Dessert wines come in a variety of flavors and are made from equally as many sugar sources. There is no standard way to make a dessert wine and the only characteristics they seem to share is their acute sweetness and need for chilling. Some dessert wines are made from grapes, others from raisins or strawberries. Yeast tend not to be choosy with the sugary meal presented to them; they will metabolize and ferment almost any saccharide to produce ethanol. Dessert wines have been enjoyed for centuries in most corners of the world. Generally, cultures would use the wild fruit abundant in a particular area and allow the ambient yeast to work its microscopic magic.

A particularly great example of a dessert wine with such longevity is mead. This sweet honey wine concoction has been made and consumed by Europeans for eons. In fact, mead is considered the ancestor of all fermented beverages. Mead is typically made with water, honey, and yeast; it’s also probably the easiest alcoholic beverage to produce. Mead ranges in characteristics depending on the quality and origin of the honey and length of the fermentation period. Finished mead can have a relatively high alcohol content and be surprisingly carbonated. Mead is usually chilled in a wine cooler or refrigerator before serving.

Another group of delicious dessert wines are the fortified wines such as port and sherry. Genuine port is produced in Portugal and typically aged longer than most traditional red or white wines. Port is usually presented in two varieties; tawny and ruby. Tawny port is the result of red wine grapes fermented in wooden barrels. Because wooden barrels are not airtight, the wine is slowly exposed to oxygen during the long aging period. This oxygen exposure and evaporation causes a change in the color of the port which is described as tawny. Tawny ports are often described as having nut flavors and are typically sweet and medium dry. Contrastingly, ruby ports are fermented and aged in airtight stainless steel vessels which prevent oxidation. Thus, the port retains the dark red color of the grapes. Ruby ports are sweet, rich, and generally have a strong nose.

Muscat grapes, although not specifically classified as a dessert grape, are often used to make the fortified dessert wine Sherry. Additionally, certain varietals of Muscat are used to make the sweet and delicious Muscato wines. These wines are generally labeled orange muscat or black muscat depending on the grape used. Fine muscats are highly desirable and can accentuate a detailed dessert or standalone as the sweet finish to a gourmet meal.

Regardless of the dessert wine chosen to round out a wonderful meal, it is important to use proper wine storage and chilling techniques. Many wine coolers are capable of chilling red and white wines separately and these same temperatures apply to dessert wines. While red grape dessert wines can be served slightly warmer, the white grape desert wines and fortified dessert wines should be served more chilled. Adequate wine storage can ensure precise aging of dessert wines and guarantee you will enjoy all the flavors and aromas they have to offer.