5 Main Types of Dessert Wine

Skip the heavy dessert option for something that will make your mouth twinkle. Dessert wines are
meant to be enjoyed in small glasses and treasured like a glass of Scotch. Learn about the 5 major
styles of dessert wine, from delicately fizzy Moscato d’Asti to rich brooding vintage Port.

The 5 types of dessert wine are:

 Sparkling Dessert Wine

 Lightly Sweet Dessert Wine

 Richly Sweet Dessert Wine

 Sweet Red Wine

 Fortified Wine

Most dessert wines can be categorized into 5 styles: Sparkling, Light & Sweet, Rich & Sweet, Sweet
Red and Fortified.

Types of Dessert Wine Guide

Dessert Wine Basics Sweet wine is produced with extra sweet wine grapes. In order to make them
sweet, the fermentation is stopped before the yeast turns all the natural grape sugar into alcohol.
There are several ways to stop the fermentation, including super-cooling or adding brandy to wine.
Both methods create an environment where yeast won’t survive. While there are hundreds of
different types of dessert wines available in the market, most fall into 5 main styles. This guide
outlines the 5 styles and includes examples of each.

Throughout this guide you’ll notice that some wine grapes are used for dessert wines more than
others. There are two reasons for this: one is historic – the grapes have been used for sweet wines for
centuries – The other is physiological – the grapes have inherent sweetness in their natural aromas
making them perfect for sweet winemaking.

An example of these types of wine grapes is Muscat Blanc. This wine grape is around 1500 years
older than the more en vogue Cabernet Sauvignon.

Sparkling Dessert Wine

The sensation of bubbles and high acidity in most sparkling wine makes them taste less sweet than
they actually are. When you taste more of the different varieties, you’ll notice certain grape varieties
smell sweeter (and thus taste sweeter) than others. For instance, if you try a Demi-Sec traditional
Champagne (which is usually a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir) it will taste less sweet than a
Demi-Sec Sparkling Moscato even though both may have the same amount of sugar.

When looking for sweet dessert wine Champagnes and other bubbly wines, keep your eyes peeled
for these words on the label:

 Demi-Sec* (‘off-dry’ in French)

 Amabile (‘slightly sweet’ in Italian)

 Semi Secco* (‘off-dry’ in Italian)

 Doux (‘sweet’ in French)

 Dolce / Dulce (‘sweet’ in Italian / Spanish)

  Moelleux (‘sweet’ for some French wines) *not to be confused with ‘Sec’, ‘Sekt’ or ‘Secco’
which is the term for ‘Dry’ in French, German and Italian, respectively

Lightly Sweet Dessert Wine

Lightly sweet wines are refreshingly sweet; perfect for a hot day. Many of these sweet wines pair
well with spicy foods like Indian and Southeast Asian cuisine. Light sweet wines are meant to be
enjoyed at their freshest although some examples, such as Riesling, age well.

Expect these wines to be exploding with fruit flavors and well suited for fruit-based and vanilla-driven
desserts. For instance, consider Gewürztraminer: this wine is known for its lychee and rose
petals aromas. A Gewürztraminer might pair well with a pear and kiwi tart.

 Gewürztraminer A highly floral wine with moderate alcohol that’s commonly found in Alsace,
Alto-Adige (Italy), California and New Zealand.

 Riesling Available in both dry styles (common in Australia, Alsace and the US) as well as
sweeter styles more commonly available from Germany. A wine with high natural acidity
which helps cut the sweet taste.

 Müller-Thurgau A less common variety also from Germany and found in parts of Oregon that
has floral aromas with slightly lighter acidity. Classic porch wine and well-loved with
sausages.

 Chenin Blanc Chenin Blanc is commonly made in a sweeter style in the US and it’s also
produced in large amounts in South Africa and the Loire Valley of France. Pay attention to
labels when buying Chenin Blanc because many South African and French producers create
dry versions that taste more similar to Sauvignon Blanc.

 Viognier Viognier for the most part, is not sweet. However, as an aromatic grape variety,
occasionally you can find it in a fruit-driven style smelling of peaches and perfume. It’s rich
 and oily on the palate. This style of Viognier is found specifically from Condrieu AOP from the
Rhône Valley) in France.

Richly Sweet Dessert Wine

Richly sweet wines are made with the highest quality grapes in an unfortified style. Many of these
wines can age 50+ years because sweetness and acidity preserve their fresh flavor. Some of these
wines are historically important including Hungarian Tokaji (‘toe-kye’) which was loved by the Tzars
of Russia; South African Constantia which was an obsession of the Dutch and English; and
French Sauternes which was loved by Americans in the early 1800’s.

