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Lexicon

The largest wine encyclopedia in the world with 26,725 Terms.

0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Sweet wine

Designation for wines with a high content of unfermented sugar that are made from grapes rich in sugar. The ideal climatic conditions for this are found 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 Cyprus.

Famous sweet wines

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 discovered territories of the New World preserved the wines with alcohol enhancers (sprits) for the long sea voyages. This was the beginning of the triumphal march of Madeira, port, sherry and co.

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Dr. Edgar Müller

I have great respect for the scope and quality of the wein.plus encyclopaedia. It is a unique place to go for crisp, sound information on terms from the world of wine.

Dr. Edgar Müller
Dozent, Önologe und Weinbauberater, Bad Kreuznach

The world's largest Lexicon of wine terms.

26,725 Keywords · 47,094 Synonyms · 5,302 Translations · 32,055 Pronunciations · 245,405 Cross-references
made with ♥ by our author Norbert F. J. Tischelmayer. About the Lexicon

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