# Dessert Wines



## Andy (Aug 25, 2002)

Anyone have a favorite dessert wine? There are some great ones from the wineries in Napa and some good imports (Germany), but I have trouble finding a good one (consistently) even in the Los Angeles area!!

Low price is also an asset!! :icon_smile:


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## Wayfarer (Mar 19, 2006)

Try Yolumba Muscat at CostCo. About $15, it is almost sherry like. If you want something more traditional, i.e. sweet and white (like me!), Inniskillin from Canada is usually pretty solid. You can also shoot for some lesser name Sauternes.


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## Mark from Plano (Jan 29, 2007)

I'm a big fan of the R.L. Buller Muscat from Australia (when I can find it). It's about $14 and received a 97 from Parker (whatever that means to you).


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## Wayfarer (Mar 19, 2006)

The muscat I mentioned is an Aussie too. Interesting.


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## McKay (Jun 13, 2005)

Ice wines, made mainly in Canada and Germany, are nice with dessert (especially less sweet desserts like cheese or things containing dark chocolate).

A slightly less expensive and less sweet (therefore better with sweeter desserts) wine is called "late harvest". It's made when the low temperatures required to make ice wine don't occur.


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## Mr. H (Aug 27, 2007)

I'm a fan of Mount Pleasant Tawny Port but much of that partiality has to do with the winery's location roughly 30 miles from where I live. I find it to be an exceptionally tasty dessert wine and I am generally not a fan of sweet wines.


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## Laxplayer (Apr 26, 2006)

Mr. H said:


> I'm a fan of Mount Pleasant Tawny Port but much of that partiality has to do with the winery's location roughly 30 miles from where I live. I find it to be an exceptionally tasty dessert wine and I am generally not a fan of sweet wines.


I also like wines from Mount Pleasant, although Hermann is our favorite local area to visit for wine. Have you tried Germantown from Hermannhof? Their port is also very good. Another local wine you should try is the vintage port from Stone Hill.

https://www.hermannhof.com/about_us/

https://www.stonehillwinery.com/default.aspx


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## Wayfarer (Mar 19, 2006)

McKay said:


> Ice wines, made mainly in Canada and Germany, are nice with dessert (especially less sweet desserts like cheese or things containing dark chocolate).
> 
> A slightly less expensive and less sweet (therefore better with sweeter desserts) wine is called "late harvest". It's made when the low temperatures required to make ice wine don't occur.


The big distinction between the two is the method of concentrating the sweetness. Ice wines are just that, grapes harvested while frozen. The water crystals are separated off during the crushing process, thereby concentrating the sweetness. The late harvest counts on Botrytis cinerea, or "noble rot" to shrivel the grapes into raisin like critters. The best known of all dessert wines made using botrytis are Sauternes.

These can be exceedingly expensive! Same with German late harvest, they can be very expensive, notably a Trockenbeerenauslese (abbreviated TBA), which is the very latest of the German harvest. I have a Kracher TBA right now. You can get non-vintage TBAs for 50-75 for a split though.

We went to a prix fixe dinner last night with a late harvest Zin by Opolo, 2004, as the dessert wine. It was coupled with a pear poached in merlot, ginger, and vanilla bean, with condensed milk caramel and mascarpone creme. Here's a link from Cellar Tracker, it looks to be about $32 for a split. https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=234742

Hey, I better get over to the What Did You Do Last Night thread with the menu!


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## SirSuturesALot (Sep 2, 2007)

Have you tried Sauternes? If so, which ones? If not, they are highly recommended!


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## Patrick M Thayer (Dec 24, 2004)

My favorite affordable sweet wine is Peter Lehmann Botrytis Semillon. Pretty easy to find in the DC area for around $20 per half. I have a couple of cases of the 2005 -- fine now and will get better and better. . .

If you can afford a fully mature true Sauternes, by all means this is the best! -- but very pricey. Yquem is probably the best of the best. My wine store had the 1997 (probably just now in the early stages of being ready to drink) for, I think around $300 per full 750ml bottle.


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## Mark from Plano (Jan 29, 2007)

Here are a couple of more suggestions.

Sauternes are personal and I'm no expert on them, but a moderately priced one I enjoy the Maison Nicolas Reserve.

Also, depending on your taste you might try Essensia, which is an Orange Muscat.

https://www.quadywinery.com/essensia.html


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## Rossini (Oct 7, 2007)

Don't forget Tokay. Best dessert wine in the world! And can be had at reasonable prices (as well as less reasonable...)

Or how about De Bortoli Noble One... or Brown Brothers Orange Floral Muscat...

Or, Italian... Michele Chiarlo does a nice one, not your typical Vin Santo... I forget the name


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## Rossini (Oct 7, 2007)

Or coteaux de layon


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## sia (Apr 27, 2007)

Andy said:


> Anyone have a favorite dessert wine? There are some great ones from the wineries in Napa and some good imports (Germany), but I have trouble finding a good one (consistently) even in the Los Angeles area!!
> 
> Low price is also an asset!! :icon_smile:


When I lived in Santa Cruz there was a winery there called Bargetto's who have a great, inexpensive ($8.95-$12.95/bottle) line of dessert wines called Chaucer's. Their selection of flavors changes from time to time, but they always have Mead, Raspberry, and Ollalieberry. Their Apricot (apparently not offered at the moment) is wonderful. I've frequently seen their wines in local liquor stores and supermarkets around the Los Angeles area.

