Sweet Wine

Sweet wine is wine with perceptible residual sugar, meaning some grape sugar remains after fermentation or is present through a permitted production method. Sweetness can be achieved by stopping fermentation, using very ripe or dried grapes, concentrating grapes through noble rot or freezing, or fortifying the wine. Sweet wines range from lightly sweet to intensely concentrated.

How sweet wines are made

• Stopping fermentation: fermentation is halted while some grape sugar remains, using a permitted method such as cooling, filtration or fortification.
• Late harvest: grapes are left on the vine to develop higher sugar concentration.
• Noble rot: Botrytis cinerea concentrates sugars and flavours in suitable conditions, as in Sauternes and Tokaji Aszú.
• Drying grapes: grapes are dried after harvest to concentrate sugar, as in Recioto and some passito wines.
• Freezing grapes: grapes freeze naturally on the vine for Icewine/Eiswein, concentrating sugars and acids.
• Fortification: grape spirit is added to stop fermentation and preserve sweetness in styles such as Port and some Muscats.

Sweetness and balance

Residual sugar is balanced by acidity, alcohol, body and flavour concentration. A sweet wine can taste fresh rather than cloying when it has sufficient acidity. Sweetness levels and labelling terms vary by country and appellation, so the label and producer’s style should be checked.

Food pairing

Sweet wines pair well with fruit desserts, pastries, blue cheese, nuts and selected foie gras preparations. A useful guideline is that the wine should generally be at least as sweet as the dessert; otherwise the wine may taste thin or sour.

Example: serve Sauternes with foie gras or blue cheese, Moscato d’Asti with fruit tart, or Tokaji Aszú with apricot dessert.

Chef’s note: sweet wine is not one single style. Consider residual sugar, acidity, alcohol and intensity before pairing.