Went to the store to stock up on some wines and saw this tiny bottle of
white wine that went for $90 (but was on sale for $79.99). It was called
Dolce and labeled as "Late Harvest Wine," a descriptor that I was not
familiar with.

Curiousity got the best of me and I purchased a bottle. Pleasant... but
incredibly sweet -- almost TOO sweet. Now, I generally prefer dry wines --
my older brother is the sweet wine drinker (and plunks every bottle I bring
to his house in a tub of ice... to my horror!) Still, I think this might be
a new favorite.

Are there any recipes or desserts that would make use of these sweet wines,
or should they simply be consumed from a glass by the fireplace?


--
Your parents take care of you until you're 21. The government takes care of
you after you're 65. You only have to take care of yourself for 44 years.
www.dwacon.com

DWACON wrote:

> Went to the store to stock up on some wines and saw this tiny bottle of
> white wine that went for $90 (but was on sale for $79.99). It was called
> Dolce and labeled as "Late Harvest Wine," a descriptor that I was not
> familiar with.
>
> Curiousity got the best of me and I purchased a bottle. Pleasant... but
> incredibly sweet -- almost TOO sweet. Now, I generally prefer dry wines --
> my older brother is the sweet wine drinker (and plunks every bottle I bring
> to his house in a tub of ice... to my horror!) Still, I think this might be
> a new favorite.
>
> Are there any recipes or desserts that would make use of these sweet wines,
> or should they simply be consumed from a glass by the fireplace?

Late harvest wines can be a real treat as a dessert wine. Then there is ice
wine, which more of a dessert than a dessert wine. Personally, I am impressed
with the incredible depth of flavours in good ice wines but I just find them to
be too sweet. Ice wines have become a speciality in the Niagara region where
there are lots of great grapes and growers can count on a solid freeze before
the birds get all the grapes. In order to be a true ice wine they have to be
harvested in the cold and pressed while still frozen.

I never buy ice wine. I usually go out to local wineries to taste wine and stock
up. After I have amasses a case or two of bottles to take home I buy a sample if
ice wine. The small samples are about as much as I can handle of that stuff.

DWACON wrote:
> Went to the store to stock up on some wines and saw this tiny bottle of
> white wine that went for $90 (but was on sale for $79.99). It was called
> Dolce and labeled as "Late Harvest Wine," a descriptor that I was not
> familiar with.
>
> Curiousity got the best of me and I purchased a bottle. Pleasant... but
> incredibly sweet -- almost TOO sweet. Now, I generally prefer dry wines --
> my older brother is the sweet wine drinker (and plunks every bottle I bring
> to his house in a tub of ice... to my horror!) Still, I think this might be
> a new favorite.
>
> Are there any recipes or desserts that would make use of these sweet wines,
> or should they simply be consumed from a glass by the fireplace?
>
>
>
Sounds like what is known here as a "sticky". If you don't want to drink
it with dessert, try using it to stew pears. However, at $79.99 I would
be in favour of drinking.

Christine

DWACON wrote:

> Went to the store to stock up on some wines and saw this tiny bottle
> of white wine that went for $90 (but was on sale for $79.99). It was
> called Dolce and labeled as "Late Harvest Wine," a descriptor that I
> was not familiar with.

Late harvest means less humidity which results in much higher sugar content,
and sometimes also bothrytis cinerea (which gives botritised wine, as
Sauternes and Tokaji) attacking the grapes during autumn.

> Are there any recipes or desserts that would make use of these sweet
> wines, or should they simply be consumed from a glass by the
> fireplace?

Most of the lood late harvest wines, as the raisin wines, are very nice by
themselves, so the fireplace option is a good one (if temperature allows
it).
Otherwise these wines can be paired with many thing, mainly desserts but non
only that: a good late harvest can be matched with foie gras, for exemple,
or with blue cheeses as Stilton, Gorgonzola and Roquefort (in my personal
preference order).
For desserts pairing, if you could be more precise about this wine I could
try to help.
"Dolce" is very few info, it simply means "sweet" in italian... are you
still in possession of the bottle? If so, post here the details you find on
the label and we could arrange some wine-food pairings for it.
--
Vilco
Think pink, drink rose'