Speciality wines

A variant of botrytised wines is the Tokaji Eszencia, made from wine grapes in Hungary

And finally, there are some fantastic sweet and fortified wines on my bucket list: botrytised wines, ice wines, port and sherry — wines that most people think are consumed only by old ladies and older gentlemen. But nothing could be further from the truth — these wines are making a comeback and their quality has never been better.

Topping my list are the botrytised white wines of Europe, where a fungus (“noble rot”) affects grapes, leaving them shrivelled. The wine produced from these grapes is rich and complex with honeyed character and a balanced sweetness that is just incredible. Legend has it that this was discovered accidentally after a winery manager used botrytised grapes to make wine.

I’d dearly like to get my hands on a Cheval Blanc from the Saint-Émilion region of Burgundy, which is rated at over 95 points. The wine sells for anything from $500 to $1,500 per bottle (depending on the vintage).

A variant of botrytised wines is the Tokaji Eszencia (“nectar”), made from wine grapes in Hungary, and which is almost as expensive as the Cheval Blanc. The wine has sugar levels going to 600 gm/litre, and can age for up to 200 years. Look for Tokaji from wineries like Chateau Pajzos, Oremus or the Royal Tokaji Wine Co.

I also love to sip ice wines, where the grapes are allowed to freeze on the vine before harvesting — the resultant juice is highly concentrated and the wines have unique aromas and flavours. My go-to ice wine would be from the Chateau Ste Michelle (Columbia Valley, US) — although Inniskillin (Canada) is better known, while Germany and Austria produce some awesome ice wines.

The Roda Reserva 2015 from Bodegas Roda in Rioja, Spain is a beautiful wine — complex and smooth with deep aromas of red fruit and cherries along with hints of spice, cocoa and oak

Port is, of course, the fortified wine from the Douro valley in northern Portugal that was developed in the end of the 17th century by English merchants as a response to the ban on French wines due to Anglo-French rivalries — which is why most ports have English names (Taylor, Dow, Sandeman, Warre, Graham). The wine is produced from a potpourri of red wine grapes (principally Touriga Nacional and Tempranillo) where fermentation is arrested by adding brandy (distilled from the same wine). The resulting product is strong (upto 20% v/v), sweet, and capable of ageing for 40-50 years.

Try any good vintage port: my choice would be Dow Vintage Port 2011 that was #1 on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 list in 2014 with a rating of 99 points, or the Warre Vintage Port 2016 (still young), rated at 98 points by Wine Spectator in 2018.

Last (but not least) are sherries, wines produced in the Jerez region of Southern Spain from the Palomino grape, fortified up to 22% v/v, and aged with the unique solera system, which involves blending a portion of older wines to younger vintages in a continuous process.

The richest (and sweetest) sherries are called “Pedro Ximénez”, with a sugar content of 200+ gm/litre and can cost $300 per half-bottle. Top sherry producers include Equipo Navazos, Bodegas Hidalgo, Bodegas Osborne, and Gonzalez Byass.

So there you have it, my bucket list of wines to try over the next one year will leave one richer in wines quaffed; but then, as they say, ‘life is too short to drink bad wines’. 

Wines I’ve been drinking: The Roda Reserva 2015 from Bodegas Roda in Rioja, Spain: a red wine produced from (mostly) Tempranillo grapes. A beautiful wine: complex and smooth with deep aromas of red fruit and cherries along with hints of spice, cocoa and oak. It’s medium-bodied with soft tannins and a long finish. Yum!

As the Spanish say, Salud!

Alok Chandra is a Bengaluru-based wine consultant