Credit: Decanter

France, Germany and Italy – Sweet Wines – WSET Level 2

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Credit: Baron de Ley

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Link: Find more WSET stories

- This article is written by a journalist on a journey of discovery - and on a mission to learn about wine.

By John Elmes

As Port, historically in the UK at least, is consumed plentifully over Christmas, it probably would have made sense to write this over the festive period. Since a ‘Vin doux Naturel’ (VdN), is also a big seller at Yuletide, it seems even weirder to be writing this in January. But never mind.

Though I don’t drink it much, even at Christmas, Port is something I’m used to because there’s always been a bottle living in our drinks cabinet. Consequently, I mistakenly always associated it with spirits rather than wine. A heinous, vinous faux pas.

• Cheese and Port matching

Each topic I’ve written about from my WSET Level 2 Award in Wines and Spirits course has revealed its own quirks and idiosyncrasies, and Port is no exception. The fact that the tradition of treading the grapes by foot to extract colour and tannin is still practised in many premium Port houses, is my personal favourite. It feels rustic, haphazard even, sitting nicely in contrast with the slick processes of the wine business. The suggestion that producers ‘jump up and down on the grapes,’ amuses and delights me.

Port production

Port is a fortified wine, meaning alcohol is added to it during its production. All fortified wines, tutor Erica informs us, have ‘neutral grape spirit’ (brandy, effectively) as their fortifier because ‘wines have to be made from grapes.’

As fortification occurs during the fermentation process, Port is always sweet. The added alcohol kills off the yeast fermenting the grapes which halts fermentation leaving residual sugar, and hey presto: sweet wine. Specifically, you’re left with partially fermented, high alcohol, sweet wine. Erica tells us it’s around 20-22 per cent.

Vins doux Naturels employ similar methods to Port for making them sweet. As we covered sweet wines before we did fortifieds, I had inadvertently been given an insight into Port’s production before, not that I remembered it all…

• Fonseca Ports – Six of the best

Port styles

But back to Port. After the halted fermentation, it’s ‘all about ageing’. Wines are aged in oak barrels and the length of time they spend in them determines the style.

Ruby and Reserve Ruby Ports are young, ruby coloured and taste of fresh fruit – ‘cherry and berry’ so goes Erica’s handy rhyme. Reserve Rubies, have been aged a little longer in oak, have better quality grapes, and more complexity and intensity. They’re both however, non-vintage wines, and with both: ‘once you’ve opened it, drink it’ Erica warns.

Late Bottled Vintage, similar in style to Reserve Ruby, is where the quality jumps up. The wine comes from one year and tends to be of very good quality. Their extra spicy flavours are a result of prolonged oak ageing.

Vintage Port is the top Ruby style, and is only made when a ‘Port house thinks it’s got some particularly outstanding grapes’ from a specific vintage. Wines are bottled very young but are so tannic they’re nowhere near ready to drink. They will be aged for decades, upwards of fifty years in some cases. Apparently, our peers on the WSET Level 3 Course were sampling a 40-year-old Port at the time of our lesson, and ‘still [had] time to keep going.’ It seems inconceivable a wine can age four decades and retain the original fruitiness of the grapes. Ruby Ports, aiming to maintain the fresh fruit, are aged in big steel containers, thereby not altering the flavour.

• Use the where to study map on the WSET website to see which courses are available near you.

Tawny Ports on the other hand, take their name from the colour they reach through acute oak ageing.

‘[Producers] oxidise it heavily,’ says Erica. ‘It’s not just [about] leaving it; it’s about aerating the wine – moving it from cask to cask.’

‘You want to get rid of that ruby colour, take it to garnet so it ends up tawny. That oxidative effect will change the colour and give us dried fruit, nuts, spice flavours.’

Vin doux Naturels

The Vin doux Naturels we learnt about didn’t really age. For them it’s about perfume, fresh peach and grape flavours. The one we tried in the lesson was the Muscat de Beaumes de Venise. Jim, our teacher for that lesson, tells us ‘the yeast has only eaten half of the sugar,’ and in the same way Port is made, ‘almost pure alcohol’ is used to kill it off. It is the reason Beaumes de Venise comes with a ‘big burning character.’

