Dessert Wine

Wine is a product of the fermentation of grape juice’s natural sugars into alcohol. In this sense, a wine’s sugar content is a balance between the alcohol produced from the grape juice sugar and the remaining sugar after fermentation. Depending on the quality and type of grapes used, the alcohol may vary from around 7% to 15% by volume. The sweetness of the wine itself may vary according to the production method used, the climate, grapes used, and other factors.

The production of dessert wines is an industry in itself. Though there are international regulations in the use of the term “dessert wine,” a layman’s definition would be that it is (usually) an unfortified wine, which is sweeter than the food it accompanies. In this case, a benchmark for the definition would be to compare the sweetness of the wine with a perfectly ripe peach.

To create a dessert wine, some production methods stop the fermentation process leaving enough sugar in the wine. The most common ways of producing these wines include the use of naturally sweet grapes, adding sugar before or after fermentation, adding alcohol, or removing water from the grapes to concentrate the sugar. The more famous and more expensive dessert wines are made with the last method.

Dessert wines include raisin wines (Italy’s Vin Santo, Recioto de Soave and Recioto del Valpolicella), ice wines (Germany’s Eiswein and Canada’s ice wine), and wines from grapes affected with noble rot (Sauternes and Imperial Tokay from Hungary).

Serenata Wines has a range of dessert wines ready for delivery. When you order online, these delectable wines are delivered to your doorstep via next-weekday First Class post delivery service.