Sunday 1 April 2012

Sweetest Thing.

It was during a winery tour with my wife's work colleagues in 2008 that she bought a bottle of Botrytis Semillon at Shaw Vineyard Estate in Canberra. I was always of the opinion that the only acceptable type of wine was bone dry, and dessert wines just seemed sickly and sugary.

During the tasting, I had joked that it would be good if it was poured over ice-cream. Rather than being offended, the man conducting the tasting suggested that it wasn't a bad idea.

I have since explored dessert wines a bit more, and have come to appreciate them in their own right. Dessert wines made well can be as complex, alluring and decadent as any other wine variety.

Botrytis infected dessert wines are created using grapes that are subjected to 'noble rot'. Botrytis dehydrates and increases the natural sugar content of the grapes. They are often referred to as 'Stickies' as they are quite thick and syrupy.

Most of these wines are created using Semillon, however a number of other varieties exist including Riesling, Muscadelle, Sauvignon Blanc, Voignier and Pinot Gris and any combination of these. The great dessert wines of Sauternes in France often use a blend of Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle.

Another type of dessert wine gaining momentum in Australia is Ice Wine, or Eiswein. These wines are predominently produced in Germany and Canada, and involve the picking of grapes in temperatures that exceed minus 7 degrees in Germany and minus 8 degrees in Canada. The grapes must be frozen on the vine in order for the resulting wines to be labelled 'Ice Wine'. The frozen fruit produces a far more concentrated flavour, as the sugars and flavour compounds don't freeze like the water does. Some Canadian wineries have begun experimenting with sparkling Ice Wines.

Just like table wines, dessert wines can be matched with food to enhance the experience. As the name suggests, these matches will invariably be desserts, cheese courses, or any course that has rich, intense and concentrated flavours.

If you are interested in trying any, a good place to start is always the De Bortoli Noble One Botrytis Semillon 2008. McWilliams Morning Light Botrytis Semillon 2008 is also a stong example. Other than this, you can't go wrong with any of the Sauternes varieties available at Dan Murphy's.

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