Dessert Wines

Any avid drinker can tell you the tale of when they first drank a good dessert wine. Vidal Ice Wine, Montreal QC in 2005. The honey, dried fruit, peaches and apricots left me stunned. Iced ciders, more ice wines and some Canadian whiskies were most excellent on that trip.

I had been making country and kit wines for a year or so by then, but nothing that fit with "good" dessert wine. The first dessert kit was a WinExpert Vidal wine base with a Vidal flavoring pack that added at the right time and with a little age creates a beautiful, rich delight. This wine has been tasted alongside many dessert wines and while the differences are perceptible, they are not game changing but in the most exceptional cases. My mother loved this as a birthday gift.

Since then I have made both fruit and kit dessert wines with much enjoyment. While I write this I am drinking the 2008 fresh fruit plum dessert wine which is aging surprisingly well. My notes on this wine indicate several previously unused techniques were used, acid balancing and manual degassing. Some experiences are so enjoyable learned hands on. Sweet plums with a nice tart hit are dripping with sweet juice. You want some too!

We just bottled the WinExpert Riesling Ice Wine which has a distinctive wild and profound character like many dessert, late harvest and ice wines. It needs some age before a more thorough review can be had. The glass of left over tasted great. AS/FA/VC look out!

I have a bottle of the 2009 "Super S" Strawberry Dessert wine in the freezer. The berries were picked in Londonderry at Sunnycrest in June. This wine was well cared for and has high expectations to meet. More next time.

Cheers!

Jason