Sweet Wines

Expert Rating

Ultimate Beverage Challenge 91 Points | Complex, earthy, foresty aromas abound in this exotic bouquet that's sweet/sour in nature. Taste is supple, sweet, nutty, almost sherried. 

Winemaker Description

La Copa Rojo is based on a Cream Sherry, a blend of 75% Palomino and 25% PX, with the addition of six botanicals; wormwood, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, orange peel and savory.

Intense spiced aroma, notes of clove and cinnamon stand out, with an elegant bitterness on the finish. On the palate smooth velvety slightly sweet note from the Cream base. Enjoy well chilled on its own or with soda and a slice of orange. A key ingredient in many cocktails. 

Winemaker Description 

Sweet nose of candied peaches leads to a smooth fruity body with a floral palate, plum notes and baking spices. Finish is sweet and slightly bitter. Perfect for mixing. 

Winemaker Description 

Ugni blanc” gives finesse, elegance and a little acidity. Colombard gives persistence and a lovely fruity taste. This blend of these 2 varieties finds a perfect balance!

Perfect for Aperitif, this is a perfect match with cheese for exemple. Pineau should be served chilled, at 5°C!

Harvest: after maturity controls, grapes are picked-up by hand for the best selection of grapes.

Maceration: a maceration is realized during 36 hours for the best concentrations of all aromas and give the body to our Pineau des Charentes

Pressing: the 2 varieties are pressed separately in a specific pneumatic press
Mutage (fermentation stop): the grape juice (3/4) is blended with ¼ of eau-de-vie de Cognac (at least 70 % volume and age of maximum one year). Adding the eau-de-vie of Cognac with this high alcohol content makes fall down the departure in fermentation, so keeping the natural sugar of the grape
Ageing: this blend will be aged in French oak casks (roux and old) for much more than the minimum required by the appellation which is 5 years to get the mention “Vieux”.

Bottling: a bottling line for all round bottles at Famille Vallet estate.

Winemaker Description 

Dominating the Rhône Valley from the foothills of the Mont Ventoux, Domaine Durban enjoys stunning views of the area. The wines are special too. Muscat de Beaumes de Venise is undoubtedly the best of all the Muscat wines made in Southern France, and Durban is considered the best estate. 

The wines are a pure delight with the distinctive Muscat flavors of flowers, tropical fruit and honey. The perfect dessert wine but also delicious with foie gras, melon and Roquefort cheese. 

Winemaker Description 

The quality and character of Florio embodied by our first Marsala wine. A Superiore aged in oak barrels for at least 24 months under the centuries-old vaulted ceilings of the Florio Wine Cellars, the perfect accompaniment for any occasion. 

Winemaker Description 

The Lombardo family has been producing the finest premium Marsala wines for over 100 years. This long tradition was started in 1881 by Giuseppe Lombardo Maltes, the founder of KIN Lombardo fu Giuseppe C. Giuseppe Lombardo was a man of boundless dreams and enthusiasm, and a resourceful shipbuilder.

His sole objective was to produce the best Marsala Wines and to utilize his sailing ships to export his delicious and high quality wines to other countries. His dream came true and today many people from Europe, Australia, Japan, Iceland, Hong Kong, the Canaries, South Africa, and the United States are enjoying Lombardo Wines.

The Fratelli Lombardo winery is located in the city of Marsala, Sicily. The property consists of over 215,300-sq. ft. and it has the capacity to produce about 4,600,000 liters of wine, of which 1,300,000 liters are in wood casks. Aside from Marsala Wines, the house produces aromatized wines such as Cremovo, and Crema Mandorla, and liquor wines such as Malvasia, and Zibibbo.

For more than a century, The Fratelli Lombardo winery has produced wines of outstanding quality at affordable prices, allowing discerning consumers to buy and enjoy them.

This philosophy continues to make Lombardo Marsalas successful today
More than a century of presence in the wine market is the best guarantee a consumer can have that Lombardo wines are of the highest quality and offer complete satisfaction. Grapes: Catarratto, Grillo ed Inzolia.