So what is the final product? In the Muscat wine, we end up with high alcohol, grape juice and Muscat grape aromas. Jim’s succinct conclusion is irreverent and apt:

‘It’s almost like a cocktail we’ve got here: a little bit of wine, a lot of grape juice, and some un-aged brandy. Because that’s what most of it is: grape juice, sugar, alcohol.’

If only tasting were that simple…

Interested in studying for a WSET qualification like John? Learn more here.

Link: Find more WSET stories

- This article is written by a journalist on a journey of discovery - and on a mission to learn about wine.

By John Elmes

France. The spiritual homeland of wine. Most, when prodded, will think of France first when asked about wine quality.

I want to talk about three levels of quality, which have legal definitions in viticulture: ‘Villages’, ‘Premier Cru’ and ‘Grand Cru’ – all of which we learnt about in our WSET Level 2 course.

Burgundy

In Burgundy, of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir fame, labelling is straightforward. The quality labels range from regional (Bourgogne AC) all the way to the very specific: the Grand Crus.

• Burgundy classification by Benjamin Lewin MW

The terms to consider are ‘Premier Cru’, and ‘Grand Cru’, which relate to the vineyards. ‘In Burgundy, when we talk about Premier Cru, it’s about the geography,’ our tutor Alex says. ‘Some of the best vineyards will be classified as Premier Cru.’

To be able to put that on your label, all of the grapes must come from that vineyard; most of these wines will also name the village or commune. For example, Gevrey-Chambertin [Commune], Clos Saint-Jacques [Premier Cru Vineyard].

The Grand Cru vineyards are the ‘very, very best’ in Burgundy and with both red and white represent the most premium wines available. You’re in one of the Burgundian ‘Villages’, Gevrey-Chambertin say, and you go into a “tinier, smaller region…an appellation in itself”, says Alex. Our example was Chambertin-Close de Bèze, a Grand Cru in the commune of Gevrey-Chambertin, so if you see “Chambertin-Close de Bèze” on a label, you know you’re drinking something special.

• Use the where to study map on the WSET website to see which courses are available near you.

Bordeaux

In Bordeaux, things are a little more complicated. ‘Château’ is used to describe a premium quality wine made on a producer’s own land. It doesn’t mean that the wine has come from a vineyard that has a castle on its grounds. It simply means that the wines produced have not been created from grapes, juice or brought-in wines from elsewhere. If a vineyard has enough money to have an on-site production line, you can assume it’s of good quality. A ‘Grand Vin’ describes the chief wine of a particular château.

Like Burgundy, the standard wines are labelled ‘Bordeaux’. ‘Bordeaux supérieur’ means the wine has to come from a smaller region in Bordeaux. It’s here where the trickiness comes in. Many labelling terms indicating quality are not linked to the appellation system. If the bottle’s label has the words ‘Grand Cru Classé’, which was created in 1855, you’ll be drinking a premium Bordeaux.

• The 1855 Classification – by Benjamin Lewin MW

Depending on which side of the Gironde River you are, ‘Grand Cru’ is a problematic phrase in Bordeaux. In St-Émilion (right bank), the term is linked to the appellation; yet on the left bank this is a labelling system used by a large number of top quality wines, independent of the appellation system. It’s quite confusing at the top of the quality tree.

• St Emilion dispute: Classification upheld, opponents vow to fight on

A little lower, but still in the very good range of wines, ‘Cru Bourgeois’ is a labelling term for wine that aren’t quite at ‘Grand Cru Classé’ level.

A quite fun fact associated to this is that wines have to apply for ‘Cru Bourgeois’ status every year. I assume, therefore, that if you don’t make the grade, there’ll be some punishment being meted out on a vineyard. That is pure speculation, but I’d like it to be true. There seems to be much more to learn in this hierarchy, but I guess that is what the WSET Level 3 is for.

Rhône Valley

In the Rhône Valley, the labelling is split into two, given the distinct differences between the wines of the Northern and Southern Rhône regions. Even within the two regions there exists a quality hierarchy. The ‘Côtes-du-Rhône’ label – a very recognisable term for any level of wine aficionado – is the generic regional term. Although it theoretically applies to the Northern Rhône, you predominantly see this on Southern Rhône wines.

A little bit higher in the pecking order is ‘Côtes-du-Rhône Villages’, which refers to a cluster of villages all located in the Southern Rhône. The best Rhône wines are labelled ‘Cru’. From this tiny word you will know that the wine is from an individual area, from either Rhône region, and that has been given its own AC status.

