Stage 4
Other Styles of Wine

Key Facts
Sweet Wines

Method 1: Interrupt Fermentation

Fortification (addition of grape alcohol) is the most common way to do this.

Fortification	Moscatel de Valencia Valencia, Spain Inexpensive full bodied sweet wine with pronounced floral and fruity flavours	Muscat
	Vins Doux Naturels Languedoc Roussillon and Rhône, France Gold colour; pronounced fresh floral and fruity aromas; sweet and full bodied with high alcohol and medium or low acidity	Muscat
	Liqueur Muscat Australia Amber brown colour; complex dried fruit and nutty oxidative aromas; sweet and full bodied with high alcohol	Muscat

Also used for Port, see below.

Sugar cannot be added directly to wines to make them sweet but other sweet liquids may be. These include:

Grape Concentrate: concentrated grape juice syrup, which may be rectified to remove flavours (for inexpensive sweet wines only)
Sussreserve (sweet reserve): unfermented grape juice, which must be of the same origin and quality as the wine to which it is added

Grape Concentrate	Inexpensive sweet wines Various styles depending on origin and grape varieties used but generally very little character	Various varieties, usually local
Sussreserve	German inexpensive off-dry and medium whites Lemon colour; floral aromas; light body and off dry or medium sweetness	Various aromatic varieties
	German premium off dry and medium whites young, lemon colour; green citrus and stone fruit and mineral aromas; light or medium in body and alcohol, and off dry or medium sweetness balanced by high acidity	Riesling

Sweetened Sherry styles such as commercial Amontillados and Cream Sherries are sweetened by adding a sweet component – see Sherry Key Facts.

If the potential alcohol is higher than around 15% abv, the yeasts are overcome by toxic alcohol before all the sugar can be fermented.

Drying the grapes removes water and thus concentrates sugar
Noble Rot (Botrytis) causes healthy grapes to shrivel and adds its own character to the wines. This requires a period of damp misty mornings and warm afternoons
Freezing healthy grapes allows solid water crystals to be removed, leaving a concentrated sugary syrup

Noble Rot	Sauternes AC within the Bordeaux region, France Young; Gold colour; citrus, stone and tropical fruit, oak and botrytis aromas; full bodied and sweet with high alcohol Old: Honey and dried fruit aromas develop, oak disappears	Sémillon Sauvignon Blanc
	Tokaji North East Hungary Amber colour; dried fruit (especially citrus peel) and botrytis aromas; high alcohol and acidity and full bodied	Local varieties
	BA (Beerenauslese) and TBA (Trockenbeerenauslese) Germany and Austria Flavour and style depend on grape variety and winemaking Typical young German Riesling TBA: Golden colour, tropical dried fruit and botrytis aromas; sweet and high in acidity but light in alcohol and light bodied	Riesling (Germany) Various (Austria)
	Botrytis Sémillon Australia Golden colour; citrus fruit and botrytis aromas; sweet with medium or high acidy	Sémillon
Freezing	Icewine/Eiswein Canada, Austria and Germany Gold colour; concentrated pure fruit flavours and aromas; high acidity and very sweet	Riesling (Germany) Various (Austria and Canada)