Wine Lover: Dreaming of a sweet Christmas

With Christmas just around the corner, I thought sweet wines would be an excellent topic for a mid-December column. There are many different types of sweet wines out there. Some of the more common are port, sherry, Sauterne, late-harvest zinfandel and ice wine.
There are two ways sweet wines are typically made. The first, and most common, is fortification.
Both ports and sherries are always fortified. To fortify a wine, you simply add neutral grape spirits (essentially, brandy) to the wine as it ferments. This does two important things: It raises the alcohol level and it kills the yeasts, thus stopping the fermentation process in its tracks. This leaves some residual sugar, as well, because the yeasts aren’t able to eat all the sugar and turn it into alcohol. What you are left with is a sweet, high-alcohol wine.
This practice was first used in Portugal, because they found that the wine traveled much better when it was higher in alcohol and sugar. That — and, the English love the stuff!
The other way to make a sweet wine is to ferment grapes that start out very high in Brix (that is, sugar).
This is the case with late-harvest zinfandel. They pick the grapes when they are overripe and the sugar level is so high that the yeasts can’t eat all the sugar. The cycle goes like this: Yeasts eat sugar, sugar turns into alcohol, alcohol level becomes too high, and the yeasts die in the alcohol they have created. Yeasts, as you can see, are not only gluttonous but suicidal, as well. When winemakers don’t want an exceptionally high alcohol level, there are other ways to stop the fermentation process as well.
A great local option for port is Hunter Hill. Vann Slatter, the winemaker, buys Portuguese varietals from Amador County and makes an excellent port-style wine that would make a perfect finish to any Christmas dinner. One of the best things about Slatter’s port is that it will stay good on your countertop for months.
Another local option is the late-harvest viognier of Poetic Cellars. The winemaker, Katy Lovell, opened Poetic Cellars a couple years ago, but she is a winemaking veteran. Her late-harvest viognier would pair excellently with plain crackers, blue cheese and currants or could be used as a digestif.
A hint — if you find yourself in Katy’s tasting room on Rodeo Gulch, grab a bottle of her Mourvedre, too. It’s to die for.
Have a sweet Christmas, everyone. (Yes, that pun was intended.) Cheers!
Austin Twohig is a certified sommelier and partner in The Santa Cruz Experience, which conducts winery tours in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Contact him at au****@th********************.com.