It seems when most people think of French wine, it’s usually one of the great table wines like Bordeaux or Burgundy, or Champagne. But France also is home to some of the greatest dessert wines in the world. And my experience has been that a person just needs to be exposed to their wonders once to become an instant fan. Several of these sweeties originate in the country’s southwest. Here is a brief overview from a recent sampling I enjoyed. The greatest of all and the best known is Sauternes, located just south of Bordeaux, This storied wine results from the marriage of a singular grape, semillon (with small amounts of sauvignon blanc or occasionally muscadelle), and the amazing mold, known as botrytis cinerea.
When grapes are grown in a climate like Sauternes, where humid conditions around harvest lead to the development of the so-called “noble rot” on the grape skins, the result is a shriveling of the grapes and evaporation of the water inside. This leads to deeply concentrated juice that yields a luscious nectar of a wine. When the grape is semillon, you also get a wine that is honeyed and creamy, with a character and texture often described as reminiscent of lanolin. The botrytis also imparts an intriguing earthy, almost spicy quality to the juice. Because of the challenge of getting the growth of this beneficial fungus just right, the wines are difficult to produce and thus are rare and expensive. For a great introduction to the wonders of Sauternes at a fair price, enjoy the 2005 Château de Cosse (375 ml, $25), This is the second wine of the great Château Rieussec. Yet it carries all of the qualities one would look for in fine Sauternes. It can be enjoyed now or over the next several years. Foie gras and blue cheese are the classic traditional matches but I encourage you to experiment.
Further south, the Languedoc, which hugs the Mediterranean Sea, produces a wide variety of sweet wines, mostly from variations of the white grape muscat and occasionally the red grape grenache. These wines, however, are made by fortifying the partially fermented wine with brandy (just as in Port), which stops fermentation and leaves a significant amount of sugar in the remaining juice and results in a significantly higher alcohol drink – usually around 16%. Muscat de Saint Jean de Minervois is one of the most important. From high altitude vineyards on an arid plain near the community of the same name and north of the historic town of Narbonne, the wine is made with muscat blanc à petit grains, the best of the many muscat varieties (imagine dramatic aromatics and fruit forward apricot, citrus and honey). I found the NV “Les Petit Grains” (375 ml, $14), from Les Vignerons de la Méditerranée to be a fine representative of the appellation. From the growers’ association responsible for the good value Val d’Orbieu wines, this meal ender is affordable and would hit the mark with fresh fruit, fruit tarts or dessert cheeses.
From the Rousillon region, a neighbor to the Pyrenees Mountains that form the border with Spain, I have three fine samples worthy of your exploration. All come from the Dauré family of Château de Jau, one of the leading producers in the Rousillon. Among the many wines the estate produces, is a fine Muscat de Rivesaltes. Rivesaltes is an appellation in the Rousillon nestled against the Pyrenees. Although most Rivesaltes is made with the lesser muscat of Alexandria, the 2005 Chateau de Jau Muscat de Rivesaltes (500 ml, $25) is distinguished by the use of muscat blanc à petit grains. It is similar to the Les Petit Grains, though in a lighter style. Another intriguing choice is the 2002 Château de Jau Grand Roussillon (500 ml, $25), which comes from a vineyard located in an extreme environment at the foot of the Pyrenees very near the Banyuls and Rivesaltes appellations. Made from grenache blanc, it shows a nutty quality along with orange, citrus flavors that I think would be ideal with hard cheeses.
Finally, from the terraced vineyards of Banyuls, France’s southern most appellation, comes a great sweet red wine. Banyuls the town is considered to be among the prettiest seaside villages on the entire Mediterranean coast. Grenache noir is the dominant red grape. Here it produces the table wine called Collioure and the great Banyuls sweet wines. Ah, you might be saying (I certainly am), “finally a sweet RED wine.” As delightful as all of the previous wines are, sometimes I just crave red. Since it is red and fortified, it is tempting to compare Banyuls to Port. But there are differences, such as lower alcohol and a slightly lighter style. Still, I just think of it as an easygoing Port. From the Dauré family’s Les Clos de Paulilles estate, the 2005 Rimage (500 ml, $25) is a fine example of Banyuls, bearing a resemblance to Vintage Port with its blackberry, cherry fruit and chocolate notes. Of course, berries and chocolate desserts are a natural match. The defining quality that consistently runs through each of these wines is a fine balance of sugar and acid that keeps the wines fresh, instead of cloying. This enables the wines to be enjoyed equally with dessert or as a dessert in themselves. They deserve to take their place on any list of France’s best wines.