Winemaking: Sweet whites

Bordeaux’s sweet white wine appellations are, in very approximate descending order of quality, sauternes, barsac, sainte-croix-du-mont, loupiac, cérons, cadillac, premières côtes de bordeaux, graves Supérieures, ste-foy-bordeaux, Côtes de Bordeaux‐saint-macaire, and Bordeaux Supérieur (for which see bordeaux aoc).

Basic sweet white bordeaux, often described as moelleux, is a simple, sugary wine for which demand is falling. It is typically made by stopping the alcoholic fermentation once it has reached the level of sweetness required. (See residual sugar.) This is generally achieved by a combition of techniques: chilling, sulfur dioxide addition, and sterile filtration. Winemakers in Sauternes and Barsac, however, and their more ambitious counterparts elsewhere, aim to make very rich botrytized wines from grapes at the full limit of ripeness, which may be described as liquoreux. This involves a considerably more painstaking winemaking regime, even more dependent than any other on events in the vineyard, which is described in sauternes. The wine’s selling price, which in the 20th century was depressed by the whims of fashion, may also play a part in determining whether its maker is able or prepared to take the risks involved in trying to maximize ripeness of the grapes. In the late 1980s, some producers experimented with the supplementary and controversial technique cryoextraction in order to concentrate sugars by freezing.