Best Dessert Wines

The aroma, absolutely enthralling, the color sparkling and the taste simply splendid! Yes, I am talking about the quintessential wines! The reds, the whites and the dry ones! All have their own niche in gourmet cuisine, while eating as well as preparation of food. But which are the ones which go well with desserts? Join me as I try and explore which are the best dessert wines.

Types of Dessert Wines
There are basically 2 categories of dessert wines. One is the fortified wine and the other is unfortified dessert wine. Fortified wines are those which are the port type, from Portugal and other port style wines from different regions. These are, for instance sherry and madeira. All these wines have spirits added to them, post fermentation, for kicking the alcohol content and sweetness a bit. On the contrary, the unfortified wines, like ice wines and Sauternes get their flavor from high alcohol content, on account of the yet to be fermented juice being concentrated through several methods. Now, lets throw a glance on some these dessert wines, best amongst the lot. Talk of these dessert wines, temperature at which fortified wines are served is room temperature or a bit chilled. Ice wines on the other hand are served chilled.

Late Harvest Riesling
A sparkling golden wine, grapes for any type of late harvest wines like this are left on the vine for a longer period of time, as compared to table wines. This is done to create optimum ripeness and sweetness. Often a dessert in itself, this dessert wine teams up amazingly well with cheese and fruit based desserts. Along with that, any dessert preparation involving cream, vanilla and nuts pairs well with late harvest riesling.

Inniskillin Vidal Icewine 2006
Ice wines from this extremely famous winery Inniskillin from Canada's Ontario region are a hit as dessert wines. Vidal blanc and Riesling from this winery are excellent to go with desserts. It is one of the premier wineries of Canada.

Lustau Muscat Sherry
Talk of dessert wines for chocolate and vintage Port, Late Harvest Zinfandel, Lustau Muscat Sherry "Emlin," Recioto Amarone are a few of the best wines in this category. Simple dark chocolate is excellent to be paired with Cognac.

Saracco Moscato d'Asti 2006 (Italy)
This wine is one of the unique wines and it is one of the semi sparkling wine. It is remarkably lighter and sweeter in flavor, and palate feel. This is a perfect partner for cheesecakes and the likes.

Tawny Port
Brickish red in color, Churchill's 10 Year Tawny Port from Portugal is another dessert wine that has a sweet, nutty aroma. A mention of dessert wines and food pairing, Tawny port can be teamed up with a range of desserts, ranging from tiramisu to pecan pie to chocolate truffles, cheesecake and perhaps a few main course items.

Pinot Gris
Amongst Pinot Gris, King Estate Domaine vin Glace Pinot is an exquisite Oregon ice wine. It has an amazing taste, as it is heavily concentrated in layers of honey. It can act as the dessert itself ! It doesn't need to be paired with any other dessert!

Banfi Rosa Regale Brachetto
From the beautiful locales of Italy's Piedmont region, here comes one of the best dessert wines. This is a sparkling red wine with a sweet and subtle taste, flavored with raspberry and juicy strawberry. Wherever there are fresh fruit desserts and chocolate based desserts, this wine has to be there!

Well, actually, the list is really a long one! The only thing is to carefully pick dessert wines food pairing, so that the maximum aroma and flavor of the wine can be enjoyed!