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Escarpment Magazine Summer 2013
With the launch
of the festive season, entertaining family and
friends takes centre stage. When planning your beverage selections, I
encourage you to include some sweeter wine choices and to also use
them in your recipes. (My wife makes a great chicken dish withMarsala
wine added.) Also, some sweeter wines can be served as an aperitif
before dinner. This assists in opening the digestive system and stimulat-
ing the appetite. Many are wonderful with desserts or, after dinner. The
choices could include: Sauternes, Port, IceWine, Sherry and Vermouth.
Icewine:
Originally produced in Germany by leaving the grapes on the
vines for several days of freezing. When pressed the frozen water crys-
tals remain in the press and the remaining flesh in the grape is very high
in sugar content. Ontario has become the world leader in Icewine.
There are many versions and the most concentrated and expensive are
the Gewurztraminer and Reisling Icewines ranging from $35.00 -
$85.00. for 375 ml. The late harvest & Vidal Icewines are not as con-
centrated and range from $15.00 - $30.00 for 375 ml. With all On-
tario Wines, look for the VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance) label. This
assures you of 100 % Ontario-grown grapes and strict quality stan-
dards. Ontario wines keep improving & are worth your consideration.
Port:
After a good meal with friends I particularly like to enjoy a nice
port served with British Stilton cheese. Port is made with the addition of
Brandy being added during the fermentation process. The finest Ports
are from Portugal although Port is also produced in South Africa, Aus-
tralia and California. There are many styles of port including Ruby Port
which is the least expensive. It is aged for 2-3 years and bottled young
when the wine has a deep ruby colour.
Tawny Port has been aged longer and generally sells for similar prices
to Ruby. Aged Tawny however, has been left in the casks for a minimum
of six years and is one of my favourites.
Late bottled Vintage port (LBV) has been bottled between the 4
th
to 6
th
year after the harvest and is ready to drink about 5 years after being
bottled. Vintage Port is the finest port, aged in wood casks for 2-3 years
and then bottled. It continues to age in the bottle and I suggest a very
minimum of 6 years aging. LBV will continue to improve with age and
may be cellared for 30 + years. There are usually only about 3 vintage
years in each decade where the wines are declared “Vintage”.
Decant and filter your ports as many have sediment.
Sherry:
This is a fortified wine primarily made in Spain. It is much un-
derpriced and represents great value.There are basically two types:
Pale, dry fino and dark, full but dry Oloroso. Finos are usually amber
in colour while Olorosos are dark brown. The quality of Sherry is as di-
verse as wines are in general. Unfortunately there are too many inex-
pensive sherries that are syrupy sweet & can be unpleasant. A good
Sherry may cost between $18.00 - $50.00. Get some advice from your
LCBO consultant and you may begin a wonderful affair with Sherry.
She won’t disappoint you.
Sauternes:
This delicious, sweet wine is primarily made in the Graves
district south of Bordeaux, France. Semillon is the principal grape and
it goes through a transformation called Noble Rot. A fungus (Botrytis
cinerea) attacks the grapes causing them to shrivel and rot. It consumes
some of the water in the grapes through evaporation leaving high sugar
levels. Sauternes are very costly to make and command high prices. A
good bottle of Sauternes can evolve and improve for 50 + years. A fab-
ulous dessert wine. One of the greatest Sauternes is Chateau d’ Yquem
which is exceptional and very expensive.
Other choices could include Vermouth which is an herb-flavoured for-
tified wine or, Marsala from Italy. Madeira is one of the most long lived
wines and some late 1800s Madeira are a rare treat. Note: Some of
the above varietals and their variations are not necessarily sweet.
There are several methods used by winemakers to make their wines
sweet...
• Allow the grapes to freeze on the vines before picking. This enables
the water to be separated from the sugary juice as in Ice wines.
• Laying the picked grapes on mats allowing the grapes to raisinate,
thereby concentrating their sugar.
• Picking after the regular harvest when the sugar content is higher.
• Allowing the grapes to be subjected to what is called Noble Rot (see
above) This is the method used in the great French Sauternes.
Note: Adding sugar to the wine making process is called Chaptaliza-
tion. This increases the Alcohol level but not the sweetness.
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sweet sensations
TEXT | DAVID MARGESSON