Slow fermentation, with controlled temperature. One year aging in oak cask. Color: Amber. Perfume:  Intense. Taste: Typical.

Expert Review - Vintage 2009

The Wine Enthusiast 92 Points | Strong botrytis, very rich, totally honeyed. This is a powerful wine, very straight in its style, packed with the sweetest apricot jam.

Winemaker Description 

Made from 100% Macabeu, this rare dessert wine spent 21 years in barrel before being bottled. The slow oxidation in barrel gives this wine its characteristic amber color, as well as complex notes of fig, date, toasted hazelnut, and caramel. Best served at room temperature, try this on its own after dinner, or alongside cheese, pastry, or chocolate cake. Once opened, the wine can be enjoyed for several months. 

Jean-Hubert Verdaguer and his wife, Brigitte, helm Domaine de Rancy in the Roussillon, one of only a handful of quality wineries still producing exceptional Rivesaltes in the old Ambré style.

This unique type of fortified wine is a Vin Doux Naturel, in which a pure spirit is added during fermentation to stop conversion of sugar into alcohol. These are complex and incredibly versatile dessert wines, typically 16% to 20% alcohol with 85-100 grams of residual sugar, and acidity varying between 6% and 8%.

The grapes – 100% Macabeau – come from organically-farmed vineyards. It is the addition of neutral grape spirits that prevents them from obtaining organic certification on their Vin Doux Naturels.

They are hand-picked late in the season, pressed, fermented, and fortified in tank. Only the best wine is chosen for barrel-aging, and it remains in barrel for up to 60 years. The wines are bottled as needed, unfined and unfiltered, and the wine is best served at room temperature to fully appreciate the intense, complex aromas that develop in the glass.

Producer Description 

Assembly of two thirds of white grape freshly pressed and very mature (Ugny Blanc) with a third of one year Cognac, the whole aged in oak cask during five years.
It is only at the end of this period that we obtain Pineau of the Charente carefully married.

The subtlety lies in fresh notes of fruit, a delicate sugar and a well melted alcohol.
TO DRINK SHILLED WITHOUT ICE CUBES IN APÉRITIF OR AS DESERT WINE.

Characteristic: fresh and fruity with a dash of “rancio".

Producer Description 

Experience the luxurious Château d'Yquem 2021 in a half-bottle format. A Premier Cru Supérieur Sauternes, this sweet wine offers a luscious palate of apricot, honey, and spice, with a balanced acidity. Perfect for a personal indulgence or intimate gathering.

Expert Reviews

Producer Description 

Tropical, laid back feel to this - pineapple fruit with bright acidity. Robert Parker compared the sweet wines of Tirecul as the most notable sweet wines from anywhere in the world. Les Pins is the estates entry level sweet wine.

Château Tirecul La Gravière is located in the Monbazillac appellation, in southwest France. This estate was created in 1992, when Bruno and Claudie Bilancini decided to rent 9 hectares of one of the region's flagship vineyards, the “Vignobles de Tirecul”, a site historically considered one of the region's Premiers Crus. Bruno, an oenologist by training, previously worked at the local cooperative.

They purchased the 400-year-old estate five years later and now have 16 hectares of vines. The estate's production is based around four main wines produced most years, a dry white IGP Périgord named Cuvée Andrea and three sweet wines from the Monbazillac appellation. Limited quantities of red Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blends and sparkling wines are also produced. The estate uses a high proportion of Muscadelle in its wines. Bruno Bilancini claims that the quality of Monbazillac Muscadelle is superior to that found in Bordeaux, because the Monbazillac vine is largely virus-free. The couple have always farmed using environmentally friendly methods, deciding to adopt organic farming in 2009 and obtaining certification for all their vineyards starting in 2012.

Les Pins is a blend of Sémillon and Muscadelle whose grapes are affected by noble rot . Fermentation takes place in barrels and vats for 1 to 2 months, then aging lasts 12 to 24 months in vats and French oak barrels.

