Can anyone recommend a good sweet wine?

Question

I love my rose and chardonnay wines, especially sweet ones. But have not been able to find a good one for ages. Can anyone advise?

Answer 1

Black tower?

White wines are labelled by number, red by letter. In white; the closer to 1 the dryer. the closer to 9, the sweeter. Choose a white at 9, your drinking a pudding wine. way too sweet to be enjoyed just as a drink in itself. It's like drinking nectar. I've only had a 9 once, & I'm not going back there unless I have a sweet desert to accompany. Try to go for a 5 to 7. That's a nice sweet wine to be enjoyed on it's own.

ps. Black Tower 2005/6 is 5, so it's a lil dryer than others, but I'm a particular fan of it when enjoyed alone.

pps. Avoid Semillion (sp?) Blanc. This transaltes as "Many grapes" (loosely) I produces a less tasty wine. Chardonnay is one particular strain of grape, so it tastes nicer.
I'm a fan of Rose myself, but it is dryer than most whites.

Answer 2

If you are ready to think a new thought, consider Riesling. If you want to spend a little, look among Spatlese Rieslings from Germany, especially Hattenheimers and other towns in the Rheingau. If you want to spend less, poke around among California, Washington and New York wineries. As a hint, the lower the alcohol, the more likely the wine will be about as sweet as the Roses and Chardonnays you like.

Answer 3

Although the majority of still white wines are fermented dry to match market demand, many producers are making sweet wines at both the commercial and top end of the market.
In the normal vinification process, the yeast converts all the grape sugars to alcohol and CO2 leaving a dry base wine. In cooler countries, notably Germany, some of these wines were perceived as tart and acidic and were sweetened by adding some unfermented grape sugar, known there as 'sussreserve'* giving a light refreshing sweet wine which for many people became their first introduction to the world of wine. This practice continues today

By far the most noble and sought after sweet wines are those made from concentrating the sugar in the grapes giving a natural and luscious sweetness with beautiful acid balance. This process is further enhanced when, in certain regions e.g. Sauternes, and given favourable climatic conditions, the grapes become 'infected' with the fungus 'botrytis' or 'noble rot' which shrivels the grapes and concentrates the sugar.

I like some of the more unusal grapes, my favorite is Clos d'Yvigne of the Saussignac region in France, it is splendid, to such a point that it rivals its better-known neighbours in Sauternes and Barsac.

It has honey, apricots, vanilla, quince, oranges, butterscotch and a hint of liquorice. The intense sweetness is well balanced by the touches of natural acidity, that arise from the blend of semillon and muscadelle grapes.

Back to Germany, and Austria some grapes are left on the vines throughout the winter to freeze, with the result that the water in the grapes freezes and the sugars concentrate. Known as 'Eiswein' these are superb wines, rare, difficult to make and very expensive to buy. In Italy, in the Valpolicella region, grapes are laid out on straw mats in aerated warehouses to dry and go on to make the luscious Amarone and Recioto wines.

A bit more reasonable are the German Auslasse wines of the Mosel, which have the noble rot but without the freezing.

There is also wines bearing the Tokaj name, made with the Furmint grape. Hungarian Aszu is the world's sweetest wine grown near the Carpathian Mountains - At harvest, the grapes are collected into 28-liter (30-quart) wooden containers called puttony - and the best Aszú have 5 or 7 puttony per bottle.

Answer 4

If you are looking for a sweet wine, not a thick syrupy dessert one, then i like valencia, Or premieres cote boureaux, Oddbins do a lovely Californian one leaves a lovely tingle on the tongue, used to do a glenloth sweet was gorgeous and Tolleys Pedare another gorgeous one to drink on its own. Also do a Brown Brothers Late Harvested Muscat, full size bottle, not as syrupy as the orange blossom half bottle and the same price,Enjoy x

Answer 5

If you mean a dessert wine then try Brown Brothers Late Orange Muscat with Fauna (long name for a small bottle i know) - have it with a really dark, bitter chocolate dessert - it's so awesome that love-making afterwqards can be a bit of an anti-climax!

Oddbins usually have it if you have one nearby, and they employ people with an interest in wines and have staff tastings regularly so they are always good for some excellent advice. I just walk in with a budget and a menu and they choose me a bottle. Rarely do they get it wrong.

Answer 6

I really like Schmittsohne Riesling. It's a sweet white wine. It comes in a blue bottle with a sun motif on the label. Maybe $8/bottle, and really light. It goes down easily, so watch how much you have!

Answer 7

I have to suggest Riunite Lambrusco-- First of all it is inexpensive--second it is a nice soft red wine that is sweet without being too sweet. I do not like wine but I love a nive glass of Lambrusco, it is the only wince that I have ever been able to drink a whole glass of. Try it you just might love it.

Answer 8

I really like the Bully Hill wines. They have a 'sweetness scale' on the back of each bottle, so you know what you're getting.

They also have some VERY sweet desert wines.

Answer 9

Blossom Hill do a nice sweet wine

Answer 10

Muscatel, is a sweet wine usually served with desserts