Dessert wine

There are countless different types of dessert wines, but most options fall into one of five styles:

• Lightly sweet dessert wines – typically made from refreshing fruity white grapes, such as Riesling, Viognier, Chenin Blanc and Gewürztraminer. These wines are bursting with flavours like vanilla, citrus, peach, apple, pear and tropical fruits, and they’re perfect for serving with late-summer desserts such as fruit tarts and pavlovas.
• Richly sweet dessert wines – known for their intense sweetness and rich flavours. They’re made from high-quality grapes in an unfortified style and often deliver luscious textures and intricate layers of fried fruits and honey. Many of the most popular, richly sweet dessert wines are produced in Europe, with Tokaji Aszú and Vin Santo being notable favourites.
• Sparkling dessert wines – usually a little drier than other dessert wines, thanks partly to their bubbles, which create a refreshing mouthful. They retain their sweet smell and can range from off-dry (demi-sec or semi-secco) to sweet (doux, dulce or moelleux).
• Sweet red wines – known for their high sugar content and flavours of ripe berries, cherries and even chocolate notes. Quality sweet red wines have become harder to find in recent years, with consumers preferring more moderate levels of sweetness, but the likes of Lambrusco Dolce and Brachetto d’Acqui remain popular choices.
• Fortified wines – usually regarded as a distinct category but worth an honorary mention here. Fortified wines are known for their intense, sticky-sweet flavours and high alcohol content – with many containing 17–20% ABV (alcohol by volume). They are created by adding a neutral grape spirit, such as brandy, to the wine during fermentation, and they can be either dry or sweet. There are several specific types of fortified wine, such as Sherry, Port and Madeira, but each one is served in small quantities and best sipped slowly to enjoy its decadent aromas.

As the name suggests, dessert wines are an ideal final flourish to a dinner party. That said, each wine has a distinct flavour profile, so you should choose carefully to find the perfect pairing.

As a rule, you should find a wine with a similar level of sweetness as the dessert. Richer dessert wines, like Port, are best suited to equally intense desserts, such as those featuring dark chocolate or salted caramel. By contrast, the honeyed notes of Sauternes work well with the creamy texture of a sweet fig compote, while the bright acidity of a Riesling balances the sweetness of an apple tart.

For nutty desserts such as almond biscotti, try a Vin Santo or a Muscato. When choosing a lighter, citrus dish like sorbet, consider a Gewürztraminer.

Learn more in our beginner's guide to food and wine pairing. 

The day of your delivery will depend on which option you’ve chosen at checkout.  

• For a standard delivery, we will deliver your order within three working days. Delivery to the Scottish Highlands, some other areas of Scotland, Northern Ireland and offshore islands can take an extra few days.
• Usual delivery times are between 07.00 and 21.00.
• You can select Next-day or Named-day delivery at checkout – but do bear in mind we don’t deliver on Sundays or Bank Holidays.

For the best experience we recommend you subscribe to our Unlimited service. A one-off payment of £29.99 entitles you to free delivery for a year – including free Next-day delivery. There’s no minimum order – you’ll get free delivery even on a single bottle. And you can get delivery to multiple addresses, so it’s perfect for gifting!

We want you to be entirely happy with your chosen wine, so we offer an unbeatable money-back guarantee on every single bottle – even wines you buy on sale.

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If you aren't happy for any reason, get in touch and we’ll arrange to collect your bottle within 48 hours.

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