In Search of a Sweet Wine

[N8NEU]

My wife and I enjoy the sweet tasting wines. We are on a hunt for the right wine.

Although we like the new Blackberry Merlot wines, they are only 6% alcohol. I also like the concord wines, but again they are only 6% alcohol.

We have tried the Rieslings, but they do no make the cut for us. We once had an after dinner white wine at an Italian restaurant. It was very very good. We were told it can be bought anywhere but I forgot the name.

Any suggestions on other sweet wines to try?

[winophite]

Several of my family members enjoy wines made from the catawba grape, too sweet for me. All of our IN wineries seem to produce one and I've seen it listed on sites as far north as the finger lakes. It's pretty fruity and inexpensive so not out much if not to your liking. WP

[Innkeeper]

Hi N8NEU, and welcome to the Wine Board. As Winophite suggested visit an eastern winemaker. For that matter visit one in Florida (www.fgga.org). They will all have sweet wine over 6%!

As far as your neighborhood store is concerned look for Riesling or Chenin Blanc/Vouvray that does not say Dry, Sec, or Troken on the bottle for whites. Widely distributed reds are tougher. Lambrusco is the most common. There are better versions available than the ubiquitous Reunite.

[wineguruchgo]

Hello N8NEU,

The Italian wine you had was more than likely Vin Santo.

If you go into your local wine shop and ask them where they have their dessert wines you will be in heaven. The downside to this is that you have very expensive taste in wine.

Here's what I would do. Follow Innkeeper's advice and do a little research so you are familiar with the names. Just as there are many different shades of blue there are different sugar levels in wine. Look up German Wine and you should find a breakdown of all the names and sugar levels. Champagne has their own names as well. There are very sweet Champagnes out there too for you to enjoy.

I would try a Spatlese Riesling and, as previously mentioned, a Chenin Blanc or Vouvray. I would drink these wines when you are eating. Especially if you are having something a tad spicy. The spicyness of the food will accentuate the sugar in the wine and you won't even realize that it's a little dry.

Save the dessert wines for when you aren't eating. You will flip over an Auslese, yet that wine is probably $50.00+ per bottle.

[This message has been edited by wineguruchgo (edited 07-04-2007).]

[wondersofwine]

The sweet Italian white wine may have been a Moscati or Muscat. This is quite inexpensive and widely available.