Sweet wine: port, tokaji and sweet wines from around the world
62 bottles, from €12.90 to €299The sugar in a sweet wine comes from the grape, and it stays there for five reasons that have nothing to do with one another. A port is fortified with grape spirit, a Tokaji owes its concentration to a fungus, an Eiswein to the November frost.
This origin determines the taste, the alcohol level and when the bottle should be served. The table of the five methods makes it clear before you buy.
Kamanterena - Commandaria Saint Barnabas
Commandaria, a legendary sweet wine from the island of Cyprus
Groot Constantia - Grand Constance 2021
A legendary and historic wine, with incredible aromatic richness.
Bruno Landauer - Gewürztraminer Ruster Spätlese 2024
A sublime Austrian late harvest!
Château de Sárospatak - Tokaji Edes Szamorodni 2021
A late harvest vintage of noble grains, from the mystical terroirs of Tokaj
Groot Constantia - Cape Ruby 2021
A superb fortified wine from the Cape, made in the style of Vintage Port
Les Vergers Petit & Fils - Cidre de Glace Petit Frisson
An ice cider from the slopes of Mont Saint-Hilaire, near Montreal.
Buitenverwachting - Vin de Constantia "1769" 2021
A sweet wine with splendid intensity and balance
Emilio Vada - Moscato d'Asti 2025
Both fresh and explosive on the palate, this sparkling wine offers a mellow and refreshing effervescence, a real treat!
Château de Sárospatak - Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos 2011
The jewel of Tokaji from an exceptional vintage!
Royal Tokaji - Tokaji Fordítás Furmint 2016
A Tokaji Fordítás looking like 6 Puttonyos
Château de Sárospatak - Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos 2003
A great sweet Tokaji with a unique and confidential vintage
Quinta do Vallado - Porto Branco
A white port focused on the freshness and exuberance of the fruit
Château de Sárospatak - Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos 2010
A splendid Tokaji with incredible complexity and balance.
Georg Lunzer - Golser Rheinriesling Trockenbeerenauslese 1999
A sublime Austrian sweet wine, which has retained all its freshness and developed incredible complexity over time
Bruno Landauer - Vendange Tardive Pinot Blanc Ruster Spätlese 2023
A superb late harvest of Chardonnay
Blandy's - Madère Malmsey 5 ans
A rich, full and spicy fortified Madeira wine from one of the most historic houses on the island.
Tarapacá - Late Harvest 2022
A very nice late harvest from a blend of 5 white grape varieties!
Quinta do Vallado - Porto Tawny 20 ans
A 20 year old Tawny Port, complex, aromatic and long in the mouth.
Torelli - Moscato d'Asti "San Gròd" 2023
A fresh, delicious Moscato d'Asti from organically grown vineyards
Château de Sárospatak - Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos 2002
A great sweet Tokaji with a unique and confidential vintage
Bruno Landauer - Ruster Eiswein Furmint/Pinot Blanc 2018
An Austrian ice wine combining finesse and complexity
Five ways to keep the grape's sugar
This is the distinction that matters before you buy. Two bottles can show the same amount of sugar and be nothing alike, because the sugar did not get there in the same way.