There are several ways to produce richly sweet dessert wines and you can understand them better
by how they’re made.

Late Harvest

Late harvest means exactly what it’s called. As grapes hang on the vine longer in the season they
become even sweeter and more raisinated, resulting in a wine that has a higher residual sugar (or
alcohol, depending on how long you let it ferment). In Alsace this style is called “Vendage
Tardive” and in Germany it is called “Spätlese”. There are many late harvest wines in the US which
are sold as dessert wines and typically have around 15-17% ABV.

Noble Rot

Noble rot is a type of spore called Botrytis cinerea that rots fruits and vegetables. While it sounds and
looks disgusting it adds a unique and highly sought-after flavor of ginger and honey in wine. There
are many wines made from ‘noble rot’ grapes including:

 Sauternes, Barsac, Cadillac and Monbazillac are French Appellations in and around Bordeaux
that use Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle to make a golden-hued sweet wine.
  Tokaji is a wine from Hungary made with botrytis Furmint grapes that are rated in different
levels of sugar, from 5-6 Puttonyos (with a minimum of 120 grams residual sugar; the same
level as cola).

 Auslese, Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese Riesling In the German Pradikat system

(a sweetness labeling system), Auslese is the first level with a higher proportion of botrytis-
affected grapes. Besides being sweeter than the lower level “QbA” and “Kabinett” German
Rieslings, they also tend to have higher alcohol.

Straw Mat

Grapes are laid out on straw mats to raisinate before being pressed into wine.

 Italian Vin Santo is made with Trebbiano and Malvasia grapes and has rich nutty date-like
flavors. There are several styles of Vin Santo made throughout Italy.

 Italian Passito Another straw wine made with several different kinds of grapes, both white
and red. For instance, Passito di Pantelleria is Muscat-based and Caluso Passito is made with
the rare grape Erbaluce from Piedmont.

 Greek Straw Wines Greece also produces Vinsanto which is made with high-acid white
Assyrtiko grapes; Samos is a sweet wine made from Muscat grapes; and Commandaria is a
sweet wine from Cyprus that dates back to 800 B.C.E.

 German Strohwein/Austrian Schilfwein are increasingly rare sweet wines made from
Muscat and Zweigelt grapes in Austria and Germany.

 French Vin de Paille Most notably from the Jura region of France, which is adjacent to the
alps, these Vin de Paille are produced using Chardonnay and ancient Savagnin grapes.

Ice Wine (Eiswein)

True ice wine is extremely rare and expensive for two reasons: 1) it only occurs in bizarre years when
a vineyard freezes and 2) ice wine must be harvested and pressed while the grapes are still frozen
(usually in the middle of the night). Ice wines are commonly produced in cold regions like Canada,
Germany and Switzerland where the aforementioned prerequisites can be met. Most ice wines are
made with Riesling or Vidal grapes although anything, even Cabernet Franc, can be used to produce
an ice wine. You’ll find them to be honeyed and richly sweet, similar to a ‘noble rot’ wine.

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Sweet Red Wine

Sweet reds are on decline except for cheap commercial production. However, there are still a few
well-made historically interesting sweet reds worth trying. The majority of these awesome sweet red
wines are from Italy using esoteric grapes.

 Lambrusco A region producing a refreshing bubbly wine in both dry and sweet styles. Since
it’s a sparkling wine, it will have a yeasty undertone along with raspberry and blueberry
flavors. Sweet versions are labeled as “Amabile” and “Dulce”.

 Brachetto d’Acqui A still and bubbly red or rosé wine made with Brachetto grapes from
the Piedmont region. Famous for its floral and strawberry aromas as well as its affinity to
pairing with cured meats.

 Schiava A rare variety from Alto-Adige that is nearly wiped off the map. Smelling sweetly of
raspberry and cotton candy while being refreshing and only a touch sweet.

 Freisa Once one of the great red varieties of Piedmont, Freisa is related to Nebbiolo with
lighter tannins and floral cherry notes.

 Recioto della Valpolicella Made in the same painstaking process as Amarone wine, Recioto
della Valpolicella is lush, bold and rich.
  Late-Harvest Red Wines There are many red dessert wines in the US made with grapes such
as Zinfandel, Mourvedre, Malbec and Petite Sirah. These wines explode with sweetness and
heightened alcohol content.

Fortified Wine

Fortified wines are made when grape brandy is added to a wine and can either be dry or sweet. Most
fortified wines are higher in alcohol content (about 17-20% ABV) and have a longer shelf life after
they are opened.

