THE SWEET ALLURE OF DRINKING AND COLLECTING DESSERT WINE

The sweet allure of dessert wine has been a facet of wine drinking and wine production for centuries. All wine regions and a number of different winemakers produce examples of sweet wines, though usually in much smaller amounts than a region’s more celebrated and more collectible dry wines. Then there are those regions of the world that are best known for the sweet wines they produce, such as Madeira. For the wine collector, what stands out about the world’s most coveted sweet wines is that even the older versions, as well as the the younger wines, are often far more affordable than the best-known collectible dry wines.

A dessert wine is a category of sweet wines that are naturally sweet with varying average levels of alcohol content. Fortified dessert wines have higher alcohol content, but many others including, Moscato D'Asti, have a lower than average alcohol content.  The acceptable range is 5% to 25% ABV. They are usually served with or after dessert and include fortified wines, sweet red wines and sparkling wines.

The first thing to appreciate about sweet wine is that the residual sugar in the wines is exactly the element that preserves them over time longer and in a more stable format than dry wine. While dry wines find preservative qualities in the alcohol in the wines, sweet wines are preserved and allowed to develop over a longer period of time due to both the alcohol and the residual sugar in the wines.

It’s for this reason that when you do find wines at WineBid that hail from the 19th century and the early 20th century, they are far more likely to be sweet, dessert wines.

Certain dessert wines are more collectible and more coveted than others. Among those that regularly appear at auction and are appreciated for their ability to improve with age include:

• Madeira
• Port
• German Riesling
• Tokay
• Sherry
• Sauternes

The most commonly collected sweet wines are Port and Sauternes, both of which can be obtained in younger as well as very old bottlings. Still, even older versions of these wines that provide exciting drinking experiences can be found at affordable prices. It is not uncommon, for example to find, forty-, fifty- and sixty-year-old vintage Port in the $200 to $400 range. The same can be said for Sauternes. While the prices of old, well-stored bottles of Chateau d’Yquem will price at $1,000 or more, it is not uncommon to find very well-preserved Sauternes ranging in age from 30 to 60 years old that sell in the $200 to $500 range.

The famed Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese (TBA) wines of Germany are also examples of sweet wines collectors and enthusiasts zero in on when looking to round out their collection with dessert wines. These late harvest wines most commonly made from extremely ripe and individually picked Riesling grapes are known to age and develop gracefully for decades. Today we are seeing a number of these sweet, German wines from the 1970s come to auction that are drinking spectacularly and that can range in price from $80 to $1,000.

Finally, we want to draw your attention to the singular wines of Madeira. These unique wines, produced from grapes grown on the centuries-old, terraced vineyards on the island of Madeira 300 miles west of Morocco, have developed a considerable following over the past 30 years. A fortified wine that can sometimes be found in 100-year-old versions, vintage Madeiras are found labeled based on the grapes used to make them, such as Malmsey, Bual, Verdelho, Sercial. These wines’ connection to colonial America, where Madeira became the choice of affluent colonists (then Americans) and served as an important trade import, has made these wines particularly relevant to the U.S. market. Today, depending on the age of the bottle and the shipper, fine Vintage Madeira ranging in age from 50 to 150 years old can be found at a variety of prices beginning with a few hundred dollars up into the thousands

The dessert wines mentioned above and many others from nearly every major wine region on earth often come to auction at WineBid. Most weekly auctions see between 300 and 400 lots of the best dessert wines ranging in age from 5 to 100 years old and varying in price from $20 to $2,000. What is indisputable is that these are wines that not only can age for decades but can complete and round out a well-appointed wine cellar.

CLICK TO DISCOVER DESSERT WINE AT WINEBID NOW.