Winemaker Description 

Dessert wine made from particularly sweet and aromatic grapes. Notes of peach, citrus and honey.

Expert Reviews - Vintage 2011

99 Points Wine Spectator  | A lovely, creamy, tropical style, with mango, papaya and guava notes lending a caressing feel, while singed almond and warm piecrust accents blossom through the lush finish. Just when you think that's all there is, toasted coconut, fig, orange blossom and persimmon details kick in, lending length and dimension. The finish is ridiculously long. Best from 2020 through 2060. 

98 Points James Suckling | Crazy minerality to this, with lots of dried mango, pineapple and papaya on the nose. Botrytis-spice and nutmeg undertones. Full body, very sweet, with superb depth of fruit and richness. It goes on for minutes. Turns dense and concentrated on the palate. Speechless.

98 points Int'l Wine Cellar | Luminous golden yellow. Cool, pure aromas of white peach, honeyed mango, guava nectar, white flowers and saffron are complicated by elements of crushed stone and spicy lemony botrytis. Suave and intensely flavored, with mineral-spiced apple, mango, passion fruit and grapefruit flavors offering outstanding purity, precision, and depth. The brisk but harmonious acidity gives this great Sauternes a penetrating quality and provides a powerful spine to the very deep flavors, making it seem less opulent than it really is. This Yquem has the depth of the 2007 but boasts even greater purity and focus. Finishes bright and extremely long, with repeating suggestions of white flowers and lemony botrytis. Though it lacks the depth of the 2001 or the opulence of the 2009 at a similar stage of development, this is one of my favorite young Yquems ever: it will age spectacularly well. 

96 Points Wine Enthusiast | Barrel sample. Rich, with intense flavors of botrytis, lemon and Seville orange peel. This wine has both freshness and sweetness, with a light touch. (

 95 Points Decanter | Extremely early season, similar to 1947, three weeks earlier than average. Right from the start, you feel this wine is completely in control, playing with its balance of succulent exotic fruits, smoked saffron, wheatgrass and truffle, with a lime slice of acidity through the core. I get a physical sensation of things closing in through the palate, it's intense and concentrated, with lots of life ahead again. The season overall saw almost six weeks without rain, with a small amount at the end of August that kicked off the botrytis and ushered in the start of harvest (that carried through until October 5). 114g/l sugar. 

94 Points Wine Advocate | The Château Yquem 2011 has a complex bouquet, one that is very well defined with hints of petrol infusing the rich honeyed fruit, later melted wax and fresh peach coming through. The palate is well balanced with a strong viscous entry. There is plenty of residual sugar here and I would have preferred a little more acidic bite to offset that rich, decadent finish (this is despite their correct policy of blending non-botrytized berries in order to increase acidity.) Powerful, burly even, I would give this several years in the cellar to allow this Yquem to mellow and enter its stride. 

Jancis Robinson 18/20 Points | Very tangy aroma: almond, spiced apricot, really zesty on the nose. The palate too has depth and spice and plenty of botrytis character. Rich but fresh. Great length. Power packed and so rich. 18/20 points. 

Winemaker Description 

Rich and intense, Inniskillin Cabernet Franc Icewine is a luxurious bottle of sweet and complex flavors. With aromas of ripe blackberry, raspberry and cherry, this Icewine is balanced with a hint of spice and a smooth finish. Enjoy this unique and special treat!

Expert Reviews - Vintage 2010 

The Wine Advocate 98 Points | Pale to medium lemon-gold color, the 2010 d'Yquem has retreated into its shell at this youthful stage, offering spritely suggestions of lemon curd, lime cordial and green mango with wafts of honeysuckle, spice cake, sea spray and beeswax plus a hint of gingerbread. The palate really comes through with super intense, tightly wound citrus, savory and mineral layers carried by a laser-precise backbone of freshness, finishing with crazy persistence that lingers a full three minutes and then some. This is going to be a very exotic, opulent Yquem!

