Sweet wines are often overlooked and reduced to being desert wines instead of being enjoyed for what they are.
In our book, they are a sweet and delicate surprise that should rightfully remain on the list of any true wine-lover.

What are sweet wines?

Historically, sweet wines used to be the envy of the whole world! Before the advances of technology and refrigeration, and before modern winemaking techniques, sugars were added to wine to stabilize its taste and prolong its life.
If we want to go at it simply, wine is made by converting the natural sugars found in grapes into alcohol and carbon dioxide by using yeast. Usually, to obtain a dry wine, nearly all of the sugars are fermented out of the grapes in the process.
If any sugar remains, then the wine is considered sweet.

How is sweet wine made?

In the past, grapes were left out to dry in the sun after harvest. The water of the grapes then evaporates, leaving them with a high sugar level that makes the wine sweet.
With today’s modern techniques, other methods are used to produce sweet wine such as filtration for example: when a winemaker has obtained the level of sweetness he wishes, he can filter out the yeast, thus controlling the level of sweetness of his wine.
A winemaker can also decide to stop the fermentation process before all the sugars have turned into alcohol, keeping some residual sugars in the wine.

The world of Sweet wine is so versatile, creating space for more experimentation and creativity. Sweet wine can be obtained using white or red grapes. Their varietals are endless, so are their types, colors and origins.
As Lebanese wine lovers, we are in love with everything eclectic, and there isn’t a more eclectic world than those of Sweet and Lebanese wines.

Discover what we mean HERE!