Sweet wines 3 – Sun-dried or Icewine
November 29, 2016
In the last post we looked at late harvest wines, where the grapes are left longer on the vine so they become very sweet. Today, in the third in our series on sweet wines, we are going to look at two other ways of producing extra-sweet grapes in order to make sweet wine: drying the grapes to make a syrupy style of wine or freezing them to make Icewine.
Sun- or air-dried grapes
In some parts of the world the harvested grapes are hung or laid out on mats either outdoors in the sun or in a well-ventilated winery loft and allowed to partially dry or “raisinise”. During this process, the grapes will start to shrivel, literally like raisins or sultanas, losing water. With less water content, the sugars, flavours and acidity in each grape will become more concentrated. The grapes will become darker in colour and the flavours will change. When the half-dried grapes are pressed to make the wine, there will, of course, be much less juice than if the grapes had not been dried and this juice will be thicker and sticky and more difficult to ferment.
Examples include Vin Santo and Recioto from Italy and Pedro Ximénez and Moscato wines from southern Spain.
Tasting note: Harveys 30-year-old VORS Pedro Xíménez, Jerez, Spain. 16% ABV.
Dark brown in colour, this is a dense, mouth-filling, lusciously sweet fortified wine with aromas and flavours like molasses, figs, liquorice and vanilla.
When to drink it: This wine will hold its own alongside any pudding, however sticky and sweet it is; think sticky toffee pudding.
Icewine or Eiswein
Icewine from Canada and the United States or Eiswein from Germany and Austria is another very special type of wine. The grapes are left until they freeze on the vine and then are picked and pressed quickly, while still frozen, so the water crystals remain in the press and only a very concentrated must passes through to be fermented. Icewine (or Eiswein) usually has pure fruit flavours and aromas and high acidity. Canada also produces sparkling and red icewines.
Tasting note: Heinz Eifel 2014 Eiswein, Rheinhessen, Germany. 9% ABV
Blend of Silvaner and Riesling grapes, hand-picked and pressed while frozen.
This wine was a pale gold colour and showed a touch of petillance (light bubbles). Pronounced aromas of stewed pears and some spicy notes like cinnamon. This wine had purer flavours of pear drops, stewed pears and apples and quince jam with just a hint of minerality. The sweetness and acidity were nicely balanced and the body was much lighter than the other wines in the tasting. This was also the lowest in alcohol.
When to drink it: This wine would pair nicely with a pork-based pâté or an apple-based dessert.
For more information about sweet wines:
Sweet wines – sophisticated and versatile
Sweet wines 2 – Late Harvest Wines
In the last post we looked at how sophisticated and versatile sweet wines can be, combining with different types of food and making for a delicious aperitif or after-dinner drink. Many sweet wines are made with grapes that are much sweeter than normal. In fact, they are so sweet that the fermentation stops naturally before the yeasts have converted all the sugars. There are four main ways of getting such high levels of sugar and today we’re going to look at the one used for late harvest wine. 
Chilean Late Harvest wines worth trying.
Sweet wines are untrendy right now and you may be wondering why they are worth a five-day feature. But just think – this is a category of wines that covers a huge range of styles, including some of the world’s most sophisticated, complex and expensive wines. Yes, some sickly sweet, almost undrinkable wines do exist, but there are also sublime wines that can make the perfect finishing touch to a special meal. For instance, check out a Riesling Late Harvest with chicken liver pâté, a rich Ruby Port with a selection of mature cheese or a Rutherglen Muscat with Christmas pudding. And Oriental dishes or meals which combine meat or cheese with fruit (such as Roquefort with figs or roast duck with orange sauce) often work best with a medium-sweet or sweet wine, balanced by high acidity, especially those with botrytis, like Sauternes.
