A World of Dessert Wines Ripeness and Sweetness in the Remaining Fruit
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wine & spirits DESSERT WINES OCTOBER 2009 EAT WELL / SAVOR LIFE to cut off half of the grape cluster to promote a world of dessert wines ripeness and sweetness in the remaining fruit. hot bottles It's time to think about dessert wines in a whole new way: not overkill, not pretentious, not out Even if all of these farming techniques are of reach. Here are our favorite bottles–and what to serve them with. BY HEATHER JOHN successful during the growing season, there are still yellow jackets and unpredictable harvest weather to worry about. "Variability is the name IVING IN LOS ANGELES DOES, IN FACT, cream are not good matches, while of the game for Dolce," Allen says. "We've PRODUCE CELEBRITY sightings on an almost custards and caramelized fruit are produced as few as 600 cases one year and then, daily basis. Justin Timberlake getting sushi in a fantastic. two years later, as many as 4,000 cases—and L mini-mall? Ashton and Demi canoodling on the But you don't need to go to everything in between." streets? Bob Barker hiking in the hills? No big deal. But every France for top-notch late-harvest once in a while, even a jaded Angeleno gets starstruck, as I did Sémillon or Sauvignon Blanc. In WHAT TO SERVE THEM WITH last November when I found myself sitting next to none other recent years, there have been some So if Mother Nature smiles upon the Dolce than Pierre Lurton at lunch. interesting interpretations of vineyards, and if the retail gods smile upon you and Monsieur Lurton is a celebrity not for having won Oscar gold, Sauternes-style wines from the U.S. you manage to get your hands on a bottle of the but for producing liquid gold in the form of Château d'Yquem, a Most notable is the splurge-worthy stuff, a PEAR TARTE TATIN, which accentuates late-harvest dessert wine made from Sémillon and Sauvignon Dolce from the Napa Valley — the honeyed notes in the wine, is a brilliant pairing. Blanc grapes from the Sauternes district, in the Bordeaux region compared to the Yquem, it's a Desserts with FRESH OR DRIED FIGS or ALMOND content, which makes them difficult to pair with of France. Many would argue that these exquisitely sweet, golden relative bargain at $85 for a PASTE are also particularly lovely with Dolce's desserts or food in general. wines are as rare and valuable as Oscar statuettes, since they are half-bottle, especially when you house style. And yes, there are also late-harvest wines made only produced during vintages when a benevolent mold called consider just how dicey it is to make But not all late-harvest dessert wines are made from red grapes, like Zinfandel and Petite Sirah. Botrytis cinerea, or "noble rot," occurs naturally on the grapes. this type of wine in Napa. from Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc grapes, and Not to be confused with Port, which is fortified with The weather has to cooperate; Botrytis likes cool, misty Of the 20 acres that Dolce has there is a vast range of styles and grape varietals additional alcohol, late-harvest red wines are made mornings and warm, sunny afternoons. The grapes are left on the dedicated to farming grapes for its used. Several wineries in Oregon and California are with the same method as their white counterparts. vine later into the harvest season and the mold causes them to late-harvest wine, the yields are only using Gewürztraminer. Williams Selyem in the These you can pair with CHOCOLATE, PLUMS, shrivel, producing concentrated, rich flavors and higher sugar about 5 percent of what they would Russian River Valley makes an excellent version DARK CHERRIES, and BERRIES. I recently had a content. The production of these fickle wines is a miracle, really. be if the winemakers were farming every other year from grapes that are left to hang fantastic late-harvest Spanish red at Beast in Too much rain or damp and the crop is history. Which is why grapes to produce a dry wine. "When on the vine until late November. These wines tend Portland, Oregon, made from Mourvèdre in the late-harvest dessert wines are some of the most sought-after we set out to farm this vineyard in to show more tropical and lychee fruit with floral spirit of the wines from the Bandol region of wines in the world, and they are at their brilliant best when the '80s, we realized there wasn't a notes, and they go well with CRÈME BRÛLÉE and a France, but lighter in style and with a lower alcohol paired with the right dessert. standard for producing late-harvest number of BLUE CHEESES. There are the elegant content. It was served with a ginger-STOUT