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Unfashionable sweet wine?
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This weeks feature
Sweetness and Light
They may be unfashionable, but sweet wines are not just partners for puddings, writes Graham Sherwood |
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The sweetest ripest
Judging by the contents of the average family's shopping basket, the nation has a sweet tooth, with chocolate bars and fizzy drinks all quite evident. Why then have the sales of sweet wine, once a firm favourite, declined to such an extent that some vineyards in France lay untended, their produce no longer in demand?
In the classical era, the most prestigious wines were made from the sweetest, ripest grapes. In a time when wine often spoiled within a year of harvest, fine, late-picked, sweet wines could be cellared for around three years, a luxury about which the rich and famous of the day would boast.
Claims to where sweet wine originated are fiercely contested, though the different methods still in use today point to obvious credentials for several of the countries that claim the accolade.
In Germany and Austria the preferred method involves allowing the sweetest grapes to stay on the vine into late autumn, sometimes even early winter, which causes them to freeze on the stem. The resulting Eiswein (ice wine) can only be made in tiny quantities from these glacial berries, each one containing small amounts of nectar-like juice.
Around the Mediterranean, viniculture methods differ, most notably in Italy, where, after harvesting late, the grapes are dried either on grass mats (sometimes outside in the sun) or, more typically, in blamy, ambient lofts, where they shrivel to a delicious concentration. This raisinated fruit is then used to make the unctuous Recioto wines from both the Valpolicella and Soave areas.
However, the most illustrious sweet wine of all is undoubtedly Sauternes, from a small area to the south of Bordeaux in France. Unique amongst all others, this careful blend of Sauvignon, Semillon and Muscadelle grapes forms the benchmark for all others. |
Peculiar microclimate
Sauternes and its neighbour Barsac, benefit from a peculiar microclimate, due to the proximity of the tiny river Ciron, where early morning mists, warmed by autumnal sunny mornings cause a parasitic fungus to develop on otherwise healthy grapes, shrivelling their skins and thus concentrating the juice within. The product of this so-called 'noble rot' is actually Botrytis Cinerea, a member of the yeast and truffle family of fungi. |
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For a successful vintage in Sauternes, around three to five weeks of Botrytis-enabling conditions are required, but these are by no means assured in the region. Often excessive rain at harvest time allows a more destructive 'grey rot' to damage the grapes, thus reducing the crop substantially.
An idiosyncrasy of Sauternes and Barsac is the method of collecting grapes once ripe. Instead of harvesting in one go, successive passages through the vines, known as 'tries', are undertaken to select the grapes judged perfectly 'botrytised'. This may take up to seven passages. Sauternes from the best vintages may age well for 100 years. |
Wine label terminology
The wine label terminology used to describe the world's sweet wines can be quite daunting in itself. The German Riesling, for a long time the backbone of the white wine industry here in the UK, but now sadly in decline and hugely unpopular, is described using an ascending range of sweetness levels. Beginning with the basic Kabinett, and rising through Spatlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, and Trockenbeerenauslese wines to the liquid nectar that is Eiswein, this seemingly unpronounceable list does little to facilitate the curious wine drinker's vinous education. The same terminology is often used for Austrian wines also.
In France's centre, the Chenin Blanc grape, grown at Vouvray and Montlouis in the Loire valley, makes wonderfully 'Moelleux' (mellow) and 'Doux' (sweet) styles. In the north-east, in alsace, where both Riesling and the spicily pungent Gewurztraminer may be made into sweet wines in exceptional vintages, the eclectic terms of 'vendange tardive' and 'selection de grains nobles' are used to describe their finest late-picked examples.
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Sweet wines are often the result of a unique microclimate. |
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Visionary
Though most sweet wines are made from white grape varieties, in some of the world's wine regions red grapes are used. In Victoria State, Australia, rich dessert wines known colloquially as 'stickes' are made from the red Muscat grape. These slightly fortified, port style wines, notably from Brown Brothers and Morris's in the Rutherglen area, are legendary. And in the US, in California, the visionary winemaker Randall Grahm makes a sumptuous Black Muscat called Elyssium from vines close to the ocean at Santa Cruz.
As with all wines, each year's vintage must contend with the vagaries of the weather. One new innovation, though somewhat high-tech for such a traditional industry, is 'cryo-extraction'.
In wet years, when ripening conditions have been difficult, or if it rains during the harvest, ripe grapes are picked and then frozen, down to temperatures as low as -20F. They are then immediately crushed and, as the sweet grape juice has a lower freezing point than water, it can be run off, ensuring a quality wine that is not diluted. This is a controversial procedure, one that the ultra-traditional suaternaise, for instance, prefer not to talk about. |
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The future for sweet wine is, on the whole, far from assured, as the current vogue for dry wine continues unabated. Perhaps it requires a shift in the direction of matching food to wine to resurrect is fortunes. Sweet wines are perfect accompaniements to pates, especially Foie Gras, and are also superb with blue cheeses, which are becoming increasingly popular. Even spicy oriental foods are tempered well by some of the lighter sweet wines, like Monbazillac and Saussignac from France's Dordogne, or Beaumes de Venise from the Rhone Valley.
The really positive stride that many of the sweet wine producers have made to try to stimulate a greater awareness of their efforts is to package the wine in smaller half-bottles, ideal for four people to consume in one sitting. So, why not sip a finely crafted bottle of Sauternes with the Blue Stilton, at your next dinner party. |
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