Dessert & Sweet Wines: Methods and Styles

Dessert wines achieve high residual sugar (RS) through natural concentration, fermentation arrest, or fortification. Balance requires adequate acidity and/or bitterness/tannins.

Natural Concentration

Late Harvest (Vendanges Tardives, Spätlese/Auslese)

Grapes harvested late for higher sugar; ranges from off‑dry to sweet; varietal character preserved.

Noble Rot (Botrytis cinerea)

Partial dehydration and enzymatic action; honey, saffron, marmalade complexity.
Styles: Sauternes/Barsac (Semillon‑led), Tokaji Aszú/Eszencia (Furmint), German/Austrian Beerenauslese/Trockenbeerenauslese, Loire Coteaux du Layon/Quarts de Chaume.

Passito/Appassimento (Sun or Air‑Drying)

Grapes dried post‑harvest to concentrate sugars and flavors.
Styles: Recioto della Valpolicella (red, sweet), Vin Santo (often barrel‑aged; Trebbiano/Malvasia), Passito di Pantelleria (Zibibbo/Muscat).

Ice Wine (Eiswein)

Grapes frozen on vine and pressed while frozen; intense sweetness with piercing acidity; Germany, Canada, Austria.

Fermentation Arrest or Fortification

Fortified Sweet Wines

Port (Ruby/Tawny/Vintage), some styles of Madeira and Sherry (PX) retain sugar via spirit addition.

Sweetness via Arrested Fermentation

Chilling/filtration or SO₂ additions halt yeast; used for low‑alcohol, sweet styles like Moscato d’Asti.

Label Cues and Scales

Germany/Austria (Prädikat)

Kabinett (often off‑dry) → Spätlese → Auslese → BA → TBA → Eiswein (ripeness scale at harvest, not mandatory sweetness in bottle).

Sauternes/Tokaji

Sauternes always sweet; Tokaji Aszú historically labeled by Puttonyos (now largely minimum RS standards).

Other Terms

Vendanges Tardives (late harvest), Sélection de Grains Nobles (botrytized selection), Dolce/Dulce/Doux for sweet.

Service & Pairing

Temperature: Generally ~8–12°C (46–54°F); richer styles slightly warmer.
Pairing: Balance sweetness with acidity and salt; blue cheese, foie gras, fruit tarts; Vin Santo with biscotti; Sauternes with savory pairings possible.