People in the wine biz do not refer to sweet wine as “dessert wine”. They may call it “sweeties” or “stickies”, informally. But they know that sweet wines – defined by EU law as those containing over 45g of sugar per litre — are not necessarily at their best when consumed with something sweet at the end of a meal.
I’m thinking about stickies for two reasons. One is that I’m writing this early in September while surrounded by vines in the Languedoc, not far from the ravishingly beautiful Château-Abbaye de Cassan. Our slumbers have been disturbed over several nights by the mechanical harvesters picking the grapes while they’re cool.
In more northerly vineyards, they will be be picking much later – cooler climates need more “hang time” to ripen the grapes. And in some places they will be leaving them longer still, in the hope of building up sugars to high enough levels for the production of sweet wine. This is a dangerous business: extra hang time exposes the clusters to all sorts of perils. But the potential rewards, whether in the Loire or the Mosel or Bordeaux or Austria’s Burgenland, are irresistible.
The other reason I’m thinking about stickies is that they are an essential part of Rosh Hashanah. If the year ahead is to be sweet, we must nudge it in that direction at the New Year meal. My candidate this year: Herzog Late Harvest Orange Muscat 2012, around £17.99. Marmalade, stone fruits. Pass the dates if you must, but leave the bottle where I can reach it.
For the rest of the meal, two wines. Tulip White 2012, around £19.99, is almost certainly the only wine made from Gewürztraminer and Sauvignon Blanc. The result has the essential Gewürztraminer flowery and lychee quality, but with very brisk acidity from the Sauvignon.
Classic: Elvi Herenza Rioja Crianza 2010, around £17.50. Crianza-style Rioja, with much less time in oak barrels than the more expensive Reserva, often produces wines with better balance. This is one of them. Lovely wine, fair price, a natural for both lamb and brisket. But remember: save room for the stickies.
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