Sweet wine for Christmas

<p>Rich, very sweet and yet delicate thanks to acidity lifting the honeyed tropical fruit flavours. A rare example of oak-aged icewine (about four months in barrels), the Vidal fruit is taken from Inniskillin&rsquo;s famous Brae Burn Vineyard &ndash; one of Ontario&rsquo;s best.</p> <p><em><strong>About the producer</strong></em><br /> Donald Ziraldo &ndash; dubbed Canada&rsquo;s Robert Mondavi &ndash; founded the winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake in 1975 with a partner, Karl Kaiser. Both are now retired. Inniskillin pioneered Canadian Icewine &ndash; a genre that has become a mainstay of the Ontario wine industry and rivals Germany&rsquo;s eiswein in quality and price, according to many critics. Inniskillin also helped to establish Canada&rsquo;s modern estate-winery movement and helped put Canada on the international wine map. One of Inniskillin&rsquo;s defining moments was winning the Grand Prix d&rsquo;Honneur for its 1989 Vidal Icewine at Vinexpo in Bordeaux in 1991. It has also won several medals at the Decanter World Wine Awards.</p>

De Bortoli produces one of Australia's most iconic sweet wines, Noble One – also a botrytis Semillon – so you're guaranteed excellent quality here. It's packed with dried apricot, lime curd and lemon marmalade flavours, and acidity that refreshes through to the long finish. Perfect with blue cheese or just on its own.

Torres' Chilean winery has produced a lovely, light alternative to German Beerenauslese. It has a voluptuous character, with aromas of orange, stone fruit, honey and white flowers. There are some nutty hints on the palate, with plenty of juicy orange, mandarin and peach, with honey and floral notes. The lime juice acidity on the finish refreshes and cleanses the palate; this isn't at all cloying, but it lacks the concentration of Beerenauslese, Sauternes or Tokaji.

For vin doux naturels, fermentation is stopped by adding grape spirit to retain the natural sweetness, here leaving the alcohol at a moderate 15% – a friendly fortified for lunch! It explodes with orange blossom, turkish delight, stone fruit and grapey notes, enlivened by citrus acidity.

You can't go wrong with a full-sized bottle of sweet wine at this price! Not as weighty or cloying as a Sauternes or Tokaji, this has a fine seam of refreshing acidity to balance the ripe guava, spiced quince and puréed apple flavours. Enjoy with creamy blue cheese.