CAKE The good news is that not all of these bottles fetch the wines in this region," says Dolce late-harvest Rieslings from Germany and Austria WITH ICE CREAM, and the combination was spectacular prices a bottle of Yquem does—starting at $650 for winemaker Greg Allen. "We took the labeled "Beerenauslese" and sublime. If you are lucky enough to stumble upon a futures of the 2007 vintage and skyrocketing from there. Some of conventional wisdom on how to "Trockenbeerenauslese," which are delicious with late-harvest Malbec from Argentina—very few are my favorite Sauternes wines (which, like Yquem, are made from a prevent Botrytis and did the baked APPLE DESSERTS or citrusy tarts or cakes. made and even fewer make their way to this combination of Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc grapes) fall in the reverse." For example, in the Dolce In Hungary, the fabled Tokaji Aszú wines—Aszú country—try it with a dense FLOURLESS $20 range for a half-bottle. Dessert wines are most often found in vineyards, huge canopies—or the being the Hungarian term for "noble rot"—are CHOCOLATE TORTE. It's as sweet as seeing 375-ml bottles because they are so rich. The best of these wines vine's leaves that surround the beautiful when served with desserts featuring Sidney Poitier wave to a passing tour bus on the are characterized by rich honey, peach, and almond notes, and grape clusters—are encouraged HAZELNUTS OR WALNUTS. Hungarian Tokaji is streets of Beverly Hills. are spectacular when paired with desserts that echo these instead of pruned back to shield the made from white Furmint grapes and should not be flavors. Thanks to the viscosity of Sauternes wines, they stand up clusters from sunlight and trap confused with sweet Australian fortified wines that well to strong cheeses, like Roquefort, but shouldn't be humidity in order to grow the are labeled "Tokay." Those wines are made from the overpowered by anything sweeter than they are. Chocolate or ice benevolent mold. Another tactic is Muscadelle grape and have a higher alcohol wine & spirits DESSERT WINES OCTOBER 2009 EAT WELL / SAVOR LIFE to cut off half of the grape cluster to promote a world of dessert wines ripeness and sweetness in the remaining fruit. hot bottles It's time to think about dessert wines in a whole new way: not overkill, not pretentious, not out Even if all of these farming techniques are of reach. Here are our favorite bottles–and what to serve them with. BY HEATHER JOHN successful during the growing season, there are still yellow jackets and unpredictable harvest weather to worry about. "Variability is the name IVING IN LOS ANGELES DOES, IN FACT, cream are not good matches, while of the game for Dolce," Allen says. "We've PRODUCE CELEBRITY sightings on an almost custards and caramelized fruit are produced as few as 600 cases one year and then, daily basis. Justin Timberlake getting sushi in a fantastic. two years later, as many as 4,000 cases—and L mini-mall? Ashton and Demi canoodling on the But you don't need to go to everything in between." streets? Bob Barker hiking in the hills? No big deal. But every France for top-notch late-harvest once in a while, even a jaded Angeleno gets starstruck, as I did Sémillon or Sauvignon Blanc. In WHAT TO SERVE THEM WITH last November when I found myself sitting next to none other recent years, there have been some So if Mother Nature smiles upon the Dolce than Pierre Lurton at lunch. interesting interpretations of vineyards, and if the retail gods smile upon you and Monsieur Lurton is a celebrity not for having won Oscar gold, Sauternes-style wines from the U.S. you manage to get your hands on a bottle of the but for producing liquid gold in the form of Château d'Yquem, a Most notable is the splurge-worthy stuff, a PEAR TARTE TATIN, which accentuates late-harvest dessert wine made from Sémillon and Sauvignon Dolce from the Napa Valley — the honeyed notes in the wine, is a brilliant pairing. Blanc grapes from the Sauternes district, in the Bordeaux region compared to the Yquem, it's a Desserts with FRESH OR DRIED FIGS or ALMOND content, which makes them difficult to pair with of France. Many would argue that these exquisitely sweet, golden relative bargain at $85 for a PASTE are also particularly lovely with Dolce's desserts or food in general. wines are as rare and valuable as Oscar statuettes, since they are half-bottle, especially when you house style. And yes, there are also late-harvest wines made only produced during vintages when a benevolent mold called consider just how dicey it is to make But not all late-harvest dessert wines are made from red grapes, like Zinfandel and Petite Sirah.