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I’m not a chocolate lover and sweets don’t get me going but I’ll take a glass of something sticky every time. When I was introduced to best-selling cookbook author James Peterson’s latest, Sweet Wines, A Guide to the World’s Best with Recipes, a new world opened – sweet wines are not just for dessert. Peterson pairs them with everything from savouries to entreés and sweets.
Sweet wines are made by most of the world’s wine producing countries and Peterson takes us on a tour of 60 of these lesser-known wines with stops in Europe, Australia, South Africa, the USA and Canada. You’ll discover quirky facts like sauternes were once very popular with oysters (surprisingly good) and other fish dishes. Sweet wine styles are all explored: sherries, Madeira, late harvest, Sauternes, Icewine (Canada) or eiswein (Germany) and the other Germanic sweet wines, port, muscat, Italy’s moscato and marsala and many more.
And there are recipes. A tipple of Sauternes or late-harvest Alsatian Riesling is just the ticket with a sublime black truffle custard; foie gras and Sauternes are a legendary match; prosciutto and figs fly with a late-harvest Alsatian Riesling; Tuscan hazelnut biscotti soars with vin santo; gingerbread with Madeira … delicious.
Note: Vancouver wine author and writer, John Schreiner (Icewine, the Complete Story) “was pivotal in tracking down Canadian wines”.
Reviewed by Judith Lane, wine writer | 
