If you haven't finished a meal by partnering a tempting dessert with a heavenly dessert wine, then you have missed out on a potential palatal orgasm! Next time, forget the calories and go for it. Wasn't it Oscar Wilde who said, 'How come anything I enjoy is either illegal, immoral or fattening?' Now we all know there is nothing wrong with enjoying oneself, but in this case we are restricting our options to the last in Oscar's list.
My conversion to dessert wines was sealed some years ago during a visit to the home of the most famous dessert wine in the world Château d'Yquem. Yes, that King of Sauternes brought me as close to heaven as the earth would allow. They say no cellar is complete without a bottle of d'Yquem: all you need is the occasion that justifies opening the bottle. Do you remember the recent coverage of that £45,000 meal for seven in Gordon Ramsay's restaurant? Well, the bottle of d'Yquem 1900 with the desserts added £9,200 to the bill.
Those Sauterne-type sweet wines are all a load of rot. Seriously! But not just any rot, we are talking about Noble Rot in France and Germany. This rot is caused by a fungus Botrytis Cinerea and thrives in warm, damp autumn conditions mostly in Sauternes, Germany, Hungary and occasionally Alsace and also now in the New World – Australia. With good dessert wines, it's all about achieving that balance of sweetness and acidity.
Other dessert wines include Tokaji (Tokay) Aszu wines from Hungary. Tokaji comes in uncommon 500ml bottles and the sweet Aszu labels will feature a number – 3 putts, 4 putts, 5 putts etc. The number goes to 6, and the higher the number, the sweeter the wine. You may also go for the pure, unadulterated Tokay Essence made solely from the shrivelled berries. If you've got a bottle, give me a shout.
There are some New World beauties that sell for around £7 or £8 a half-bottle like Katnook Botrytised Riesling, Brown Brothers Orange Muscat and Flora. Both these brands are from Australia where they use the term 'stickie' to describe their dessert wines.
