Dessert Wine

Dessert wine is any wine sweet enough to finish a meal on, and Canada is unusually good at making it.

Cool autumns let the grapes hold their acidity while the sugar climbs, so the sweetness lands balanced rather than syrupy. Icewine is the famous one, though late-harvest whites and fortified styles sit here too. Pour small measures, and try it with cheese as well as pudding.

There's no middleman, just the winery and your mailbox.
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What's in this collection

Late-harvest wines are the biggest group in this collection: Vidal, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay whites, plus a Cabernet Franc red. True icewine is here too. Canadian rules require the grapes to freeze on the vine to at least -8°C before they're picked and pressed while still frozen.

Beyond that, the grid holds real Canadian fortified wines: port-style reds, where spirit is added to stop the fermentation early and lock in sweetness, and vermouths made a different way, fully fermented first, then infused with herbs and botanicals and fortified afterward just to raise the strength. A couple of barrel-aged, sherry-style bottles round it out, no fortifying required, just years in wood. They're worth a try if you've never had a Canadian one. If you'd rather skip that detour, sweet red wine and sweet white wine cover straightforward sweetness instead.

Where these bottles come from

Niagara and the Okanagan supply most of this grid, with Niagara carrying the wider spread of wineries and the Okanagan's Naramata Bench home to the collection's one icewine. A few bottles travel farther: a couple of vermouths and a barrel-aged pour from Prince Edward County, plus single entries from Lake Erie North Shore and BC's Fraser Valley.

Which should I try first if I'm new to dessert wine?

A late-harvest white is the gentler start: sweet without icewine's intensity or a vermouth's herbal bite. Once you know your palate, work up to icewine or one of the port-style reds.

How should I serve dessert wine?

Chill it more than a table wine and pour a small glass, about half a regular pour. The fortified ones run higher in alcohol, so two or three ounces is plenty, and a bottle stretches across several evenings once it's open.

What food pairs with dessert wine?

Icewine and late-harvest whites love strong cheese and butter tarts more than they love plain dessert. Port-style reds lean savoury too, good with aged cheddar, and vermouth makes a solid before-dinner sip over ice.