Sweet Wine

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Intro

Sweet wine carries one of the longest pedigrees in the cellar. Tokaji was the first wine in the world to receive a formal classification, in 1730, more than a century before Bordeaux. Louis XIV called it the king of wines and the wine of kings. The Habsburgs reserved the finest bottlings for their imperial cellars. The drink is mentioned in the Hungarian national anthem. Sauternes followed soon after. Vin Santo, the straw-dried sweet wine of Tuscany, has been made in some form since the Middle Ages. Our collection is small and deliberately so. The producers in it have spent decades, in some cases generations, mastering the style.

How Sweet Wine Is Actually Made

Sweet wine is made by concentrating the sugar in the grapes before fermentation. The route taken to do that is what defines the style.

Noble rot, or botrytis cinerea, is the classic method. The fungus develops on the grape skins, dehydrating the berries and concentrating the juice into something almost syrupy. This is the method behind Tokaji Aszú and Sauternes. Drying the grapes is the other route. Keermont's Fleurfontein pinches the bunch stems and leaves the grapes to dehydrate on the vine, while Tuscan Vin Santo dries them in lofts after harvest. Greek Vinsanto uses sun-drying.

Tokaji: The Wine of Kings

Tokaj sits on volcanic soils in north-eastern Hungary, with a climate shaped by river mists that encourage botrytis to develop on the grapes. Furmint is the dominant variety. Tokaji Aszú is made by adding a paste of botrytised berries to a base wine and ageing the result in 136-litre Hungarian oak casks called Gönc.

Sweetness was historically measured in puttonyos, the wooden hods used to harvest the botrytised berries. A 5 puttonyos wine carries between 120 and 150 grams of residual sugar per litre, a 6 puttonyos between 150 and 180. The system was simplified in 2013, but the labels remain as a guide to style.

Our entire Tokaji range comes from Oremus, the Hungarian estate of Spain's Vega-Sicilia. The wines are honeyed and apricot-driven, with a saline minerality from the volcanic soils and an acidity that keeps the sweetness from cloying.

The Cape: Keermont Fleurfontein

Keermont sits high in the Blaauwklippen Valley above Stellenbosch, on west-facing slopes that catch the afternoon sun. The Fleurfontein is named after a spring on the farm and made by pinching the bunch stems of Sauvignon Blanc and a portion of Roussanne while the grapes ripen, halting the flow of sap and letting the bunches dry on the vine. The hard-pressed syrup ferments slowly in Hungarian and French oak, and matures for around fifteen months before bottling.

The 2024 vintage shows aromas of dried apricot and litchi, with almond and salted caramel notes on the finish. Acidity carries the wine through a residual sugar level of around 215 grams per litre, which would be heavy in a less precise wine. Tim Atkin has scored recent vintages between 92 and 96 points, with Neal Martin in similar territory.

Pairing

Sweet wine works at the table in ways that go past the dessert course.

• With cheese: Blue cheese is the classic match. Stilton with Tokaji Aszú is one of the great pairings in wine. Roquefort works equally well, and aged hard cheeses such as Comté work with Fleurfontein.
• With fruit-based desserts: Apricot tart and tarte Tatin are reliable matches, as is anything built around poached pears or stone fruit.
• With foie gras and rich starters: Tokaji Aszú with seared foie gras is the textbook Hungarian pairing.
• With Asian and spiced dishes: Sweet wine handles chilli heat well. Off-dry to sweet styles work alongside Sichuan and Thai cuisine.
• On its own: A small glass at the end of a meal is its own course.

Serving and Storage

Sweet wines want to be cold, between 10 and 12°C. Serve in small glasses, around 75 to 100ml. Once opened, the high sugar levels keep the wine stable in the fridge for two to three weeks. Unopened, the best examples can age for decades.

Gifting

Sweet wine makes a considered gift. The bottles are smaller, usually 375ml or 500ml, which makes them easy to wrap and easy to give. The contents have history behind them, which gives the recipient something to read up on. And the wines themselves keep, so the recipient can hold onto it for the right occasion.

• For a milestone birthday: A 1999 Oremus Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos, scored 95 points by The Wine Advocate.
• For someone discovering Tokaji: A 2018 Oremus Tokaji Aszú 3 Puttonyos, lighter and more approachable.
• For long ageing: A 2014 Oremus Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos.
• For a host who knows South African wine: A Keermont Fleurfontein 2024.

FAQ

1. What is the difference between sweet wine and dessert wine? The two terms overlap, and most people use them interchangeably. Sweet wine is the broader category, covering anything with perceptible residual sugar. The range is wide, with off-dry Rieslings sitting at the lighter end and syrupy Tokaji Eszencia at the heaviest. Dessert wine is more specific. It refers to the richer, sweeter end of the spectrum, the wines designed to be drunk after a meal or alongside dessert and cheese courses. Tokaji Aszú, Sauternes, Port, and Vin Santo all sit in the dessert wine category. Lighter sweet wines, such as Moscato d'Asti, are usually described as sweet rather than dessert.

2. Are there sweet red wines? Yes, though they are less common than sweet whites. Most sweet reds are fortified, with Port being the best-known example. Italy makes Recioto della Valpolicella, a sweet red made from dried grapes, and the Lambrusco region produces some sweet sparkling reds. Outside the fortified category, fully sweet still red wines are rare, partly because tannin and sugar do not always sit comfortably together. Our current sweet collection focuses on white dessert wines, but our broader red wine selection includes Ports and other styles for drinkers looking for sweeter reds.

3. How long can sweet wine be stored? Longer than almost any other style of wine. The high residual sugar acts as a preservative. Tokaji Aszú from a strong vintage can develop for thirty years and beyond, with the best examples drinking well past the half-century mark. Sauternes ages on a similar curve. Vine-dried wines like Keermont Fleurfontein are usually made for ten to fifteen years of cellaring, though the wines remain stable for longer. Once opened, sweet wine keeps in the fridge for two to three weeks, sometimes more, which makes it one of the more practical wines to keep around for occasional pours.