Sweet treats: 21 great sweet wines for Christmas

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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