Most wine aficionados, geeks, and the pinky lifters look at sweet wines as “syrupy sweet little nonentities” that should not be taken seriously and dismiss them as undrinkable trash. Unfortunately, in some cases, they happen to be right. This country, whose citizens are known to have a monstrous sweet tooth, has been subjected to some incredibly poor sweet wines that have nothing at all to offer them except being an inexpensive, slightly alcoholic, grape flavored, soda pop without the bubbles.
Enter Bordeaux France, the ancestral home of many of the world’s fi nest wines, some of these being sweet wines. These wines are so popular in Europe (more specifically in Russia) that we rarely see them here. Sweet wines, often called Dessert Wines, display all of the charm and character that made the classical Bordeaux wines famous and are once again appearing on our shores. Might I suggest that we drop our sweet win prejudice and give these wines a fair trial?
Just FYI, Château d’Yquem, a Bordeaux sweet wine, was awarded the highest rating a Bordeaux wine can achieve, Premier Cru Supérieur, and sells for $250+ a bottle.
Let’s start by stating one very important point: it is ILLEGAL in every wine producing country of the world to add sugar to wine to sweeten it or increase its alcohol content; in ancient Germany, the penalty was death. Wines are made sweet in Bordeaux when growers take the gamble of losing their entire crop to frost or disease and leave the grapes on the vine long enough to create natural sugars enhanced by a good fungus called botrytis cinerea. The botrytis not only enhances the grape sugars but also adds its desirable and distinctive flavor and aroma to the finished wine.
2015 Château Dauphiné Rondillon 750 ml ($42).
This wine, as do all of the Bordeaux sweet wines, displays a golden color that is almost hypnotizing and eagerly invites the first sip. The aroma is outstanding, displaying wildflowers, citrus, and summer stone fruits. On the palate, the wine presents peaches, honey, crème brûlée, tangerine, and the unmistakably pleasant flavor from the botrytis. These all continue to the finish where they seem to last indefinitely. This is a prime example of a Bordeaux sweetie and may change your mind about sweet wines forever.
2019 Château La Hargue 375 ml ($15).
This wine presents a brilliant golden color and an attractive aroma of exotic fruit, citrus, and vanilla. The aroma proceeds nonstop to the flavor, where it is enhanced by the sweetness. The finish will impress you with its extraordinary length. If you believe that all sweet wines taste the same, the 2019 Château La Hargue will change your mind.
2018 Château Tanesse Palissades 375 ml ($15).
Another melody of a similar tune, however, this one has incorporated the Muscadelle grape into the blend for added interest, depth, and color. This is truly a summer wine as it very prominently displays the aromas of summer flowers and the light-colored summer fruits. There are hints of citrus, such as tangerine and grapefruit, which carry on to the flavor and then transition to a fresh and fruity, almost overpowering, finish. This wine could be considered the perfect ambassador for sweet Bordeaux wines.
Château la Rame 750 ml ($35).
This wine is the most kaleidoscopic of the quartet, presenting an ever changing experience. Here too, the wine shares similar flavors and aromas to all Bordeaux sweet wines but presents its flavors in a different order, making for even greater interest. It is the summer fruits that take preference over the floral aromas. These fruits carry through to the flavor and are amplified in the finish. This wine, like all of the others presented here, can prove to be the perfect end to a perfect meal.