Dessert wine is a sweet wine, typically served with or as dessert, made by concentrating grape sugar so that fermentation leaves residual sweetness. Methods include noble rot (Sauternes, Tokaji), drying grapes (vin santo, recioto), late harvesting, freezing on the vine (ice wine) and fortification (Port, some Sherry). The best balance lush sweetness with bright acidity, giving them remarkable longevity.
WHY IT MATTERS FOR COLLECTORS
Great dessert wines are among the longest-lived of all, their sugar and acidity preserving them for decades. Often undervalued, top Sauternes and Tokaji offer exceptional aging and complexity for the price.
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