Port

Port wine is made in the Northern part of Portugal along the Douro river. The wines are made with
dozens of Portuguese traditional grapes including some of the most famous: Touriga Nacional,
Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz. The grapes are collected and fermented together in open tanks
where the grapes are stomped daily as the wine begins to ferment. At a point in the fermentation,
the wine is strained and blended with a neutral grape spirit (with nearly 70% ABV) that stops
fermentation and creates the fortified wine. After this process, there are a series of winemaking
steps that lead into the different styles listed below.

Full Article on Types of Port Wine

 Ruby & Crusted Port (sweet) This is an introductory style of Port wine that tastes of freshly
minted port and is much less sweet than Tawny Port.

 Vintage & LBV Port (sweet) LBV and Vintage Port are made in the same style but LBV are
designed to be enjoyed in their youth (due to the style of cork enclosure) and vintage Ports
are meant to be aged about 20-50 years before drinking.
  Tawny Port (very sweet) The process of aging a Tawny Port happens at the winery in large
wooden casks and smaller wooden barrels. The longer the Tawny Port ages, the more nutty
and figgy it becomes. A 30-40 year Tawny is the best.

 Port-Style Wines a.k.a. Vin Doux Naturel (sweet) Port can only be made in Portugal although
many producers all over the world make port-style wines such as Zinfandel ‘Port’ or a Pinot
Noir ‘Port’. We refer to these wines as vin doux naturel(see below).

Sherry

Sherry comes from Andalusia, Spain. The wines are made using Palomino, Pedro Ximénez (a grape,
not a person) and Moscatel grapes. Wines are produced using varying amounts of the three grapes
and are purposefully oxidized so that they develop nutty aromatics.

 Fino (dry) The lightest and most dry of all the Sherries with tart and nutty flavors.

 Manzanilla (dry) A specific style of Fino Sherry from a more specialized region that’s even
lighter than Fino.

 Palo Cortado (dry) A slightly richer style of sherry that is aged longer producing darker color
and richer flavor. These wines are typically dry but will have fruit and nut aromas with
salinity.

 Amontillado (mostly dry) An aged sherry that takes on nutty flavors of peanuts and butter.

 Oloroso (dry) A very aged and dark sherry that has higher alcohol content due to the
evaporation of water as the wine ages. This is more like the scotch of Sherry.

 Cream (sweet) A sweet style of Sherry made by blending Oloroso with Pedro Ximénez Sherry.

 Moscatel (sweet) A sweet sherry with fig and date flavors.

 Pedro Ximénez (PX) (very sweet) A very sweet sherry with brown sugar and figlike flavors.

Madeira

Madeira is a wine produced using up to 4 different grapes on the island in the middle of the Atlantic
Ocean. Madeira is very unlike other wines because, in order to produce it, the wines undergo a
heating and oxidation process – techniques that would traditionally ‘ruin’ a wine. The result is a rich
fortified wine with walnut-like flavors, salinity and an oiliness on the palate. Because of the 4
different grapes used, Madeira range from dry to sweet making them work well alongside a meal or
even as a pre-dinner drink.

 Rainwater & Madeira When the label just says “Madeira” or “Rainwater” assume that it’s a
blend of all 4 grapes and somewhere in the middle in terms of sweetness.

 Sercial (dry) Sercial is the driest and the lightest of all the grapes in Madeira. These wines will
have higher acidity and be dry with notes of peaches and apricot. It’s not too uncommon to
see Sercial Madeira aged for 100 years.

 Verdelho (dry) Verdelho has citrus notes and will develop nutty flavors of almond and walnut
with time.
  Bual (sweet) Bual leans on the sweet side with notes of burnt caramel, brown sugar, fig,
rootbeer and black walnut. It’s common to find 10 year old ‘medium’ (meaning: medium
sweet) Bual Madeira although there are several well aged 50-70 year old Bual as well.

 Malmsey (sweet) Malmsey Madeiras have orange citrus notes and caramel to their taste
along with the oily oxidized nutty flavor.

Vin Doux Naturel (VDN)

Vin Doux Naturel are made in a similar style to Port where a base wine is created and finished with
neutral grape brandy. The term vin doux naturelcomes from France, but this classification could be
used to describe a wine from anywhere.

 Grenache-based VDN Typically from the south of France, such as Maury, Rasteau
and Banyuls from Languedoc-Roussillon

 Muscat-based VDN Muscat de Rivesaltes, Muscat de Frotignan, Muscat de Beaumes de

Venise, Ruthernglen Muscat (Australia), Orange Muscat and Vin Santo Liquoroso (Italy).

 Malvasia-based VDN mostly from Italy and Sicily such as Malvasia delle Lipari Liquoroso

 Mavrodaphni From Greece, Mavrodaphni is a sweet red wine with many similarities to Port.