Sweet wines—or dessert wines, or whatever you want to call wines with serious residual sugar—are a little bit like panettone, the classic Italian sweet bread/fruitcake that makes its appearance this time of the year. Panettone is great. We like panettone. We really do. But we really only want to eat panettone roughly once a year.

If we’re being honest, we feel similarly about sweet wines. At most meals, when dessert comes—if we even eat dessert, which is rarely these days—we mostly skip the sweet wines. If we’re driving or trying to be productive in the morning, we don’t need one more drink. Even if we’re not driving, or trying to be productive in the morning, sweet wines feel like something from another era—perhaps the era when gout was rebranded as the “disease of kings.”

This time of year, however, is when we definitely indulge in the sweet stuff. Desserts, for sure. But also dessert wines. Whether it’s noble rot wines such as Sauternes, Tokaji, or German Trockenbeerenauslese, icewines, Italian appassimento wines, fortified wines like port, or the sweeter sherries, this is when we look forward to exploring the special, traditional, exquisitely crafted sweet wines of the world. 

We’re guessing that you’re a lot like us—and possibly a little rusty on the beautiful universe of sweet wines. That’s why we’ve put together this primer for the holidays. 

Noble Rot

Botrytis cinerea, the same fungus that causes dreaded grey rot and can ruin a crop, is desirable (“noble rot”) in the production of certain sweet wines. The most revered of these are Sauternes, Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese from Germany and Austria, and Tokaji from Hungary. The fungus creates tiny microscopic holes in the grape skin, through which water evaporates, concentrating all the flavors in the grape. The fungus can add its own flavor compounds too, both sweet and savory—particularly sotolon, which gives distinct honeyed and curry-like aromas. 

Making botrytized wines is time and labor intensive, risky, and can only be done in certain areas of the winemaking world where conditions are right. The fungus doesn’t develop uniformly across a crop—and some years it doesn’t develop at all—so it requires several passes in the vineyard by skilled laborers who can spot it. They’re rare wines, and it’s no easy feat to make them.

Sauternes

Sauternes, the misty appellation where the cold Ciron river meets the warmer Garonne in the southern part of the Graves in Bordeaux, is a Sémillon-dominant wine. Barsac sweet wines are made the same way, with the same grapes, and can carry either appellation on the label—the only difference between the two, if there is one, is that Barsac tends to have more distinct citrus flavors. The best Sauternes will be barrel-fermented and barrel-aged to add vanilla, spice, and toast notes. They’re intriguing wines, with very detailed and savory aromas, that drinkers have been obsessing over since the late 18th century. (One famous anecdote tells the story of how Thomas Jefferson turned George Washington on to Sauternes after pouring some Château d'Yquem—Washington immediately ordered 30 dozen bottles.) Alcohol levels are relatively high at 13.5 to 14 percent ABV, with 150 g/L of residual sugar. Sweet, but far from cloying. To put that into perspective: a liter of Coca-Cola has about 100 grams of sugar.

2010 Chateau Suduiraut Sauternes ($80)

A remarkably layered and detailed wine. Pineapple, apricot, beeswax, mushroom, sultanas, bergamot, ginger, vanilla bean. The texture is unctuous, with mouthwatering acidity and a super-long finish carrying the honey and citrus notes.

Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese

Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese wines are two Prädikat levels of German wine that see botrytis. Before your eyes glaze over, we’ll sum up the German wine law succinctly for you: Auslese wines can see botrytis, but typically don’t (it’s more of a late-harvest wine). Beerenauslese doesn’t have to see botrytis, but typically does. Trockenbeerenauslese must have been affected by it. BA and TBA are always sweet, with low alcohol, but the residual sugar is balanced by Riesling’s soaring acidity. 

It feels like a magic trick: how can something so dense and full-bodied be so fresh? TBA wines, in particular, are built to age for a long time and are some of the rarest and most expensive wines from Germany. BA from Germany is more available and accessible in price, and Alois Kracher in Austria produces outstanding BA and TBA wines that are relatively easy to find and more affordable.

2018 Dr. Loosen Mosel Riesling Beerenauslese ($30, 187 mL)

An elegant profile. Nectarine and apricot, honeysuckle, melon, a hint of petrol on the nose. The body is full, with concentrated ripe fruit, but the acidity is fresh and racy. 

Tokaji

Tokaji Aszú was one of the most famous wines in the world, before quality took a nosedive when Hungary became a communist state in the 1940s. The Tokaj region has worked to rebuild its reputation since the fall of the regime in 1989, with significant help from foreign investors like Vega Sicilia.