Labelling can give you a headache as a wine consumer. There is so much written on the front and back of a wine bottle, it’s hard to know what’s meaningful and what’s just hot air. Armed with this information, sifting through the garbage will be a less arduous task.

Interested in studying for a WSET qualification like John? Learn more here.

John Elmes Biography – WSET, UK Based Journalist

Sauvignon Blanc Grape – Climatic, Winery Influence, Most important regions – WSET Level 2

Syrah and Shiraz Grapes – Climatic, Winery Influence, Most important regions – WSET Level 2

Today’s UK release of Klein Constantia’s 2011 Vin de Constance marks a brand new chapter in the history of this legendary estate which was first established in the Western Cape in 1685.

Most recently, in 2011, the property was bought by Charles Harman and Zdenek Bakala. Prior to that, it was owned by the Jooste family, which acquired it in 1986 and restarted the production of Vin de Constance, after a century of hiatus. The family also set about restoring the property and its wines to their former glory.

Klein Constantia’s current owners have also invested heavily in its infrastructure, vineyards and equipment with the firm intention of taking its wines to an even higher level.

‘2011 is the first vintage to be produced under the new regime, so it’s very exciting for us,’ says Klein Constantia’s winemaker Matt Day. ‘2011 produced a small crop of excellent quality. The summer was long, warm and dry; perfect conditions for ripening Vin de Constance’s Muscat de Frontignac grapes.’

‘In order to improve the freshness of the wine, we decided to reduce the time spent in barrel slightly to 3 years,’ Day continues. ‘The 2011 was aged in mix of French oak, Hungarian oak and Acacia barrels, 60% of which are new.’

The previous vintage of Klein Constantia’s Vin de Constance was the 2009 as the new owners took the decision not to release a 2010.

‘The reason for this is very simple,’ explains Klein Constantia Managing Director Hans Astrom. ‘We did not deem the 2010 to have the qualities of a VdC. Severe selection and scrutiny have become our mantra in our quest to produce one the great wines of the world.’

Meanwhile the 2012, which was bottled two months ago also shows extraordinary promise but will not be released until May 2016.

Spirited and dynamic, with spectacular aromatic complexity, with touches of honey, ripe pear, quince, acacia, peach, quinine, green olive and a lovely, bitter bite. The palate is comparable in its interest and class, with a healthy dose of honeyed, toasty fruit and a crunchy, cooking apple slant (10.4%).

Not available in the UK or USA

SOME OF US are old enough to remember when the name Laški Rizling was a byword for cheap white wine of dubious quality from the former Yugoslavia. But if you belong to that generation, hold the thought and take a look at the list of wines that Ptujska Klet beat to win this year’s International Trophy.

It’s a who’s who of dessert wine: Sauternes, German eiswein, Austrian Ruster Ausbruch, Vin de Constance, Tokaj, vin santo… And, in a final taste-off with Inniskillin’s Riesling Icewine, this Slovenian sweet wine won over the judges with its fine fruit character, precision, excellent balance and length.

Winemaker Bojan Kobal puts this down to a winemaking style typical of the photogenic Podravje region. That means combining dried grapes with straw wine and producing something that ‘reflects the fingerprint of nature’. His goal, he adds, is ‘to make wines to suit every moment of people’s lives, but not lose the originality of the terroir and the signature of the winery’.

There were signs of this last year, when two of Kobal’s dry Sauvignon Blancs won Regional Trophies, but in truth the Ptujska Klet winery has been honing its craft for longer than that. It claims to be the oldest winery in Slovenia, dating back to 1239 and boasting the greatest cellar in central Europe, including wines from 1917.

Ptujska Klet’s manicured vineyards in Podravje – it claims to be Slovenia’s oldest winery

Tasted against

Bürgerspital Würzburger Abstleite Riesling Eiswein, Franken, Germany 2011 • Castello Sonnino, Vin Santo del Chianti, Tuscany, Italy 2008 • Château Laville, Sauternes, Bordeaux, France 2011 • Feiler-Artinger Ruster Ausbruch, Neusiedlersee-Hügelland, Burgenland, Austria 2012 • Holdvögly Culture, Tokaj, Hungary 2011 • Inniskillin, Okanagan Estate Riesling Icewine, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada 2012 • Klein Constantia, Vin de Constance, Constantia, South Africa 2009 • Ktima Gerolemo, Commandaria, Cyprus 2007 • Kutvejo, Traminac Ice Wine, Slavonia, Croatia 2011 • La Reserva de Caliboro, Erasmo Late Harvest Torontel, Maule, Chile 2010.

