Best Southeastern European Dessert Wine Types
Vinsanto is a dessert wine hailing from Santorini. It is made with sun-dried Assyrtiko and Aidani grapes. Despite a surprisingly similar name, this Greek wine does not have much in common with the more famous Vin Santo from Tuscany. The grapes are sun-dried for approximately fourteen days and are then fermented and aged.
This wine has to be oak-aged for a minimum of two years, but most producers opt for longer maturation. The result is a sweet and dense wine packed with flavor and rich in aromas. Although both grape varieties are white-skinned, Vinsanto will attain a luscious golden color that tends to turn into darker amber hues as the wine ages.
Malagousia is an ancient, white-skinned Greek grape that was saved from extinction by Vangelis Gerovassiliou, who brought it back from obscurity in the 1970s. The grape produces aromatic dry wines, which are usually of excellent quality.
It is also used to make dense and perfumed dessert styles. On the nose, the wines display intense aromas often reminiscent of peaches, pears, and tropical fruit, usually with citrusy, herbal, and subtle floral notes. On the palate, they are full-bodied, rich, and round, and the best examples manage to remain lively and fresh.
Nectar is a wine style that hails from Samos. The wine is produced from Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains, which is locally known as Moschato Aspro. The style is made with late-harvested and sun-dried grapes, and the wines have to be oak-aged for at least three years.
Nectar has an appealing light amber color. It is a complex and rich wine with an aroma reminiscent of honey, raisins, dried fruits, and nuts. On the palate, they display a good balance of acidity and sweetness, with typical dried fruit, toffee, spicy, and herbal notes.
Samos Vin Doux is the most popular wine from Samos. It is produced from Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains, which is locally known as Moschato Aspro. Apart from this style, the appellation also includes dry wines and the renowned Samos Nectar made from dried grapes.
As it is evident from the name, this wine is produced as a vin doux style. This technique involves adding grape spirit before fermentation is completed. The result is a wine that retains its natural sweetness and typically has higher alcohol content.
Located on the eponymous Greek island, Muscat of Limnos is a Greek appellation that produces sweet dessert wines exclusively from white Muscat of Alexandria grapes. The wines can be fortified or naturally sweet—when they are classified as vin naturellement doux.
Muscat of Limnos wines are aromatic, light, bright, and fresh, with a rich body and typical notes of apricots and mint. They usually have well-balanced acidity and a long finish. These wines should always be served well-chilled, and though they can be enjoyed on their own, they are also a good match to blue or aged cheese and desserts.
Crna Tamjanika is a red grape cultivated in Serbia that is mainly associated with Negotin and Fruška gora. The origin of the grape has not yet been identified, but it is either closely related or identical to Rosenmuskateller, an aromatic grape native to Austria that is also cultivated in Italy (Moscato Rosa) and Croatia (Muškat Ruža).
Crna Tamjanika is a finicky, low-yielding grape with functional female flowers. Because of its characteristics, it was scarcely cultivated in Serbia after phylloxera. Several winemakers recently reintroduced it as a red variety that has excellent potential to produce dry and dessert wines.
Ikaria has been known for its wine production since the ancient times when the wine carried the name Pramnios Oinos—given after the mountain peak Pramnos. The wine was produced from sun-dried Fokiano grapes, and it was quite potent, with 18% ABV.
In modern winemaking, the grape is still used in the production of dry and naturally sweet wines. Dry wines made from Fokiano are traditionally produced by pouring must into clay pots (pitharia) which are buried and covered with stones while the wine ferments.
Anthemis is a style of wine that hails from Samos. It is made entirely from Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains, the island's signature grape known as Moschato Aspro. Essentially, Anthemis is the aged version of vin doux, the most popular style on the island in which grape spirit is added before the fermentation is completed.
This helps the wine to retain natural sweetness. Anthemis is usually oak-aged for five years, and the final product is an amber-colored wine with an intense bouquet and flavor. The flavor and the aroma are rich and complex, reminiscent of dried fruits, caramelized nuts, honey, and butterscotch, along with some herbaceous notes.
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.