Alternatively, you could mail order some from here.


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## rip (Jul 13, 2005)

Patrick M Thayer said:


> My favorite affordable sweet wine is Peter Lehmann Botrytis Semillon. Pretty easy to find in the DC area for around $20 per half. I have a couple of cases of the 2005 -- fine now and will get better and better. . .
> 
> If you can afford a fully mature true Sauternes, by all means this is the best! -- but very pricey. Yquem is probably the best of the best. My wine store had the 1997 (probably just now in the early stages of being ready to drink) for, I think around $300 per full 750ml bottle.


A very sweet young woman from back in the day, wanted to buy me a bottle of Chateau Y'quem from the year of my birth, 1937. It was with great chagrin that she told me she had located one bottle in all of New York City, and that the price was somewhere north of $5000. It seems the 1937 was one of the really great years for sauternes. Needless to say, we settled for a significantly lesser wine from a lesser year.


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## gar1013 (Sep 24, 2007)

I always enjoyed Beaulieu Vineyard's Muscat de Beaulieu.... of course, I also got it at a discount / free on a regular basis as I worked for the company at the time. :icon_smile_big:


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## rip (Jul 13, 2005)

A great discovery for me just this year was 6-cask Tokay (Tokaji) Hungarian wine, just sweet enough with a wonderful tart overtone to accompany a good cheese platter. The bartender who recommended it explained that Tokays were graded by the amount of trampled grapes used to make one cask of wine. As he explained it, numbers higher than 6 were more suitable for pancake syrup (this is a very simplistic explanation of a much more complex process). It's not a cheap wine, running about $15 a small glass at this particular restaurant, but combined with a rich bleu cheese (my favorite being Cashel Blue, made by one family on one farm in Tipperary, Ireland), it's worth every forint.


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## Wayfarer (Mar 19, 2006)

On my recent trip to Ontario, I spent a day touring wineries. Most of the stuff was utter crap (just plain lack the terroir IMO and everything red was a tannin bomb with vegetal notes) but the ice wines and late harvests were all good. I brought back over a case. Pelee Island Vineyards has a nice Cab Franc icewine (fairly unusual for the area which uses mainly vidal for their icewines) and I bought a couple bottles of that. They also had a winter harvest (second pressing of ice wine) with a Riesling hybrid, very nice too.

I do need to lay down some good Sauternes though. I just keep finding more interesting stuff to purchase though and I am currently on a huge pinot noir jag. I have four cases coming, from this year's release, from Siduri vineyards alone!


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## Rossini (Oct 7, 2007)

rip said:


> A great discovery for me just this year was 6-cask Tokay (Tokaji) Hungarian wine, just sweet enough with a wonderful tart overtone to accompany a good cheese platter. The bartender who recommended it explained that Tokays were graded by the amount of trampled grapes used to make one cask of wine. As he explained it, numbers higher than 6 were more suitable for pancake syrup (this is a very simplistic explanation of a much more complex process). It's not a cheap wine, running about $15 a small glass at this particular restaurant, but combined with a rich bleu cheese (my favorite being Cashel Blue, made by one family on one farm in Tipperary, Ireland), it's worth every forint.


5 Puttonyos is more typical in Tokay. Quote from the web: "Traditionally measured by the number of hods of Aszú added to a barrel of wine, but now measured in grams of residual sugar."

Never really tried it with cheese. It's great with desserts though, and absolutely fabulous with Christmas Pudding (not cake), much better than most Sauternes.


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## rip (Jul 13, 2005)

Rossini said:


> 5 Puttonyos is more typical in Tokay. Quote from the web: "Traditionally measured by the number of hods of Aszú added to a barrel of wine, but now measured in grams of residual sugar."
> 
> Never really tried it with cheese. It's great with desserts though, and absolutely fabulous with Christmas Pudding (not cake), much better than most Sauternes.


That is what makes the 6 Puttonyos so special (like my bartender, I used the more accessible term, "casks" so as not to have to go into the lengthy explanation of puttonyos, hods and eszencias). Personally, I find the 5P tokay a little ordinary, which may be because I was introduced to the 6P first. What I find exciting about the 6P is the lingering hint of tartness as an overtone to the sweetness that's missing in the 5P. I highly recommend that you try it with some cheeses. The perfect pairing is with what my bartender describes as "stinky cheese".


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## Wayfarer (Mar 19, 2006)

rip said:


> That is what makes the 6 Puttonyos so special (like my bartender, I used the more accessible term, "casks" so as not to have to go into the lengthy explanation of puttonyos, hods and eszencias). Personally, I find the 5P tokay a little ordinary, which may be because I was introduced to the 6P first. What I find exciting about the 6P is the lingering hint of tartness as an overtone to the sweetness that's missing in the 5P. I highly recommend that you try it with some cheeses. The perfect pairing is with what my bartender describes as "stinky cheese".