There are late-harvest and dry wines made in Tokaj, but its Aszú wine is made from botrytis-infected grapes, so dense with concentrated sugar that they can’t be physically pressed—they need to be macerated in must or wine. The juice spends a minimum of 18 months in oak, which gives these wines a bit of phenolic grip. You’ll sometimes see “puttonyos” on a Tokaji Aszú wine label: this was the old scale used to denote the level of sweetness of the wine. A puttony was a harvester’s bucket, so 5 or 6 puttonyos indicated the number of buckets of berries that went into the must. The wines now have a minimum of 120 g/L (the old level for 5 puttonyos), with low alcohol. Aromas and flavors are intense, with orange marmalade and orange zest. But the acidity on these wines is searing—even the sweetest wines are balanced. These are concentrated wines, and the very best can last for a century or more. If you can find an extremely rare (and extremely expensive) bottle of Tokaji Eszencia, this is the free-run juice that trickles from the Aszú berries. It’s so sweet it can take years to ferment, with a whopping 450 g/L of residual sugar. Some restaurants will serve it with great flourish by the dollop in a little crystal spoon that is sold packaged with the wine. 

2017 Royal Tokaji Wine Co. 5 Puttonyos Tokaji Aszú ($65, 500 mL)

A blend of Furmint, Hárslevelű, and small amounts of other varieties (including a bit of Muscat for aromatic lift), this wine spent two years in 300- and 500-liter Hungarian oak barrels. Incredible depth and complexity: notes of dried apricots, marmalade, jasmine, caramelized sugar, bright lemon, sweet baking spices, saffron. Intense and lusciously sweet, but there's mouthwatering freshness from the acidity. A long, honeyed finish. NB: This Tokaji is sold with a red label in the U.S. and a blue label everywhere else, but the wine is the same.

Botrytized wines will go well with creamy and rich desserts like cheesecake and custards or crème brûlée, as well as fruit tarts. Caramel, toffee, and vanilla flavors complement wines that have seen some oak aging. And they can pair with savory desserts, too, like some after-dinner cheese.

Late Harvest

Late-harvest sweet wines are made from grapes left on the vine for one to two months after peak harvest time to shrivel and dry as water evaporates. They’re made in Germany and France, but also Australia, New York, Washington, and elsewhere, typically in areas with dry autumns. You’ll find them in Germany as Auslese (and yes, Spätlese means “late harvest,” but Auslese is almost always a sweet, late-harvest wine, while Spätlese can be dry). There are late-harvest styles in the Loire Valley, made from Chenin Blanc, some of which may or may not have some noble rot. In Alsace, they’re labelled Vendenges Tardives. 

Late-harvest is kind of the Wild West of sweet winemaking, but generally speaking, residual sugar will be lower than other sweet wine styles. With fresh and dried fruit flavors, they’re great wines to pair with lighter, fruity desserts, or to enjoy on their own when you’re too full for pie but still craving a post-prandial treat.

2018 Klein Constantia Vin de Constance ($104)

Made from Muscat de Frontignan, a variety with thick skins that rarely develops botrytis, this is a straight-up late-harvest wine from a historic estate in Cape Town. If a bottle can convert a sweet wine hater, it's this one. Napoleon called for it on his death bed. Aromas leaping out of the glass of white peach, orange, pineapple, heady blossoms, sweet baking spices, toast. A juicy palate and persistent finish.

Straw Wines

Instead of leaving the grapes on the vine to ripen and shrivel, straw wines are made when the grapes are picked and then dried for days to months, either on mats in the sun or in special drying warehouses or lofts. The grapes don’t lose acidity this way, as the ripening process stops once the fruit is cut from the vine—instead, the sugar and acidity concentrate as the water evaporates from the fruit. 

This method is called appassimento in Italy. It’s used to make several different sweet wines throughout the country, including Passito di Pantelleria, made from Muscat of Alexandria (aka Zibibbo) on an island just off Sicily, Recioto della Valpolicella (from red varieties) and Recioto di Soave (from Garganega) in the Veneto. It’s also used to make sweet styles of Vin Santo in Tuscany, from Trebbiano and Malvasia (or the rarer version made from Sangiovese). There are sweet straw wines made outside of Italy, too—the rare Vin de Paille from the Jura, and Vinsanto on Santorini. 

Alcohol in sweet straw wines is typically high, at 15 percent ABV or above, and residual sugar is anywhere from 70 to 200 g/L. They have ripe fruit flavors and, if they’ve seen time in oak, salty and nutty notes with some rancio (especially Vin Santo). A Passito di Pantelleria or sweet Vin Santo is perfect with Italian cookies and pastries, or a dessert cheese platter.

