Dessert Wines

beverages prepared by incomplete alcoholic fermentation of the juice of grapes (and other fruits and berries) and the addition of sugar. They contain from 12 to 17 percent alcohol by volume, including not less than 1.2 percent alcohol (by volume) produced by natural fermentation; their sugar content is from 5 to 12 percent for semisweet and 14 to 20 percent for sweet wines, and from 21 to 35 percent for liqueurs. Sweet wines and liqueurs are made from grapes of high saccharinity from a late harvest. To raise the sugar content it is permissible to introduce concentrated grape must. For halting the fermentation and maintaining the needed saccharinity, alcohol is added. Dessert wines include Tokays, Cahors, Malaga, sweet ports, and muscatels.