These sweeter wines are for those occasions - don't open them at the office barbecue because they are worth sipping, savouring and lingering over.
Sweet wines often go best with something simple that doesn't compete with their complex flavours - fresh strawberries or ripe peaches, a plain almond biscotti, or some mature cheese, perhaps a blue or an aged cheddar.
Although wine sent for review is tasted blind to eliminate preconceptions, all wine tasting and evaluation is subjective. These are personal recommendations. charmian.smith@odt.co.nz
Charmingly perfumed with hints of rose petals, spice and eau de cologne wafting from the glass, this wine is sweet but not cloying, with a lovely freshness.
Sip with unadorned strawberries.
4 stars (out of 5)
Average value
From the Loire Valley in France, this famous wine is made from chenin blanc and can evolve beautifully over 20-40 years.
However, it's also delicious young, intriguingly fragrant, and rich and full in the mouth; the sweetness of the fruit balanced by a taut, dry finish and long aftertaste.
Try with a mature farmhouse cheese.
4 stars (out of 5)
Average value
The more I tasted this medium sweet wine from Waipara, the more I thought it was pretty near perfect with its fragrant, zesty nose, refreshing melon, tropical and golden kiwifruit, rich intensity, power, texture and long, stylish, clean finish.
5 stars (out of 5)
Average value
Aromatic with hints of dried apricots, honey, figs and orange marmalade which continue on to the palate, a rich, silky texture and beautifully long, clean finish.
A stylish wine worth lingering over every decadent nuance.
Good with almond biscotti.
4 stars (out of 5)
Average value
A full-on wine, over the top in every way, oozing dried apricots, figs, citrus and honey with the texture of golden syrup, undertones of burnt caramel and a long, clean finish.
Try with an almond, orange and cardamom biscotti.
5 stars (out of 5)
Good value
An unusual wine, barrel-fermented botrytised sauvignon blanc with hints of buttered toast, green fruits, golden kiwifruit, rock melon and funky smoky sauvignon with an underlying hint of vanilla and toasty oak.
Pungent and in-your-face, this sweet wine is definitely one for individualists.
Try with mature cheddar or other hard cheese.
4 stars (out of 5)
Poor value