Wine Enthusiast 98 Points | Barrel Sample. Stunningly rich in character, a wine with great power to go with its acidity and sweetness. It is dense, powerful and concentrated powered by honey and by spice from the wood. The finish has dried apricots, very aromatic.

James Suckling 97 Points | The purity of Botrytis in this wine is so impressive with dried fruits such as apple and mango. And then spicy character. Full body and very sweet but it is incredibly fresh and lively. Such class and elegance. Perfectly manicured wine. Everything in the right place. This shows a delicacy and intensity that are spellbinding. Drink in 2018.

Wine Spectator 97 Points | A pure, racy, floral style, with bright white peach, heather and honeysuckle notes driving along. The core of fresh orchard fruit is unctuous, the finish long and lacy, with marvelous cut and finesse. This shows the balance and elegance of a cooler year with a longer harvest period.—Non-blind Yquem vertical (July 2014). Best from 2015 through 2045. 8,334 cases made. (C

Vinous 94 Points | The 2010 Yquem has an attractive bouquet with marmalade, caramelized pear, orange pith and light puff pastry notes. It just needs a little more delineation. The palate is very well balanced with a fine bead of acidity, lightly spiced and impressive focus. Like the aromatics, I would have just liked a little more precision on the finish. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners 10-Year On Bordeaux horizontal.

Winemaker Description 

Made with a mixture of raisined grapes and others with botrytis, it is an excellent example of a Coteaux du Layon from the Loire, which brings together the best of two worlds. This delicious dessert wine is made 50:50 of noble rot and late harvest grapes. Made biodynamically and with natural yeast, it exhibits succulent flavours of mango, pineapple, and sweet spices such as saffron.

A very high acidity makes this wine quite refreshing considering how sweet it is. Fruit and/or nut based desserts, salty blue cheese Deliciously sweet, with good acidity, ideal as an aperitif, with cheese or after dinner. Winemaker Description. 

Winemaker Description 

Fontodi is located in the heart of Chianti Classico precisely in the valley which lies south of the town of Panzano and is called the "Conca d’Oro" (the golden shell) because of its amphitheatre shape.

A genuine and characteristc "Terroir," famous for centuries for its tradition of quality wine cultivation, thanks to a unique combination of high altitude, calcar clayschist soil, lots of light, and a fantastic micro-climate.

Winemaker Description 

To taste Emeric’s brandy is to confront one of the wildest and most potent homemade concoctions in any cellar in the Rosenthal family of growers. According to local tradition, he blends this heady elixir with twice the volume of unfermented grape must—mostly Chardonnay—to create his Macvin du Jura, which throws politeness out the window and offers the imbiber a juicy, flagrant, undeniably delicious version of the recipe.

Expert Reviews - Vintage 2015

Decanter 96 Points | This is world class with lovely floral, spicy, marmalade, barley sugar, apricot and crme brle aromatics. The palate brings lively acidity and layers of delightful fruity flavors. Incredibly long.

Winemaker Description 

The drought prompted a shorter harvest, which resulted in faster ripening fruit yielding berries with concentrated flavours and well balanced acidity. With the renovated cellar, we could make use of dedicated tanks intended for perfect maceration and fermentation of the Muscat.

Throughout the season we harvested in batches - from the riper berries that have great acidity to the raisins for sugar concentration.

Each batch is kept separate and treated differently. These batches make up the perfect ratio between sugar, alcohol and acidity which allows the wine to stop fermentation naturally and without intervention.

The wine was aged in a combination of 50 % newFrench oak, Hungarian oak and French Acacia. It was left for a period of 3 years in barrel on the gross lees before racking out and blending. It spent a further 6 months in tank before bottling.

Region Constantia, Western Cape.

Winemaker Description

Garnet color. It offers a beautiful aromatic complexity, dominated by blackcurrant and blackberry jam, supported by hints of pepper and cocoa. On the palate aromas of apricot jam, black cherries, plums in the finish, all supported by a tannic texture that tempers the sweetness. Excellent with Fourme d'Ambert cheese.

