If wine has always been too bitter for your palate, you may just have a more refined sense of taste that requires a dessert wine – a sweeter alternative with a different place in the vino echelon.
In the U.S., a dessert wine is classified as any wine that is 14 percent alcohol or higher. Usually thought of as a sipping wine, it is generally served with or instead of dessert, rather than with the main course.
Port, the first main type of dessert wine, has a twist in its production process compared to regular fortified wines: the addition of the brandy takes place before the wine has finished fermenting. Consequently, the wine retains a natural sweetness, making it rich and smooth.
Port is known for its longevity. East Columbus-based Signature Wines’ authentic red port, Vinho de Decadência, is barrel-aged for nine years.
“We are an authentic winery in the middle of the city, which is rare,” says Signature owner and winemaker Kelly Harvey. “Most urban wineries make their wines from kits or concentrates. Because we’re an authentic winery, we don’t make any of those gimmicky wines.”
The second main type of dessert wine, ice wine, is made by waiting for grapes to freeze on the vine and then pressing them before they thaw. This process is easier said than done, making the wine rare and luxurious, but costly.
Because much of the water in grapes is frozen, the resulting juice is concentrated, making it high in sugar and acid, which results in a refreshingly sweet essence. Jim Brandeberry, owner of Brandeberry Winery – in Enon, near Springfield – compares the process to simply sucking the juice out of a Popsicle, since the aim is to extract the flavor while leaving the ice.
Brandeberry’s most unusual flavor, a grape and cherry wine with chocolate flavoring called Cherry Truffle, was inspired by a similar wine made by Kent-based Viking Vineyards & Winery.
From serving Christopher Columbus to Shakespeare, the third main type of dessert wine, sherry, has a long history. Recently, though, it has begun carving a new path.
Producing a sherry means using solera, a process by which younger sherries are blended into casks of more ancient ones, resulting in a consistent, high-quality mixture. Thus, a sherry does not have a specific vintage date, because each is a combination of many years’ products.
A good source for locally made sherry is Short North-based Camelot Cellars. The grapes for Camelot’s sherry originate from Spain.
“Sometimes (people) don’t know what dessert wines are,” says Camelot Cellars owner Janine Aquino, “so we try to educate them when they come in. People assume that (sherry) is more of a cooking wine, but it’s actually a very good dessert wine by itself. We want to dispel the idea that it’s just for cooking.”
Corinne Murphy is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
