Sweet Things

PREVIOUS TASTING ARCHIVE – SEPTEMBER 2024

Some of the world’s greatest wines are sweet. They are made in a fascinating array of styles: white or red, fizzy or still, off-dry to lusciously sweet. We’ll explore all of those in this tasting.

Wonderful on their own or matched with the right food, these are some of the world’s most prized wines. Our six examples come from five different countries and range from delightfully light and effervescent with gentle sweetness, to full-on, unctuous richness.

Sweet wines are made using several ancient techniques, and once again our selection covers these, from simply leaving the grapes to ripen longer than usual; to those made by adding brandy to the fermenting must (we have a fabulously sweet, chocolate-rich ‘PX’) and, of  course we  just have to feature wines made sweet by Botrytis cinerea, the ‘Noble Rot’.

The Wines

One of my favourite summer garden wines is Moscato d’Asti. Let’s not confuse our example with the cheap spumantes of the 1970s: this is a delicate wine of low alcohol but fine balance, the most gentle effervesence and the perfect level of sweetness. We’ll taste a second gently sparkling sweet wine too, but this time it’s a cherry-coloured red from Piedmont made from the Brachetto grape variety in another refreshingly soft, strawberry and spice style. Sticking with the Muscat theme, we’ll have a wonderfully rich and unctuous dessert wine from South Africa, a real speciality there, laden with honey and apricot flavours.

France is home to some wonderful sweet wines of course and ours from Bergerac, next door to Bordeaux, is a fine example crafted from Semillon like so many of the great sweet Sauternes. Next up, Australia’s answer to the sweet wines of Condrieu, a fully luscious Botrytis wine made from Viognier; thick,  powerful, with enormous fruit, spice and floral lift. And to finsh, one of the world’s most unique and loveable styles: PX Sherry. Made from Pedro Ximenez grapes dried in the hot Spanish sun, it is made in the solera system. Massively rich with 400g/l of sugar, it is heaving with raisins, dates and honey flavours.

This is a fantastic opportunity to compare these unique and hedonistic wines. Even better, our supplier has reduced the price of this selection from £87.95 to £79 including UK mainland delivery exclusively for this tasting. Four of the wines come in half bottle sizes.

How does it work?

• Three wines tasted each night (enjoy the rest over the weekend)
• Live sessions with Q&A, or catch up at your own pace with recordings
• Ticket price is per household, and covers both sessions
• After you purchase your ticket you’ll see a link to buy the wines
• You may attend without buying the wines.