| Method | How the sugar remains | What it means in the glass | In our cellar |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fortificationport, Madeira, Rutherglen Muscat | Grape spirit is added in the middle of fermentation. The alcohol stops the yeasts dead before they have had time to convert all the sugar. | A powerful wine, 17 to 20% alcohol, dried fruit and coffee when oxidative ageing has been long, black fruit when the wine has aged in bottle. | Ports from the Douro, Australian Muscats from Rutherglen and Groot Constantia's Cape Ruby |
| Noble rottokaji aszú, auslese, noble late harvest | Botrytis pierces the grape skin on the vine. Water evaporates through the holes, and the berry shrivels, concentrating its sugar without losing its acidity. | Candied apricot, orange peel, saffron. Plenty of sugar, but an acidity that keeps the wine upright and stops it from cloying. | Hungarian Tokaji from Mád and Sárospatak, from 3 to 6 puttonyos, at the top of the range |
| Grape dryingpassito, recioto, late harvest | The grapes dry, on the vine or on racks after harvest. No fungus here, just pure dehydration, sometimes over several months. | Fig, currant, cooked fruit. A sunnier profile than botrytised wines, less sharp, often more enveloping. | From Zeni's Recioto in the Veneto to the Cape's Grand Constance and Cypriot Commandaria |
| Ice wine eiswein, icewine | The grapes are harvested frozen, often at night, below −7 °C. In the press, the ice stays in the cage and only the concentrated juice runs off. | High sugar and cutting acidity at the same time. The most taut style of sweet wine, produced in very small volumes. | Austrian Eiswein from Rust and Canadian bottles |
| Arrested fermentationmoscato d'Asti, brachetto, medium-sweet | The tank is chilled to put the yeasts to sleep before they have consumed everything. Nothing is added, nothing is dried, nothing is concentrated. | Low alcohol, 5 to 11%, fresh Muscat and crunchy grape. The only sweet wine you can drink by the glass effortlessly. | Moscato d'Asti and Brachetto d'Acqui from Piedmont, plus a Portuguese white stopped at 30 g of sugar |
The alcohol level follows the method: a fortified port is close to 20% alcohol, a Moscato d'Asti 5.5%. Two sweet wines, two uses that have nothing in common.
Six ways into the range
Each one leads to an actual selection, with no intermediate page.
Ports
Douro, fortified with grape spirit, aged in cask or in bottle. The best-stocked family in the section, from the aperitif Branco to the 30-year-old Tawny.
12 vinsTokaji
Hungary, botrytised Furmint, from 3 to 6 puttonyos. The most spectacular balance of sugar and acidity we know of in sweet wine.
21 vinsSweet wines
Everything above 45 g of sugar, whether from botrytis or drying on the vine. The range to open for foie gras or Roquefort.
30 vinsMuscats
A grape variety that already smells of fresh grapes before any winemaking. You find it fortified in Rutherglen, dried in the Cape and stopped by cold in Piedmont.
11 vinsSweet reds
Recioto della Valpolicella, Brachetto d'Acqui, Cape Ruby. The only sweet wines that can take on dark chocolate without being crushed.
7 vinsUnder €30
Moscato d'Asti, Austrian spätlese, entry-level ports. Enough to discover each method without committing to a bottle for ageing.
The first third of the section
Which sweet wine for which dish?
The principle never changes: the wine must be at least as sweet as the dish, otherwise it tastes sharp and thin. The rest comes down to the richness, saltiness and power of the dish.
| The dish | The right profile | The family | Why it works |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foie gras | Clear sugar and lively acidity, without excess alcohol | Tokaji aszú, late harvest | The richness of the foie saturates the palate, the botrytis acidity refreshes it with every mouthful. |
| Roquefort and blue cheeses | Lots of sugar, some power | Sweet wine, vintage port | The salt of the blue veining and the sugar of the wine cancel each other out, each making the other more bearable. |
| Aged Comté, pressed cheeses | Oxidative, nutty notes | Tawny port, Madeira | Aged cheese develops the same dried-fruit aromas as barrel-aged wine. |
| Dark chocolate dessert | Tannins and sugar at once | Vintage port, recioto | A sweet white is crushed by cocoa. You need a sweet red to stand up to it. |
| Yellow fruit tart | Apricot and quince aromas | Late harvest, passito | You're looking for an echo: the wine picks up the fruit of the dessert instead of setting something else against it. |
| Spicy food, curry | Low alcohol, refreshing sugar | Moscato, sweet Gewurztraminer | Sugar calms the burn of chilli, whereas alcohol amplifies it. A light wine is better than a powerful sweet one. |
| Appetizer | Light, fresh, low in alcohol | Moscato d'Asti, white port | At 5.5% alcohol, a Moscato opens a meal without closing it. White port plays the same role, with added length. |
Serve all these wines chilled, at 8–12 °C, except tawny ports, which can take 14 °C. A sweet wine served lukewarm shows nothing but its sugar.
