10 Sweet Red Wines for Beginners
A sweet red wine satisfies any dessert craving you can imagine. You save yourself the calories from a sugary dessert while also getting all the routine antioxidants and healthy benefits of consuming a glass of red wine.
For beginners, sweet red wines are a category of wines worth exploring. The following are ten of the best sweet red wines for beginners:
1. Ice Wine
Ice wine is the sweetest red wine you will find. It is made after having left grapes on the vine to freeze. The process of freezing them concentrates the sugar in the grapes which means more sugar with the same yield.
Ice wines are often referred to as ‘dessert wines’. They are that sweet. A wide variety of grapes are used in this broad category of sweet red wines, including Vidal, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot.
2. Lambrusco Wine
Lambrusco, from Italy, is a sweet red wine that’s a little on the dry side. It’s fizzy and packed with some major fruit taste. Lambrusco pairs well with any situation where you want a fun, conversational wine. Lambrusco also has a low-alcohol content compared to other sweet reds.
3. Cabernet Franc Wine
If you love raspberry, you will absolutely love Cabernet Franc. Combined with hints of bell pepper and cassis, this Cabernet is a soft, smooth, and sweet red wine. It’s got some sweetness and some bitterness, as a medium-bodied wine. For beginners who already love red wines and who want to attempt a sweet wine, this one is a fine one to grab onto.
4. Sparkling Shiraz Wine
Sparkling Shiraz comes from Australia. It is a fizzy, sweet red wine, ideally consumed chilled. Chocolate, cherries, blackberries, strawberries, oak, and sweet fruit are all found in varieties of Sparkling Shiraz. Fortunately, there is quite a cost range so there are more affordable wines and premiums to enjoy under the umbrella of a Sparkling Shiraz.
5. Port Wine
Next on this list of sweet red wines for beginners is Port. Originally from northern Portugal, this fortified red wine is now manufactured all over the world. Port is usually very, very sweet. It is considered rich and heavy, and boasts a higher alcohol percentage than other red wines.
6. Ruby Port Wine
Ruby Port makes the list here as a go-to Port, with nice punch to it. As a fortified wine, distilled grape spirit is added to the wine which instantly elevates its alcohol content. Ruby Port wines undergo fortification mid-fermentation, killing the yeast and leaving residual sugar in the mix. Looking for an after-dinner sweet red wine – check out a Ruby Port.
7. Grenache Wine
Grenache is a very popular wine, with grapes grown in warmer climates. Grenache wine has flavors of berry and spicy pepper in it, is soft on the palate, and is sometimes moderately sweet. When we begin talking about Grenache red wines, we start to move away from sweet to dry wines.
8. Maury Wine
Maury is another fortified wine from southern France similar to Port. Like Port, Maury is fortified midway through fermentation. This is what gives it a lot of its sweetness as a lot of sugar is left behind. Maury is made from a minimum of 75 percent Grenache. There are a number of ingredients added, such as Syrah, Muscat, Macabeu, and similar brands.
9. Banyuls Wine
Banyuls is a fortified French wine. From southern France, Banyuls is fortified like a Port but unlike other varieties, Banyuls require a minimum aging of 10 months. Alcohol content in Banyuls is typically lower, around 16 percent. Another indulgent sweet red wine on the list.
10. Cabernet Sauvignon Wine
This entry is not known as a sweet wine. Cabernet Sauvignon is a dry wine. Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are cultivated all over the world and they are a major percentage of what’s used in red wines today. A Cabernet Sauvignon makes this list as they are moderately sweet in certain varieties, and are an ideal bridge between drier wines and sweet red wines.