294074 Thu Sep 11 18:59:59 -0700 2003 15 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1611653 Hi Chowhounds, can anyone recommend a sweet light dessert wine with a low alchohol content since I am not a big drinker. I recently tried Moscato D'Asti by Nivole and really liked it and wondered if there are others out there that are just as good. I am a novice to dessert wines and would appreciate your suggestions. Thu Sep 11 18:59:59 -0700 2003 0 Elle 1 1611660 i like brachetto d'acqui from the piedmonte region of italy. it's lightly sparkling and semi-sweet. it's not something that's everywhere, you may have to search. it's known as the "sweethearts wine" because when you taste it, it's like you're drinking a glass of love. in the nose is rose petals and strawberries, and strawberries on the palate when you taste it. it goes beautifully with chocolate. Thu Sep 11 19:26:33 -0700 2003 1611653 0 rebs 2 1611693 I like tokoi, a sweet Hungarian wine. Not very well known here but available and very good. Fri Sep 12 01:01:49 -0700 2003 1611660 0 Ron 1 1611683 I'm partial to a good late harvest Riesling (Washington State's Chateau St. Michelle makes a good one) or sometimes a German eiswein. I'm glad someone else out there likes the sweet stuff too! Thu Sep 11 22:45:19 -0700 2003 1611653 0 chococat 1 1611687 I like Electra, a wine made from Orange Muscat grapes, produced by Quady Winery (California). It's only 4 per cent alcohol, sweet, and slightly sparkling. I think it's about $8 for a half-bottle (375 ml). However, I enjoy all these sweet wines as aperitifs, not with dessert. Most desserts are too sweet for wine, unless you have fruit and cheese as dessert. Thu Sep 11 23:35:32 -0700 2003 1611653 0 Joel Teller 2 1611710 Another good Andrew Quady dessert wine is the Essensia. The taste hints of apricot to me. Terrific with foie gras, too. I also remember fondly a Muscat by Brown Brothers (Australia). A now defund restaurant in NYC called Tre Pazzi used to pour it after dinner - chilled - into what looked like a miniature champagne flute. Absolutely lovely flavor. But I've not been able to find it anywhere since. Fri Sep 12 09:04:05 -0700 2003 1611687 0 Deenso 3 1611721 Might as well try Quady's Elysium too! That one is made with black muscat grapes. Quady is definitely a good place for dessert wine novices to start. They are priced right and not overwhelming. Mrs. W. loves 'em! Fri Sep 12 10:13:44 -0700 2003 1611710 0 Bob W. 3 1611755 Essensia! Yes! One of my favorites. Orange Muscat, just delicious. Enjoy it now with the last of the summer berries and you'll be in heaven! Fri Sep 12 12:46:44 -0700 2003 1611710 0 sgirl 1 1611696 I'm glad another soul has finally discovered the joys of Moscato d'Asti -- my personal favorite bottling is by G. Rivetti, La Spinetta Bricco Quaglia. The key with Moscato (and most any other muscat-based wine) is, like Navin Johnson said, to get "some fresh wine! The freshest you've got - this year! No more of this old stuff!" This isn't a wine that improves a whit with aging, and more likely will get steadily worse the older it gets. The Rivetti version is the most fragrantly floral and exuberant Moscato I've yet tried. Of course, in a pinch, there's the much-easier-to-find, and cheaper cousin of Moscato d'Asti, Asti Spumante, which is a lot fizzier, and not as perfumey and fruity. Still, it's an excellent summer quaff as well, MUCH better than trying to plow thru a Cali alcohol-and-oak-bomb chardonnay.... Depending on your definition of "dessert wine," the sugar content in many German wines might qualify them, and not just the top-level (and top-price!) sugar bombs. And by God, don't pick up dreck like Black Tower or anything labeled "Liebfraumilch," and think that it represents what German wine is all about! Real German wine (and >90% of the time, that means riesling!) is one of the most versatile and everyone-pleasing drinks in existence, and lucky for you, 2 of the better vintages in the past several years, 2001 and 2002, have been hitting the shelves these days. If you can find a reputable wine dealer in your area, go seek out rieslings at the QbA, Kabinett, or Spatlese levels (it would take an entire other thread to go into the whole German grape