Beautifully expressive aromas of orange blossom and marmalade, with a ripe citrus undertone and a hint of kerosene and mushroom. The palate bursts with ginger, treacle and a lovely, complex floral character, with the sweetness lifted by a rich vein of zippy acidity. Superb! (11.5%)

Not available in the UK or USA

IN A STRONG final flight that offered great value for money, the sheer flamboyance, power and complexity of this Adelaide Hills sweetie edged out a cosmopolitan trio of wines from southwest France, cool-climate South Africa and Tuscany.

Brothers Mark and Peter Saturno, founders and owners of Longview, planted Riesling vines in 1997 on the estate’s ‘most unforgiving’ soils, composed mostly of ironstone over a compacted clay layer. This sloping vineyard is very low-yielding and, typically, most of it is devoted to the production of dry table wine.

But when the year warrants it – generally when the vineyard experiences dry and cool conditions – the Saturnos leave some of the fruit to hang on the vine until late May, allowing the sugars to slowly accumulate in the berries without forfeiting the grapes’ natural acidity. The result is this Epitome Late Harvest Riesling.

The Saturnos say they have been surrounded by wine since birth, growing up in the family’s wine store, restaurant and hotel business. Work took them both to New York for a spell, but they returned to Australia to establish Longview on a former dairy farm near Macclesfield in 1995.

Their first plantings included Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Nebbiolo, but the brothers have not hesitated to make changes, by grafting or pulling up underperforming varieties to make way for more suitable grapes, such as Barbera and Grüner Veltliner.

This low-yielding, sloping vineyard has Longview’s ‘most unforgiving’ soils, perfect for Riesling

Canada's 2014 Icewine vintage is set to only yield half as much wine as the historic 2013 harvest, but several winemakers are optimistic on quality thanks to good acidity levels and picking conditions.

Niagara Icewine harvest. Image credit: Norm Betts / Bloomberg / Getty

The 2014 Canadian Icewine harvest was 43% smaller than 2013, acording to the VQA, Canada’s quality wine assurance agency. Litres pressed from 2014 wine harvest were estimated to be down 52% from the previous vintage, according to preliminary figures.

Debbie Zimmerman, chief executive of Grape Growers of Ontario, said grapes were picked later than last year, with 3,751 tonnes of grapes left hanging for Icewine until January 2015, as opposed to mid-December for the 2013 vintage.

Not everybody had the same experience. In British Columbia, Inniskillin reported its earliest Icewine harvest on record at its Okanagan Estate winery, with picking beginning on 12 November.

Harvesting only begins once temperatures dip below -8°C for a sustainted period, after grapes have been left to freeze on the vine. The longer the grapes stay on the vine the more likely they are to be eaten by birds and other mammals in the region.

Although the overall 2014 harvest is significantly reduced from the past recent vintages, it is within normal fluctuations for the region and does not represent a significant point of concern for Canadian vintners.

Angelo Paven, winemaker and partner of Cave Spring Cellars in Niagara, said the 2014 vintage still produced good quality grapes. ‘The cooler growing season produced a small crop, however the cool weather maintained acidity that provides the backbone for this small, but expressive vintage.’

Canadian Icewine is harvested and pressed at night. The lion’s share of Icewine is produced with the hybrid grape Vidal Blanc, although numerous other varieties are used including the popular Cabernet Franc, and Riesling.

