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Wine Tasting 101:
What's for Dessert?
Courtesy of
30 Second Wine Advisor
By
Robin GarrEven after we begin to
comprehend the vast and various world of dry table wines, many wine
enthusiasts still find the realm of dessert wine a bit mysterious.
From Sauternes to sweet Sherry, Banyuls to Beerenauslese, ice wine
to late-harvest to Port, these rich, sweet and luscious wines are
easy to like, but so diverse in their geography, production and even
flavor profiles that it can be a challenge to get an intellectual
grip on them.
We've touched on this topic from various angles in Wine Tasting
101, featuring an Australian "Port" in February 2002, Sweet Muscat
in January 2003, and a festive combination of Champagne and non-
vintage Port for last year's holiday season.
As blustery autumn settles in to the Northern Hemisphere and the
winter holiday season approaches, let's take another look at this
mouth-watering category between now and the end of the year.
Although I've selected a trio of "benchmark" wines (more about them
below) for those who wish to calibrate their impressions against
those of peers by comparing notes on the same wines, we're open to
discussion of any dessert wine, and will be happy to have your
tasting notes, comments or questions about any style of dessert wine
from any grape or region.
Because the festive season is as much about eating as it is about
drinking, we plan to devote extra attention to the tasty topic of
matching dessert wines with food.
I usually adhere to the conventional wisdom that sweet wines are
best served as dessert, rather than with dessert, because a too-
sweet food match may bring up the acidity in sweet wines and throw
them out of balance. But there's plenty of evidence to support the
other side in this debate, ranging from the berry explosion that
occurs when Banyuls, the French red Grenache-based dessert wine,
meets dark chocolate, to the more subtle joys of Sauternes with
crème brûlée, Tokaji with a bourbon-laced bread pudding, or ...
well, you get the idea. Cheeses, nuts and dried fruit all offer
standard food-matching pairs with dessert wines. We'll spend time
exploring these pairings, and invite your questions and your input,
between now and year's end.
So, here are the three "benchmark" wines. Regular WT101
participants will recognize the Noval "LB" Porto a
"vintage-character" Port, as one of the wines featured last winter.
I thought it was good enough to bring it back again, this time in
comparison with Graham's "Six Grapes," a non-vintage Ruby Port. The
third wine takes us in another classic direction. Chambers
Rutherglen Muscat is a historic Australian "stickie" made from the
aromatic Muscat grape in Rutherglen, a small, memorable wine region
in Victoria, northeast of Melbourne, where Muscat-based dessert
wines have been made in this style for 150 years.
QUINTA DO NOVAL "LB" PORTO ($16.99)
Importer: William Grant & Sons Inc., NYC The Quinta do Noval Website
is available in English, and offers a choice of Flash or non-Flash:
http://www.quintadonoval.com/
The U.S. importer's Website offers a wealth of technical and tasting
data for download, most in Acrobat or PowerPoint format:
http://www.grantusa.com/wine/port/noval/index.htm
GRAHAM'S "SIX GRAPES" PORTO ($22.39)
Importer: Premium Port Wines Inc., San Francisco Importer's W. & J.
Graham's Web page:
http://www.premiumport.com/grahams.cfm
CHAMBERS ROSEWOOD VINEYARDS RUTHERGLEN MUSCAT ($16.99)
Importer: Old Bridge Cellars, Napa, Calif. Importer's Chambers Web
page:
http://www.oldbridgecellars.com/wineries/chambers/
For today's tasting, I opened the Graham's "Six Grapes," a
selection that's a bit on the pricey side for Ruby Port, but that
stands out in its niche for a robust character that's not totally at
variance with the style of Vintage Port, need not be decanted and
can be drunk young. |
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GRAHAM'S "SIX GRAPES" PORTO ($22.39)
This non-vintage Ruby Port is made in the style sometimes called
"Vintage Character" because its full and tannic structure emulates
that of the more pricey, ageworthy vintage wine. Very dark purple in
color, almost black, its aroma focuses on black fruit, plums and
prunes. Sweet fruit, tart acidity, alcoholic warmth (this fortified
wine contains 19.5% alcohol) and smooth but substantial tannins come
together on the palate in a dessert wine that's bold but not as
fierce or unapproachable as a youthful Vintage Port; there's not a
lot of complexity here, but good balance and assertive Port
character make it a pleasant, warming glass on a mild autumn
evening. Made from six Port-grape varieties, hence the name: Touriga
Nacional, Touriga Francesa, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, Tinta
Amarela and Tintao Cão. U.S. importer: Premium Port Wines Inc., San
Francisco. (Oct. 31, 2004)
FOOD MATCH: Testing Port's affinity with cheeses, I served
it with both a cave-aged Swiss Emmentaler and a Vernières Roquefort.
It worked well with both, bringing up the creaminess and an
attractive appley-nutty quality in the Swiss and an almost "meaty"
salty character in the blue-veined French cheese.
VALUE: The $20-plus price I paid locally is at the high
end of the range available from Internet retailers, which run from
about $14 to $23 at U.S. shops and around £15 (less by the case of
12) at UK shops like Berry Bros. & Rudd.
WHEN TO DRINK: Unlike Vintage Port, Ruby Ports do not
require aging and are not considered candidates for long-term
cellaring. Even so, the big tannins and structure here make me
believe that a few years in the wine rack or cellar will do this
item no harm.
WEB LINK: The importer's W. & J. Graham's fact sheet is
here:
http://www.premiumport.com/grahams.cfm
FIND THIS WINE ONLINE: Look up vendors and prices for
Graham's "Six Grapes" on
Wine- Searcher.com. (Note bottle sizes - the results list
includes some selections in 187ml or 375ml bottles.) |
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