Dessert & Sweet Wines

Dessert wines, or wines featuring high levels of sugar and alcohol, vary more than expected in sweetness and flavor, with dry and fizzy varieties available as well as traditional sweet versions. Sauternes, one of the most recognized dessert wines, ismade in the Graves area of Bordeaux, France. Others popular wines include Tokaji wines from Slovenia and Hungary, ice wines from the Ontario region of Canada, and Madeira from the island off the coast of Portugal.

Within the United States there are quite a few examples of dessert wines crafted from late-harvest grapes, picked once they more resemble raisins. Quady Winery in Madera, California, is considered the country’s best maker of dessert wines and has been in the business since 1981. Germany’s late-harvest Rieslings are acclaimed, too, with four levels of classification that range from dry to sweet, including Spätlese.