As the name suggests, dessert wine is a sweet wine that is intended to be served alongside dessert. These wines are often rich in flavour and have a high sugar content.

There has been a growing demand for premium dessert wines aimed at satisfying consumer demand for high-quality and unique flavours. This has driven market growth by enticing wineries to improve and enhance their product offerings and release new artisanal options, which in turn command higher price points and increased revenue.

There is rising interest in low-alcohol dessert wines by health-conscious Millennials and the Gen Z population who desire lighter wines. These wines also appeal to a broad range of wellness seekers, thus enhancing market growth.

Again, health-conscious and ethically driven drinkers are creating demand for vegan and allergen-free wine alternatives. By excluding animal-derived fining agents, which are added to wine to alter its colour, flavour, texture, and clarity, new dessert wine markets become available. These agents include additives such as casein or gelatin.

There are generally five types of dessert wine. Thirty percent of the market is made up of fortified wines, consisting of Port, Sherry, Madeira and Marsala.

Late harvest wines are next, consisting of twenty-five percent of the dessert wine market. Included in this category are Late Harvest Riesling, Late Harvest Sémillon and Late Harvest Gewürztraminer.

Controlling twenty percent of the market is Ice Wine. Included are Eiswein and Ice Cider.

Botrytized Wines, also referred to as Noble Rot, consist of fifteen percent of the market. For an explanation of this type of wine, refer to my post, Dessert Wines from April 18, 2020. Wines in tis group include Sauternes and Tokaji Aszú.

The “Other” wine category make up the remaining ten percent of the dessert wine market. Included in this catch-all category is Recioto della Valpolicella, Vin Santo and Muscat / Moscato.

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