All About Vins Doux Naturel And Other Sweet Or Luscious Wines

Vins Doux Naturels (VDN), sweet wines and luscious wines all have a late grape harvest in common. But the means used to obtain this sweetness in the glass are not the same:

Vins Doux Naturels are distinguished from sweet white wines by a method designed to stop the transformation of sugar into alcohol: this is known as mutage. After a conventional start to the vinification process, fermentation is stopped by adding neutral alcohol (at 96% vol.). The result of this technique is an exuberant bouquet and a natural sweetness that comes authentically from the fruit of the grape. They are said to be ‘natural’ because no flavouring or sugar has been added at the time of vinification. The later the mutage is carried out, the less sugar will remain in the wine. This is why there are so many nuances in the sweetness of these wines. They are, however, considered to be sweet white wines, and therefore very sweet. However, they are distinguished from ‘vins de liqueur’, which receive alcohol before fermentation begins.

The terroirs, grape varieties and ageing methods defined for each of the appellations give them their respective characteristics. Traditional ageing is usually oxidative, in barrels or tuns, which gives the wine its rancio character, its tile or amber colour and its dried fruit aromas.

Sweet white wines are exclusively white wines. Remember that if a white wine is sweet, it is because fermentation has not transformed all the sugar in the grapes into alcohol. If the yeasts were unable to ferment all the sugar, it's because the juice contained too much sugar, due to a late harvest of the grapes. This is known as late grape harvest.

The vinification of sweet and dessert wines is based on the principle of over-ripening of the grapes: when the grapes reach their optimum size, they have lost water and therefore become concentrated in sugar. This results in wines with a higher alcohol content, due to the richness of the sugar, known as sucrosité.

The best-known sweet white wines are : Sauternes, Coteaux du Layon, Barsac, Monbazillac, Jurançon. These wines can be drunk young or in a few years' time, as their sugar content means they can be kept for a long time.

Food and wine pairings: aperitif and foie gras, world cuisine (Asian for sweet and sour), blue cheeses (Morbier, Roquefort, etc.), fruity desserts, as an after-dinner drink.

The high sugar content may depend on:

• The action of ‘noble rot’, a microscopic fungus called Botrytis Cinerea which appears on the berries when weather conditions permit.
• The passerillage of the grapes, which can be combined with the action of Botritys, and which consists of letting the berries dry out on their feet by evaporation of the water they contain, thereby favouring the concentration of sugar and alcohol. Another method is to pick the grapes and leave them to dry out on racks (straw) in a warm, well-ventilated place.