Designation for wines with a high content of unfermented sugar that are made from grapes rich in sugar. Optimal climatic conditions exist in many places around the Mediterranean, which is why many of the famous sweet wines come from Greece, Spain, France, Portugal and Italy. They have an ancient tradition. The most famous ancient wines include the sultana wine Passum from Rome and Commandaria from the island of Cyprus.
In the late Middle Ages, sweet wines were very popular with European ruling houses and aristocratic circles. The Greek port of Monemvasia was a famous trading centre for sweet specialities from islands in the Aegean such as Crete, Paros, Samos and Santorini. The emerging global trade made Constantia from South Africa, sweet wines from France such as Château d'Yquem and Tokay from Hungary famous. From the 16th century onwards, expeditions to the newly discovered territories of the New World...
For my many years of work as an editor with a wine and culinary focus, I always like to inform myself about special questions at Wine lexicon. Spontaneous reading and following links often leads to exciting discoveries in the wide world of wine.
Dr. Christa Hanten
Fachjournalistin, Lektorin und Verkosterin, Wien