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Some Like it Sweet

Late harvest wines rely on grapes left on the vine until they dehydrate, becoming rich with concentrated sugar. The sugar levels are so high that much of it remains after fermentation is complete. The most desirable element in a late harvest crop is mold, specifically Botrytis cinerea or “noble rot.” Botrytis infects the grapes, causing holes to form in their skins and creating optimal conditions for dehydration. These grapes produce treasured dessert wines such as Sauternes that have intense sweetness, innate complexity and a decidedly honey-like taste generated from the mold itself. Italy’s vin santo is similar; grapes hang indoors until they shrivel and then are pressed and fermented.

In the case of ice wine, grapes are not picked until after the first frost hits, usually at night or early morning when the temperatures are well below freezing. The lower the temperature at picking, the higher the sugar content: grapes picked below 10 degrees Fahrenheit can often hold a sugar content of more than 50 percent. The grapes are pressed when frozen, producing a juice that is highly concentrated and sweet with very little water content.

Fortified wines, such as port, Madeira, Marsala and sweet sherry, are made by adding brandy or other spirits to the fermenting grapes in order to reach an alcohol content of 18 percent or more. At these levels, the yeast die, leaving unconverted sugar and, ultimately, a sweet wine with a very high alcohol content.

Winemakers can also chill the wine or add sulfur dioxide to halt the yeast’s natural inclination to ferment the grape’s sugar. The unconverted sugar lends sweetness to wines that are often produced in areas where the weather prevents late harvesting (think Austrian muscats). Conversely, some winemakers allow their grapes to develop as they would for a dry wine and then add sweet, unfermented grape juice, known as “must,” back to the finished wine. These wines have the advantage of being sweetened to taste but often lack the complexity and richness of a late harvest wine.
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- December, 2006

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