What counts as dessert wine? Depending on the country, different guidelines are used to classify dessert wines—in the U.S. for instance, dessert wines are defined as any wine with 14% alcohol content or higher. But in the most simple terms, dessert wines are any wines that have a dominant sweet flavor. These include:
• Fortified wines, or wines that have added alcohol on top of any produced during fermentation. Port is one example.
• Trocken, or raisin wines, made from grapes that have been dried so that their sugar level concentrates. Many German Rieslings are trocken wines.
• Ice wines, made from grapes that have been frozen and then are pressed to remove excess water. Canada produces a large range of ice wines; one of the most popular is made from the Vidal Blanc grape.
• Botrytis wines, made from grapes that have been inflicted with a type of fungus, botrytis cinerea — also known as the 'noble rot' — that dehydrates the grape. The most famous include Sauternes.
• Late harvest wines, made by grapes left on the vine for longer so they are riper and naturally sweeter. Many German Auslese and Spätlese wines fall into this category.
• Orchard wines, or wines that are made from other fruits besides grapes — apples, apricots, blackberries, for example. North American vineyards have increasingly produced more orchard wines.
The golden rule for food pairing. Think of the dessert wine as the main event and the dessert as the accompaniment — not the other way around. Make sure that the flavor of the dessert is milder and less sweet than the wine. (Dessert wines need not always go with sweet bites and in fact, can be a great match with savory items — Sauternes classically pair with foie gras.)
Serve it right. Dessert wines are best served slightly more chilled than white or red wines. Mr. Caines suggests keeping the wines below 10° Celsius. And rather than a full glass — roughly five ounces is a standard pour at many restaurants — dessert wines, many of which come in half-bottle size, or 375 milliliters, are usually poured in two-ounce servings.
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什么樣的酒才算是甜酒呢?這方面的標準因國家而異:舉例來說,在美國,甜酒指的是酒精含量超過14%的葡萄酒。不過,用最簡單的話來說,甜酒就是味道以甜為主的葡萄酒,其中包括:
加烈葡萄酒,也就是在發酵過程中添加過酒精的葡萄酒,波爾圖葡萄酒(Port)便是其中一例。
特羅肯酒(Trocken),也稱葡萄干酒,這種酒所用的葡萄經過干制,糖分由此提高。德國釀制的許多雷司令(Riesling)都是特羅肯酒。
冰酒,這種酒的釀制方法是待葡萄冰凍之后再行壓榨,以此除去多余的水分。加拿大出產品類繁多的冰酒,最受歡迎的品種之一是威代爾白葡萄酒(Vidal Blanc)。
貴腐葡萄酒(Botrytis wine),這種酒用的是受過灰霉菌(botrytis cinerea)——這種真菌也稱“貴腐霉”(noble rot),會讓葡萄變干——感染的葡萄。最出名的貴腐酒之一是法國的蘇岱白葡萄酒(Sauternes)。
晚收葡萄酒,這種酒用的葡萄收得比較晚,因此就更成熟,味道自然也更甜。德國出產的許多Auslese和Spatlese葡萄酒都屬于這個類別。
果酒,也就是用蘋果、杏子、黑莓之類的其他水果釀成的酒。北美地區的葡萄園越來越喜歡釀制這種類型的酒。
用甜酒搭配食物的黃金準則是甜酒為主、甜點為副,絕不能主次顛倒。甜點的味道一定得比甜酒淡,甜度也得比酒低。(甜酒不一定要用甜味的點心來配,實際上,它可以跟一些美味的菜肴形成完美的搭配——蘇岱白葡萄酒和鵝肝就是一對經典搭檔。)
采用正確的喝法。甜酒的最佳飲用溫度要比白葡萄酒和紅酒低一點,Caines先生的建議是讓它的溫度保持在10攝氏度以下。許多甜酒都是半瓶裝,也就是375毫升,飲用時通常應該一次倒2盎司,不能倒滿杯——許多餐廳的滿杯容量都是5盎司左右。