A sweet wine is not just for dessert, and rarely for the end of the meal
The place it is given in France, the last glass after the cake, is where it performs worst. The palate is already saturated with sugar and the wine arrives on occupied ground.
The best moments lie elsewhere: a Tokaji with foie gras as a starter, a tawny port with a thirty-month Comté, a Moscato d'Asti in the middle of the afternoon. Sweet wine is a wine for savoury pairings far more than a dessert wine, and it is also the most misunderstood in the range.
Price follows the same logic. What costs money is not the sugar but the yield: a hectare of Tokaji Aszú sometimes produces ten times less than a hectare of dry white, because the grapes are sorted berry by berry.
Three mistakes we often see
Serving it too warm. Above 12 °C, only the sugar remains. Twenty minutes in the fridge is enough to bring back the acidity.
Filling the glass like a dry white. A third of a glass, no more: it is a wine to sip slowly, not to gulp.
Throwing it away after three days. Stoppered and kept cool, a sweet wine lasts a week, a tawny port several months. The sugar and alcohol protect it.
The Wine Wanderer Team
What people ask us about sweet wines
What is the difference between a sweet, a medium-sweet and a lusciously sweet wine?
It is a matter of grams of sugar per litre. Below 45 g we speak of moelleux (medium-sweet), above it of liquoreux (sweet). “Sweet wine” is the broad term covering both, plus fortified wines such as port. On this page, bottles range from about 30 g for a Portuguese medium-sweet to more than 200 g for a 6 puttonyos Tokaji Aszú.
What is a fortified wine?
A wine whose fermentation has been stopped by adding grape spirit. The alcohol kills the yeasts before they have consumed all the sugar, giving a wine that is both sweet and strong, around 19%. Port, Madeira and the Muscats of Rutherglen are made this way.
What do 5 or 6 puttonyos mean on a tokaji?
The puttony was the hod used to carry the botrytised berries added to the base must. The more of them there are, the more concentrated the wine: a 5 puttonyos contains at least 120 g of sugar, a 6 puttonyos at least 150 g. Our Tokaji cover both levels.
How long does an opened bottle keep?
Much longer than a dry wine. Sugar and alcohol slow down oxidation: allow a week for a sweet wine re-corked in the fridge, several weeks for a tawny port, and several months for a Madeira, which has already been deliberately oxidised in the cellar.
At what temperature should a sweet wine be served?
8–10 °C for a sweet wine or ice wine, 10–12 °C for a Moscato, 12–14 °C for a tawny port or a Madeira. Too cold and the aromas close up; too warm and the sugar takes over.
Does a sweet wine keep for a long time in the cellar?
In fact, it is one of the most resilient families. A Tokaji Aszú or a vintage port can be drunk after thirty years without difficulty, and Madeira is reputed to be indestructible. The exceptions are Moscato d'Asti and Brachetto, to be drunk within two years for their fruit.
Which sweet wine to serve with a chocolate dessert?
A sweet red rather than a sweet white. Cocoa brings bitterness and tannins that a white wine, however sweet, cannot stand up to. A vintage port, a Recioto della Valpolicella or a Brachetto d'Acqui hold their own, all gathered in the sweet reds.
Do you need a Sauternes for foie gras?
No, and it is not even the most interesting pairing. A Tokaji Aszú brings the same richness with higher acidity, which cuts through the fat instead of adding to it. An Austrian late harvest does the same job on a more modest budget.
Why do these wines often come in half bottles?
Because they are drunk in small glasses and production is small. 37.5 cl and 50 cl are the norm in this range: more than half of our wines come in these formats, which makes the great names far more accessible.
Why are some sweet wines so expensive?
The cost comes from the yield, not the sugar. Sorting botrytised berries one by one or harvesting frozen grapes at night takes ten times more passes than a normal harvest, for ten times less juice. A hectare of Tokaji Aszú may yield only a few hundred bottles.