Expert Review - Vintage 2014

Wine Advocate 98 Points | The Château Yquem 2014 was picked over 9 weeks this year, with one-quarter of the grapes picked prior to 15 September. It delivers 134 grams per liter residual sugar and 7.3 grams per liter tartaric acid, with a pH 3.60. It has a captivating bouquet (I know...I know...what else were you expecting) But it entrances with its pure, wild honey notes mixed with almond and white chocolate scents, bestowed with beguiling delineation and focus. The palate is very poised with the acidity nigh on perfect. Occasionally an Yquem only reveals its components parts at this early juncture, necessitates conjecture. However the 2014 has a sense of harmony and completeness already, as if the élevage is merely there to usher it on to its finished state. There is undeniably great depth here, perhaps less conspicuous than other vintages because of that silver thread of acidity: notes of lemon sherbet, orange zest, shaved ginger and again, a few "flakes' of white chocolate. It is extremely long with tenderness rather than power on the finish. It's not quite up there in the rarefied heights of say, the 2001 or 2009, but it is what we call in the trade, "the business." 

Winemaker Description 

Opaquely dark mahogany colour. The nose seduces with intense dried fruit aromas of raisins, prunes and dates, coupled with brown spices of nutmeg and clove, this becomes reminiscent of Christmas cake. Unctuous sweetness marries well with the intense and complex flavours freshened by a slice of acidity.

Pedro Ximénez grapes are harvested and dried for up to 2 days in the hot September Spanish sun. The grapes are too sweet to ferment naturally and are fortified to 15% alcohol. Ageing then takes place in a solera system producing the Classic PX which is on average 12 years old. 

Winemaker Description 

Youthful nose of fresh berries, cherry and floral aromas, finishing with a soft texture and a hint of sweetness...designed to be youthful, flavorful and enjoyed within four years.

This is a fruiter wine than most if you are looking for a wine with sweetness you will certainly enjoy this.

Winemaker Description 

The quality and character of Florio embodied by our first Marsala wine. A Superiore aged in oak barrels for at least 24 months under the centuries-old vaulted ceilings of the Florio Wine Cellars, the perfect accompaniment for any occasion. 

Winemaker Description 

With a bright amber color, the wine shows intense, persistent oak hints before dry, fine and delicate flavors on the palate. 

Winemaker Description

We create the conditions for making Late Harvest Zinfandel by allowing the grapes to hang on the vine approximately 3--4 weeks after they normally would be picked for a dry wine. These grapes were picked on October 30th on a beautiful Fall day, and the grapes arrived at the winery at 40° Brix of sugar. We crushed the grapes into a small 1,500-gallon tank and as is our tradition at Dashe Cellars, we fermented the grapes naturally, using the native yeasts that naturally live on the skins of the grapes. We let the grapes macerate to gain color and flavor, and then allowed the tank to warm.

The fermentation took off quickly, and then naturally halted when the alcohol had reached about 15.5% and the sugar level was about 9%. We always allow the wine to achieve its balance of sweetness and alcohol naturally, by letting the fermentation finish on its own.

The wine was aged in older French oak barrels so as to not overpower the intensity of the fruit. We bottled the wine as soon as possible to maintain its fresh fruit flavors and conserve its sweet concentration and purity. The wine is unfined and received minimal handling to the bottle.

Winemaker Description 

Intense ruby red with violet shadings, nearly opaque with traces of garnet
Bouquet. Expansive and persistent with sweet fruits, notes of blackberry, black cherry and a subtle nuttiness. Sweet spices lead to a mineral finish

Soft, sweet, voluptuous body, persistent and velvety. The tannins are thick and sweet, the acidity is well balanced, cutting the density and heaviness, while giving structure. Long finish, persistently fruity with notes of underbrush, forest fruit, and complex, intense spices.

Winemaker Description

This fresh, fruity, semi-sweet wine displays aromas and flavors of ripe, juicy berries with dark chocolate undertones.

The perfect balance between sweetness and acidity makes for a refreshing approachability. It is a versatile food wine, best served slightly chilled.