See also:

• Deep freeze boosts Canada’s Icewine harvest
• Inniskillin Vidal Icewine 2012 wins Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) International Trophy

Written by Emily Pearce

This year's Decanter World Wine Awards International Trophy for the Best in Show Sweet over £15 went to Inniskillin, Vidal Icewine, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Canada 2012 (9.5%)

Tasted against:

• Béres, Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos, Tokaj, Hungary 2008
• Capezzana, Riserva, Carmignano Vin Santo, Tuscany, Italy 2007
• Château de Rayne Vigneau, Sauternes, Bordeaux, France 2011
• Château la Varière, Les Guerches, Quarts de Chaume Grand Cru, Loire, France 2011
• Chateau Ste Michelle, Eroica Gold Riesling, Columbia Valley, Washington State, USA 2012
• Dveri-Pax, Sipon Slamno Vino, Stajerska, Podravje, Slovenia 2012
• Jean Geiler, Gewurztraminer, Grand Cru Mambourg, Alsace, France 2012
• Jean-René Germanier, Mitis Amigne de Vétroz Réserve, Valais, Switzerland 2011
• Kutjevo, Traminac, Continental,Croatia 2012; Miguel Torres, Nectaria, Curicó, Chile 2009
• Monemvasia Winery, Malvasia, Peloponnese,Greece 2010
• Nederburg, Winemaster’s Reserve NobleLate Harvest, Western Cape, South Africa 2013
• RoletPère & Fils, Vin de Paille, Arbois, France 2005
• Seifried,Winemakers Collection Sweet Agnes Riesling, Nelson,New Zealand 2012
• Vignalta, Alpianae Passito, Fiord’Arancio Colli Euganei, Veneto, Italy 2011
• WinzerSommerach, Katzenkopf WeissburgunderTrockenbeerenauslese, Franken, Germany 2012

Profile:

This year, 16 sensational stickies were in the running for this Trophy, but it was Canada’s most famous producer of icewine that triumphed. Immediately recognising quality, the birds ate the grapes destined to become Inniskillin’s first icewine vintage in 1983.

In 1984, netting secured, and almost a decade after the winery was founded by Donald Ziraldo and Karl Kaiser in Niagara-onthe- Lake, the icewine cometh. Iniskillin is now synomymous with this sweet style, winning its first major award in 1991 and now its only export, distributed to 80 countries.

In 2006 Ziraldo and Kaiser left Inniskillin and Bruce Nicholson, former winemaker at Jackson Triggs, took the helm. Nicholson, who has completed 19 icewine harvests in Ontario and British Columbia, says the optimum picking temperature in Niagara is -10°C.

Vidal, a hybrid variety of Ugni Blanc and Seibel, has thick skin (necessary protection in the severe winters) and naturally high acidity (essential to balance the sweetness) and is the perfect vehicle in making these lychee- and peach-scented wines. Some 11,500 cases of the Trophy-winning 2012 were made, from a total production of 150,000.

See the full information about this wine

Written by Decanter

This year's Decanter World Wine Awards International Trophy for the Best in Show Sweet under £15 went to KWV, The Mentors Noble Late Harvest, Walker Bay, South Africa 2012 (10.2%)

Tasted against:

• Château de Jurque, Séduction, Jurançon, France 2011
• Denis Dubourdieu, The Society’s Exhibition, Sauternes, Bordeaux, France 2010
• Heggies, Botrytis Riesling, Eden Valley, South Australia 2012
• Marisco, The Ned Noble Sauvignon Blanc, Waihopai Valley, Marlborough, New Zealand 2013
• Pillitteri, Vidal Reserve Icewine, Niagara Peninsula, Canada 2012

Profile:

‘It’s a high-qual ity field, but this wine has more energy and acidity than the others,’ pronounced one of our judges during the International Trophy tasting. And so it was that this South African sweet wine saw off seriously tough competition from two leading sweet wine regions in France as well as Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

Based in Paarl, KWV – one of the country’s most well-known wine names – started out as a co-op of local farmers in 1918. Today it is a privately owned company and one of South Africa’s largest producers, exporting more than 80% of the wine and spirits it makes.

The Mentors range comes from vineyards throughout the Western Cape. All are made by Izele van Blerk who has been a winemaker at KWV for seven years since graduating from Stellenbosch University in viticulture and oenology. Her aim with all the wines (there are currently 12) is to illustrate their terroirs.

This late-harvest beauty is made from Sauvignon Blanc grapes grown on a single site in Walker Bay, southeast of Cape Town. The vines grow less than 5km from the ocean and, in KWV’s words ‘produce grapes that are high in flavour but modest in yield’. It’s a windswept swathe of land which brings its own challenges in growing fruit, but the optimum humidity is favourable to the formation of noble rot.

KWV had a clear goal in mind when setting out to make this wine: ‘We were looking fundamentally to produce a wine which shows a lot of botrytis character,’ it says, ‘and which is luscious and concentrated on the palate.’ The results are impressive – especially considering that this is the first release of this wine, where just over 6,500 half bottles were produced.

