Dessert Wine Basics Sweet wine is produced with extra sweet wine grapes. In order to make them sweet, the fermentation is stopped before the yeast turns all the natural grape sugar into alcohol. There are several ways to stop the fermentation, including super-cooling or adding brandy to wine. Both methods create an environment where yeast won’t survive. While there are hundreds of different types of dessert wines available in the market, most fall into 5 main styles. This guide outlines the 5 styles and includes examples of each.
Throughout this guide you’ll notice that some wine grapes are used for dessert wines more than others. There are two reasons for this: one is historic – the grapes have been used for sweet wines for centuries – The other is physiological – the grapes have inherent sweetness in their natural aromas making them perfect for sweet winemaking.
An example of these types of wine grapes is Muscat Blanc. This wine grape is around 1500 years older than the more en vogue Cabernet Sauvignon.