Dessert wines for Valentines Day!

by Maggie Bernat Smith

If you seek pleasure in life and wine; then you should not miss out on dessert wine. This red-headed step child of the wine world rarely gets the attention it deserves anymore. Once the wine of kings is now rarely indulged by us. Valentines day is the perfect time of year to get reacquainted with this lost soul of the wine world. This Valentines day why don’t you skip the heart shaped box of chocolates and pour some tawny port over some ice cream (or whatever your delight). Lose the over-priced roses that are predicted, expected and show the utmost unoriginality and go for a bottle of Eiswein and serve it with some Humboldt fog blue cheese instead.

Dessert wines are deliciously high in alcohol, and high in sugar content. They are heavenly on their own but really shine when paired with cheeses or desserts. Although the common misconception is that they are cloyingly sugary sweet, the fact is the high acidity in these wines is what makes them glide across the palate, make your mouth water and crave sip after sip. Here’s just a few examples to entice your palate:

• Moscato d’Asti - Moscato d'Asti is a unique wine where the beautiful aromas of the grapes are enhanced by a crisp, nice acidity, a light fizziness and the sweetness of the natural residual sugar. The low alcohol content makes it a very easy, pleasant wine perfect to finish a meal with dessert, or alone as a nice mid-day break.


• Eiswein or Ice Wine - A German term meaning "ice wine," referring to a rich, flavorful dessert wine. Eiswein is made by picking grapes that are frozen on the vine and then pressing them before they thaw. Because much of the water in the grapes is frozen, the resulting juice is concentrated-rich in flavor and high in sugar and acidity The resulting wines have tropical fruit, peach or berry overtones. Older eisweins suggest caramel or honey


• Tawny Port - Tawny Port is a sweet or medium-dry dessert wine made from red grapes grown in Northern Portugal’s Douro Valley, fortified with grape neutral spirit (brandy) and aged in wood casks. Prolonged wood aging is the key ingredient that differentiates Tawny Port from Ruby Portt. It is vital to start out with excellent grapes in order to withstand the rigors of extended wood-aging, maintaining fruit flavors and supple structure. As a Tawny Port oxidizes in cask, the color of the wine slowly evolves from a purplish-ruby color to a lighter topaz-amber-brown. With this process you can expect this dessert wine to taste like pecan pie, roasted nuts, toffee and raisins.
  
  These are just a few examples of what to expect in dessert wines. They truly are a practice in decadence. The Noble Grape is having a sale this weekend, Friday through Monday, for Valentines day. Stop in, the knowledgeable staff there can answer any questions you have. Dessert wines come in all colors and flavors, depending on your fancy, it guarantees a good time!