Sweet Escapes Dessert & Fortified Wines WORDS QUENTIN VON ESSEN
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From elegant Semillon to opulent, aged Muscat, Australia’s dessert and fortified wines have a long and distinguished history, and are considered to be some of the most unique wines in the world. Until the mid-1960s, dessert and fortified styles were the most popular wines in Australia. These days table wines lead the charge, but those sweetly decadent wines are still highly sought after. Made in regions across the country, Australia’s dessert and fortified wines vary in style but never fail to impress. Fermented in the same manner as conventional white wines, dessert wines tend to be intensely flavoured, deeply gold in colour with bouquets of dried apricots, a rich sweet flavour and a sharp acid finish. Affectionately known as ‘stickies,’ these sweet wines are a sensational accompaniment to fruit desserts. Alternatively, they can stand alone as a replacement for dessert at the end of a meal. Dessert and fortified wines range from elegant Riesling and Semillon dessert wines to silky Topaque (made from the Muscadelle grape), spiced Tawny Port and luscious fruit cake tasting Muscat. They’re generally high in sugar and alcohol, making them sweet and sticky. Fortified wines such as Sherry, Port, and Madeira are made by adding alcohol (brandy spirits) during fermentation. This kills the yeasts that convert sugar to alcohol, leaving the wine very sweet and increasing the alcohol level to between 15 and 20%. Generally, the earlier the spirit is added, the sweeter the resulting wines. After fortification, the wine is left to mature in oak barrels, maturing into complex, aromatic wines with an immense concentration of flavour and colour. Some of Australia’s most impressive, fortified wines are aged in barrels for up to 100 years or more, giving them an intense richness that’s hard to forget.
Dessert and fortified wines are a perfect after-dinner treat, either on their own or with a dessert, chocolate, dried nuts or strong cheeses. And nothing beats a glass of something sweet and sticky beside the fire on a cold winter night.
DESSERT & FORTIFIED WINES Top Drops A
DRAYTON'S FAMILY WINES Old Decanter
Aged for 21 years in Drayton's Solera $75 | Shop Now System, this lovely old tawny is a blend of reserve fortified wines, matured and stored in the cool of Drayton's Pokolbin cellars. TASTING Aromas of spicy woods and dried fruits. Complex nutty flavours and an extremely long, warm finish on the palate. FOOD MATCH All desserts, especially dark chocolate and rich mud cake. Perfect with roasted, mixed nuts. CELLARING Whilst drinking extremely well now, this wine will benefit from further careful cellaring. Best before 2078.
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The Next Generation of Hunter Valley Wines Wine Tastings, Cheese Platters & Artisan Pantry
312 Mount View Road, Mount View | 02 4990 6326 | www.savannahestate.com.au | wine@savannahestate.com.au
yhv 28 | JUL-AUG 2022
$55
