Simply Sweet Saturday: Dessert Wines

There is no simple definition of a dessert wine. In the UK, a dessert wine is considered to be any sweet wine drunk with a meal, as opposed to the white fortified wines (fino and amontillado sherry) drunk before the meal, and the red fortified wines (port and madeira) drunk after it. Thus most fortified wines are regarded as distinct from dessert wines, but some of the less strong fortified white wines, such as Pedro Ximenez sherry and Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise, are regarded as honorary dessert wines. In the United States, by contrast, a dessert wine is legally defined as any wine over 14% alcohol by volume, which includes all fortified wines – and is taxed more highly as a result.

For tonight I offered the following dessert wines:

To go with the wines I’ve chosen, here is the dinner I prepared:

Cheese & cracker boards
Roquefort, Blue cheese, Boursin, Brie,
Chevre (goat cheese), Marscapone, Provolone , Swiss

Fruit platter
Nectarines, Grapes, Apples, Pears, Dried Apricots

1 cup water
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice

In a small pot, combine all the ingredients and boil.
Stir occassionally and cook to reduce until a thick syrup.
Strain the mixture to rid of seeds. You may have to strain it a few times.
I served this as a sauce on the bottom of the serving plate for the flourless chocolate cake to sit on.

Fresh Lemon/Lime & Cucumber Water