Sweet Wines Flashcards

1. In the vineyard
2. In the winery

1. Late Harvest
2. Botrytis / Noble Rot
3. Drying grapes – either on the vine or after they’ve been picked
4. Freezing grapes on the vine

1. Fortification
2. Chilling down the wine and filtering out remaining yeast
3. Chilling down the wine and hitting it with sulfur dioxide (SO₂) which kills any remaining yeast
4. Adding sweetness into the wine

To concentrate the grape sugars

Grapes left on the vine after normal harvest to allow sugars to concentrate

• A mold aka Noble Rot;
• Lives in humid regions;
• Mold spores attack grapes leaving holes in the skin, causing grapes to dehydrate and concentrate the sugars;
• Grapes shrivel (and yields are reduced);
• Causes oxidation of grape juice, which slightly darkens the wine;
• Distinct flavors develop: mushroom (from the mold!), honey, saffron, candied ginger.

1. On the vine
2. On mats after they’ve been picked

1. Healthy grapes (read: low-to-no Botrytis) are left on the vine into winter to freeze;
2. When the grapes freeze it’s the water in the berries that are frozen, not the sugars, so the sugars concentrate and intensify;
3. Once the grapes are frozen they’re hand picked and pressed, and only the sweet nectar is released (the frozen water stays behind).

1. Icewine > Canada
2. Eiswein > Germany

1. France
2. Germany
3. Hungary

1. Bordeaux
2. Alsace
3. Loire Valley

Sauternes

1. Vendange Tardive (VT)
2. Sélection de Grains Nobles (SGN)

1. Quarts de Chaume
2. Bonnezeaux
3. Vouvray Moelleux (pronounced MWAH-luh)

1. Auslese (can have Botrytis, but it doesn’t always)
2. Beerenauslese (BA)
3. Trockenbeerenauslese (TBA)