*grumble* Okay, now I'm intrigued. Is this going to cost me much?

Edit:https://www.cellartracker.com/pickproducer.asp?szSearch=Tokaji+Asz%FA&Sort=&Method=&PickWine=on
Hmm.


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## Rossini (Oct 7, 2007)

of course RIP, the 6 puttonyos is not only sweeter and richer but also more expensive and rarer. And eszencia more so, being over 6 puttonyos as we know. Which is, of course, why 5 puttonyos is more easily found. I absolutely agree that 6 puttonyos would be delicious with blue cheese - salty & sweet - perfect. Nevertheless, for others reading this thread, we should point out that the 5 puttonyos is often elegant and fresh while retaining good sweetness and fruit, well balanced, not cloying, and therefore oft more suitable to a wider range of desserts than its sweeter counterparts.

Now, if only we could arrange a Tokay tasting


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## rip (Jul 13, 2005)

Wayfarer said:


> *grumble* Okay, now I'm intrigued. Is this going to cost me much?
> 
> Edit:https://www.cellartracker.com/pickproducer.asp?szSearch=Tokaji+Asz%FA&Sort=&Method=&PickWine=on
> Hmm.


Oh yeah! https://www.wine.com/V6/Royal-Tokaji-Wine-Company-Essencia-1999/wine/88695/detail.aspx


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## rip (Jul 13, 2005)

Rossini said:


> of course RIP, the 6 puttonyos is not only sweeter and richer but also more expensive and rarer. And eszencia more so, being over 6 puttonyos as we know. Which is, of course, why 5 puttonyos is more easily found. I absolutely agree that 6 puttonyos would be delicious with blue cheese - salty & sweet - perfect. Nevertheless, for others reading this thread, we should point out that the 5 puttonyos is often elegant and fresh while retaining good sweetness and fruit, well balanced, not cloying, and therefore oft more suitable to a wider range of desserts than its sweeter counterparts.
> 
> Now, if only we could arrange a Tokay tasting


That would be truly elegant. Though they are apples and oranges, I prefer a good late bottled vintage port, such as Cockburn's Anno LBV 1994, to the 5P and lesser tokajis. Just personal taste. As for Eszencia being more expensive, the only bottle I've seen was $500!


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## culverwood (Feb 13, 2006)

I do not know if you count Sherry and Madeira as desert wines but a Pedro Ximinez such as San Emilio Pedro Ximinez by Lustau or a Malmsey such as the 5 year old Malmsey by Cossart Gordon are certainly sweet but being that bit stronger in alcohol catch up with you faster.

Though I agree with many others that the best value and consistency in this area is from Australia. I have tasted many great sweet wines at vineyards in NSW, SA and Victoria.


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## Rossini (Oct 7, 2007)

Absolutely Sherry and Madeira count. Sherry is particularly overlooked and Lustau is an excellent producer of a variety of excellent wines.


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## Wayfarer (Mar 19, 2006)

Yes, a nice PX is an excellent dessert wine and I have seen splits of grand reseveras for about $30 if memory serves.

I just received a Siduri mailer and part of my allocation is a late harvest voigner. Only $14 a split so I am ordering two to try, as usually my wife and I are not voigner fans, but this is worth trying.


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## Droog (Aug 29, 2006)

*Bottle Size*

Remember that when talking dessert wines, they often come in half bottles of 375 ml instead of the standard 750 ml wine bottle. Important to consider when talking price and value.


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## Wayfarer (Mar 19, 2006)

Droog said:


> Remember that when talking dessert wines, they often come in half bottles of 375 ml instead of the standard 750 ml wine bottle. Important to consider when talking price and value.


That's why I always speak of a "split" (375ml) when it is not the standard size wine bottle (750ml). I think most that know enough to talk about these wines realize the split is the usual bottle size.


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## vinouspleasure (Aug 1, 2007)

Loire valley still offer great bargains in dessert (and other) wine. Huet makes age worthy (50+ years) and profound wine. Baumard is another great producer here.


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## Droog (Aug 29, 2006)

Wayfarer said:


> That's why I always speak of a "split" (375ml) when it is not the standard size wine bottle (750ml). I think most that know enough to talk about these wines realize the split is the usual bottle size.


Perhaps. I also understand about splits. My point is that when we include ports and madeira in the dessert mix as further above, the qualification bears being made since these are found in 750 ml bottles.


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## Wayfarer (Mar 19, 2006)

Droog said:


> Perhaps. I also understand about splits. My point is that when we include ports and madeira in the dessert mix as further above, the qualification bears being made since these are found in 750 ml bottles.


Fair enough, although port commonly can be had in splits too. I have a nice 85 Taylor split which should probably meet its maker some time this winter...


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## Droog (Aug 29, 2006)

Wayfarer said:


> Fair enough, although port commonly can be had in splits too. I have a nice 85 Taylor split which should probably meet its maker some time this winter...


You remind me that I myself have a couple half-bots of port in the larder. I must set to work on them this holiday season!


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