See the full information about this wine

Written by Decanter

This year's Decanter World Wine Awards International Trophy for the Best in Show Sweet Fortified over £15 went to Blandy's, Malmsey, Madeira, Portugal 1988 (20%)

Tasted against:

• Bacalhôa, Moscatel, Setúbal Roxo, Portugal 2002
• Bodegas Robles, 1927 Selección de Robles Oro, Montilla-Moriles, Spain NV
• Gérard Bertrand, Legend Vintage, Rivesaltes, Languedoc- Roussillon, France 1974
• Graham’s, Quinta dos Malvedos, Vintage Port, Portugal 2001
• L’Union de Cooperatives Vinicoles de Samos, Anthemís, Samos, Greece 2008
• Lustau, Emilín, Moscatel, Sherry, Spain NV
• Ramos Pinto, RP Late Bottled Vintage Port, Portugal 2009
• Ramos Pinto, RP20 Quinta do Bom Retiro 20 Year Old Tawny Port, Portugal NV
• Stanton & Killeen, Grand Topaque, Rutherglen, Victoria, Australia NV

Profile:

This was an excruciatingly close finish, with our judges debating for an age on which wine should win this International Trophy. Extra time was required to retaste two wines in particular in what was most definitely a photo finish. Ultimately, a Madeira came out on top to defend its 2013 crown in this category, our judges bowled over by its complexity and fresheness.

Blandy’s was founded in 1811 by John Blandy and more than 200 years later it is still a family affair, with his descendant Chris Blandy the current CEO. The company’s ongoing ethos is always to leave the business in a better state for the next generation, and recent investment in the vineyards plus a new winery continues that vision. (Interestingly, Blandy’s has an internal rule that forbids any family member working for the group without garnering at least four years’ experience in other companies first.)

This Trophy-winner is the first vintage release for five years and Chris Blandy knew they had something special when winemaker Francisco Albuquerque first brought it to them. ‘We immediately recognised its potential, but held onto it for a year after bottling to round out the prominent acidity. It has developed in the bottle to become what we believe is one of the great Madeira Malmseys of its time.’

It was aged for 25 years in American oak barrels on three different floors in Blandy’s lodges in Funchal, as their different temperatures have a huge effect on evaporation. Just 1,589 bottles. were made.

See the full information about this wine

Written by Decanter

This year's Decanter World Wine Awards Regional Trophy for Sweet Veneto over £15 went to Vignalta, Alpianae Passito, Fior d'Arancio Colli Euganei 2011 (11%)

Tasted against:

• Cantina Valpolicella Negrar, Domìni Veneti, Vigneti di Moron, Recioto della Valpolicella Classico 2010

Profile:

Lucio Gomiero, Vignalta’s founder and winemaker,graduated from the Venice University of Architecture in 1977. Wine had been an ongoing love, and three years after his studies he planted a vineyard with the intention of it being a hobby. But wine soon became an all-consuming passion so he gave up architecture and released Vignalta’s first vintage in 1986.

A year later Gomiero had the idea to make a passito wine from the local Fior d’Arancio grape (a clone of Orange Muscat and a variety that studies show has twice the amount of aromatic compounds of Moscato Bianco), which he felt would thrive in the extreme volcanic soil of Colli Euganei. After being told that it was not legal due to the DOC regulations, Gomiero went ahead and made it anyway.

Just seven years later, in 1994, Gomiero’s once-renegade style of wine had achieved DOC status and has since been promoted to DOCG, becoming a signature for the region and emulated by many other wineries.

‘Time is everything,’ says Gomiero on his winemaking approach for this Trophy winner.‘We consider it relative and don’t take any shortcuts at Vignalta. We take all the time that is required to make the best wine possible, without using any fining agents or chemicals – just good grapes, selected yeasts and a little SO2.’

Written by Decanter

This year's Decanter World Wine Awards Regional Trophy for Swiss Sweet Over £15 went to Jean-René Germanier, Mitis Amigne de Vétroz Réserve, Valais 2011 (14.5%)

Tasted against:

• No other Golds in this category

Profile:

Amigne is a grape indigenous to Switzerland and Gilles Besse, fourth-generation winemaker of Jean-René Germanier, says that all 40 hectares of the variety planted in the world are in the Valais, with 30ha of that in his local village of Vétroz. The slate soils here have a neutral character, and the vines lay on south-facing, terraced slopes of between 500m and 700m altitude.