ripeness classification system....). In most cases, a bottle shouldn't run you more than $20 for a QbA or Kabinett, or more than $30 for a Spatlese. Makers like Dr. Loosen, J. Weins-Prum, Fritz Haag, Josef Leitz (the 2002 "Dragonstone" QbA is absolutely AWESOME!), Kerpen, or Willi Schaefer are among the more reliable names, but let your palate be your true guide. No other wine combines the tastes and smells of fruit, flowers, crushed minerals and stones, into such an ineffable nectar that, miraculously, also goes GREAT with a whole variety of foods, including that tricky Chinese or Thai food you can't seem to find a match for. And while most German rieslings have some degree of noticeable sweetness, they also usually have a bracing hit of cleansing acidity as well, which counterbalances the sugar. And unless you get a wine labeled "trocken" (dry), which means they've fermented the sugar completely off into alcohol, German rieslings rarely top 8% alcohol, so you can drink up and still stay vertical. Fri Sep 12 01:51:12 -0700 2003 1611653 0 Mark Lee 1 1611709 The idea of dessert wines always made me go "ick" until my mind was totally changed by Navarro Vineyard's 2001 Late Harvest Riesling. Totally blew my mind. Perhaps you can order it from their web site? I thought I'd died and gone to heaven when I took my first sip -- truly special. Fri Sep 12 09:02:51 -0700 2003 1611653 0 HungryKate 1 1611731 It is a little more expensive but it turned out to be one of the better dessert wines that I have served our wine group in quite a while. It was a 2000 Inniskillin Reisling Ice Wine. The alcohol content was extremely well balanced with sweetness from the sugar content. Very nice wine! John Fri Sep 12 11:02:39 -0700 2003 1611653 0 RibDog 2 1611750 Moscato d'Asti is a truly lovely wine, I liken it to liquid sunshine. Another fav of mine, but harder to find, is Brachetto d'Acqui, with a nose of fresh strawberries, this is another lovely low alcohol Italian wine that comes in a "champagne" looking bottle. Banfi makes a good one. I've also had a wine that I believe was called Ca'de Bosco, a delicious red dessert wine from Italy that was mildly bubbly but oh so good. Let's also not forget that a vintage or tawny port is pretty hard to beat as fortified wines. Fri Sep 12 12:25:06 -0700 2003 1611731 0 schpsychman 1 1611756 Muscat Beaumes de Venise...liquid gold. Floral, Honey, lightly sweet. Just Heaven... Fri Sep 12 12:48:05 -0700 2003 1611653 0 sgirl 1 1611805 The original poster requested low alcohol wines. Muscat de Beaumes de Venise, Quady Essensia and Elysium, and port are all fortified (15% to 19% alcohol). Nobody mentioned Sauternes which is also higher alcohol (13% to 15%). I like all of them but they do not answer the question. Most German wines are low alcohol but the sweeter ones tend to be extremely expensive. I am a big fan of Moscato di Asti and the other Italian slightly sparkling wines, which tend to be low alcohol and affordable. In the old days for dessert we took a bowl of sliced fresh strawberries, and poured over it a chilled bottle of Asti Spumante (which, as someone mentioned, differs from Moscato di Asti in that it is fully carbonated, like Champagne, and slightly higher in alcohol). There are some very nice Australia and New Zealand "late-harvest" sweet wines (some ice-wine from New Zealand) which are lower alcohol and not too expensive. Thirty years ago (or so) Louis Martini (Napa) made Moscato Amabile, a lightly sparkling wine sold only at the winery. It was stored ice-cold and they made you promise to take it home in a cold-pack and store it in the refrigerator. Delicious! Fri Sep 12 18:56:24 -0700 2003 1611653 0 Joel Teller 1 1611824 You must try Bonny Doon's Muscat glacerie wine. It's about $18 for a half bottle. Quite redolent of muscat grapes. I first had it paired with Foie Gras in a restaurant in Montreal. I've been hooked ever since. Bonny Doon also makes a nice rasberry wine as well. Fri Sep 12 21:03:16 -0700 2003 1611653 0 Miss Needle 2 1611829 I just checked and the Bonny Doon Muscat Vin du Glacerie is 12.8% alcohol and the Beaumes de Venise is 15%. The Iniskillin I touched on earlier is 9.5% alcohol. John Fri Sep 12 22:14:44 -0700 2003 1611824 0 RibDog