2022 Donnafugata Ben Ryé Passito di Pantelleria ($45, 375 mL)

Intense orange blossom, peach, apricot, citrus peel, ginger, a touch of caramel. There’s a lovely herbal note running through this wine. It’s sweet and full bodied, but kept from being cloying by refreshing acidity. A great pairing with both sweet and savory desserts, but also a pleasure on its own by the fireplace.

Icewines

The way icewines are made is unique, even if the wines themselves are fairly straightforward. Made in Canada (trademarked as Icewine) and Germany (where they’re labeled Eiswein), grapes are left to hang on the vine as late as December or January, when the first freeze arrives and the water in the grapes turns to ice. The grapes are harvested and pressed while still frozen, which removes the ice and concentrates all the sugar and acidity from the fruit.

The best in Germany and Canada are made from late-ripening Riesling, while Canadian icewine is mostly made from the cold-hardy white hybrid Vidal and Cabernet Franc. Eiswein is generally more complex and layered than its Canadian counterpart, but expect to pay a higher price for it. 

Icewine is all about ripe, super-concentrated fruit flavors. It’s syrupy sweet, with anywhere from 150 to 250 g/L of residual sugar, high in acidity, and low in alcohol. These wines rarely see any oak—purity of fruit flavor is the goal. They lack the savory components and honeyed character of botrytized wines, but pair perfectly with fruit-forward desserts that aren’t too creamy and rich, like berry tarts and apple pies.

2021 Inniskillin Niagara Peninsula Vidal Icewine ($70)

Super-ripe stone and tropical fruit—peach, apricot, fresh mango, juicy tangerine. The texture is almost sticky, but the acidity is bracing. It’s a surprisingly bright, vibrant wine. If you’re willing to spend a little more, a Riesling icewine (whether from the Great White North or Germany) will show more aromatic complexity.

Fortified Sweet Wines

The world of fortified wines is loaded with sweet stuff that packs a boozy punch. These are the wines to drink when you want to get a buzz going after dinner or stay warm on a chilly night.

Port, the OG fortified sweet wine, is made by adding a 77 percent ABV local grape spirit to the must. Called aguardente (“firewater”), it’s more characterful than typical 96 percent neutral fortifying spirit and requires more volume to bring the wine to 20 percent ABV—and tends to give the wine a Red Hots sensation on the finish. It halts fermentation before it’s complete and leaves about 110 g/L of residual sugar. Port’s flavor profile is dried and fresh berry fruit, spices, cocoa, earth. It does have massive tannins but they’re tamed by an array of methods developed over the past century (though foot-treading is still considered the gold standard). These powdery tannins and sweetness are ideal with a slice of chocolate pecan pie. Or take a literal page out of Anthony Bourdain’s book: “Fuck dessert. What I want after a good meal is that king of cheeses: Stilton. And I would like some good port with that.”

Vin doux naturels (from Banyuls, Maury, and more in southern France) will have more pronounced, Grenache-dominant red fruit than port, and it’s fortified with a neutral spirit. It’s a bit lower in alcohol, at about 16 percent ABV, but the residual sugar levels are roughly the same. Think berries and chocolate for a dessert pairing.

You could take a Dickensian turn with your holiday and open a bottle of Madeira. In a recreation of its long, hot, seasick voyage from the Madeira Islands to North America and the East Indies, the wine is fortified and exposed to heat and long aging. It works with chocolate, cookies, baked goods, and stinky cheeses. And one of the nice things about Madeira is that it’s practically indestructible. It’s already been cooked and oxidized, so you can open it and leave it unfinished for a month, and the very best Madeiras can last for years after they’re opened.

As for sweetened sherry (which is fermented to dryness, fortified with a neutral spirit, then blended with a sweetening component), maybe the less said, the better. Why cheat yourself out of a serious amontillado or oloroso sherry, which are always dry? But there is no shame in keeping a bottle of one of the best PX sherries in the fridge and pouring it over ice cream like a syrup. You can seek out dry wines made in Jerez from the same grape some other time.

2016 Quinta do Noval Late Bottled Vintage Single Quinta ($27)

A single-vineyard field blend, this shows nice complexity with notes of fresh and dried black fruits: bramble, blackberry, plum, fig, nutmeg, clove, star anise. The tannins are ripe and well-integrated. It’s a rich wine, but set in a rather elegant frame. 

NV Henriques & Henriques 15-Year-Old Boal Madeira ($70)

Toffee, orange cake, dried fruits and toasted nuts, caramel, chocolate, gingerbread, a pleasing medicinal note. It’s sweet and concentrated, but with a crescendo of acidity, well-integrated alcohol, and a long finish.

Alvear Pedro Ximénez de Añada ($27, 375 mL)

Hay, coffee, toffee, Christmas cake, molasses, toasted nuts, dates. It’s a viscous, sweet, and intense wine, but that’s the style. Embrace it.