Jean-René Germanier was founded at the end of the 19th century by Besse’s great-grandfather Urban Germanier. In the 1940s, Urban’s three sons continued the family tradition as well as introducing an eau de vie from the Williams pear which swiftly became the main focus of the business. That was until Besse’s uncle, Jean-René Germanier took over in the 1980s with a mission to produce quality wines.

Besse, who previously dreamed of being a musician and had played in several bands as a saxophonist, joined him in 1989, bringing a passion for technology and a desire to experiment with oak-aged wines.

This Trophy-winner was initially only produced as a still wine, with the first vintage in 1991. Since 1997 it has also been made in this late-harvest style. The noble, rot-infected grapes are picked in December with a residual sugar level of 125g/l. The wine then spends two years on its lees in new barrels. In 2011, just 8,000 bottles were produced.

Written by Decanter

This year's Decanter World Wine Awards Regional Trophy for Sweet Tuscany over £15 went to Capezzana, Riserva, Carmignano Vin Santo 2007 (13.5%)

Tasted against:

• Lanciola, Le Messe di Greve, Vin Santo Occhio di Pernice 2007

Profile:

Serena Contini Bonacossi is direct and unambiguous when questioned about the importance of Capezzana’s Vin Santo among the estate’s wines. ‘It is our best wine, in which you can find more of the soul of Capezzana and the terroir of Carmignano than in any other.’ A maximum 6,000 bottles of this Trophy-winner are produced each year.

Bought in the 1920s by Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi (a noted collector of antiques who contributed 10 rooms full of his acquisitionsto the Uffizi gallery in Florence), Capezzana’s wines were estate bottlings from the first vintage; Alessandro’s son Ugo was instrumental in striving for Carmignano’s DOC recognition (it won DOCG status in 1990).

Situated 24km north west of Florence, Carmignano is Tuscany’s smallest appellation, and fruit at Capezzana (in conversion to organic status) is harvested from vineyards on schistous-clay soils at up to 200m altitude across the 104-hectare estate.

The blend for this riserva is 90% Trebbiano and 10% San Colombano, with the former a high-quality, low-yielding clone that has been cultivated on the estate for the past 50 years. Fruit is dried on cane mats in a ventilated loft until January, before a long, slow fermentationin chestnut, cherry and oak casks of 50 to 200 litres over at least four years. By this time, only 20% of the weight of the original fruit remains, so concentrated is the wine.

Written by Decanter

This year's Decanter World Wine Awards Regional Trophy for South African Sweet over £15 went to Nederburg, Winemaster's Reserve Noble Late Harvest, Western Cape 2013 (11.1%)

Tasted against:

• Delheim, Edelspatz Noble Late Harvest, Stellenbosch 2013
• Fairview, La Beryl Blanc, Paarl 2013
• Nederburg, Private Bin Eminence Noble Late Harvest Muscadel, Paarl 2009
• Nederburg, Private Bin Eminence Noble Late Harvest Muscadel, Paarl 2010

Profile:

Nederburg took the lead in the production of late-harvest wines in South Africa, with a wine called Edelkeur, in 1969. Unfortunately rules at the time prohibited the sale of natural wines which had a sugar content higher than 30g/l, so there was no market for it. A solution was found by creating a special auction for wine merchants where they could bid for the wine and the Nederburg Wine Auction was born. It still takes place today and remains the only way of buying Edelkeur, along with other iconic South African wines. Once the rules were loosened further, Nederburg created a similar wine which made the style available to all – our Trophy-winner.

Romanian-born Razvan Macici has been cellarmaster at Nederberg since 2001. This wine (no stranger to the DWWA Trophy podium) is a blend of Chenin Blanc (71%) and Muscat de Frontignan (29%) from vineyards in Paarl and Durbanville. ‘Making noble late-harvest wines in South Africa can be challenging because the climate is not usually conducive to the formation of botrytis cinerea,’ he explains. ‘We had to search hard to find vineyards in valley settings shrouded in early morning mists. Also, having to go through the vineyards several times to pick individual berries at optimal ripeness requires meticulous patience and great skill. It’a a labour of love!’

Written by Decanter