I like a good dessert wine, after dinner or in lieu of a cocktail. A fine Sauternes can be treasured - yes, sweet, but with a fine balance of acidity.
A few months ago, I had a "
Pedro Ximénez" sherry, and it was lovely, dark and deep.
Then a couple of weeks ago, at some friends' Italian restaurant, we tried a Malvasia, a red, "frizzante" (semi-sparkling), dessert wine, and that was a
very nice introduction to the genre. It was a
Malvasia Costelnuovo Don Bosco "Annalisa"; I tried to find a Malvasia at a local shop, and got some "
Ronaldo ReDream", but it didn't have the same complexity as the Annalisa.
Years ago, we used to get
Essensia from
the Quady winery in Madera, California
("have some Madeira, my dear"). This fabulous wine is made from the Orange Muscat variety of grape, slightly fortified to about 15%, but it is hard to get on the east coast of the U.S. It has a distinct orange-ish flavor, rich and lush.