Chateau Filhot 2nd Cru Sauternes
As all of you addicted to Come Dine With Me will know, a nice glass of pudding wine is a great way to round off a dinner party with your favourite dessert. With the simple rule in mind ‘the sweeter the pudding, the sweeter the wine’ you can’t go wrong.
As noted exponents of the great wines of Bordeaux we at N&P are always banging on about how well Sauternes pairs with Crème Brûlée, try Chateau Filhot 2nd Cru Sauternes (£15.99)
Fonseca Terra Prima Organic Reserve Port
Of course if your pudding tends to be of the salty sweet cheese variety then you will probably be a fan of Vintage Port; try our Fonseca Terra Prima Organic reserve Port (£14.99)
What you may not know is that the richness of these two wines is derived in very different ways. In the hopefully humid conditions of late September and October a fungus called Botrytis Cinerea or ‘Noble Rot’ attacks the grapes which make up the blend for the Sauternes, Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc. The fungal action dehydrates the grapes intensify the juice into liquid gold.
By contrast the production of vintage port involves another perfectly natural phenomenon, but with the help of a little human evolution. Again the sugar levels in the Douro Valley’s Touriga Nacional vines, amongst others, is naturally high but as the yeasts in the grape skins gets to work on the sugars, the by-product will be rising levels of alcohol. This process known as fermentation is cut short when the level of alcohol in the must reaches around 15% as yeasts can no longer work their magic. The English merchants of the eighteenth century were big importers of Port Wine and would fortify the barrels with brandy to stop the wine turning sour on the long journey home. This had the effect of cessating the fermentation immediately whilst the lovely sweet sugars were still unfermented.
The effects of dehydration work brilliantly in the production of icewine, known as eiswein and originating in Germany, recently mastered by the Canadians. The grapes are left on the vines until frozen, then harvested as late as December even into January. The ice is separated from the intense juice in the crushing process, try Peller Estates Vidal Icewine (£39) is breathtakingingly good, best served straight from the freezer!
Keep a bottle of sweet wine in the fridge ready to serve…it will keep fresh for ages!