Wine Review: Sweet wines just as valid as dry selections

OK, let’s get it off our chests and kick the wine know-it-alls, experts, gurus, geeks and your nosy neighbor out of the way and openly and honestly talk about sweet wines.

The existence of sweet wines cannot be denied as they share shelf space with the dry wines and, if they weren’t selling, they wouldn't be there, would they? There are wine lovers who like sweet wines, and that does not make them any less appreciative than or intellectually inferior to dry wine enthusiasts.

As a historical note, most of the wines of France in ancient times were sweet. That all changed when Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, whose domain included the major wine-producing French region of Bordeaux and several other wine-producing districts, married the British King Louis VII in 1152. After the marriage, most of the French wine production went to England as Bordeaux was now a British acquisition and the British liked their wine dry. Slowly but steadily, the rest of France followed, as did the rest of the wine world, who would eventually adopt the dry style as their standard.

I recently had the opportunity to sample some of the Italian Mosketto line of sweet still wines and the sweet sparkling wines of Acquesi, all of which are gluten free, non-GMO and vegan friendly. Before sampling the wines, I expected them to have a mostly sugar experience, but to the contrary, the sweetness was a fruit sweetness that did not in any way mask the true flavor and aroma of the wine and grape variety.

Mosketto White ($12)
This wine has been made from Italian moscato grapes, which are the variety that started the current sweet wine popularity by offering a wine that is a wine first and sweet second. Looking past the sweetness, this wine is a basket of fresh summer fruits with just a hint of spice. As an added extra, the wine is petulant, meaning that it is very slightly sparkling, as are all of the Mosketto wines. Fresh fruit flavor, sweetness, bubbles and an affordable price tag make for a wine that is hard to beat but easy to enjoy.

Mosketto Pink ($12)
Made from moscato-brachetto grapes, this wine offers what a good rose wine should: flowers, flowers and then more flowers with some fresh summer fruit to brighten the wine even more. The aromas of strawberries, red cherries and raspberries are very discernible and are enhanced by tiny bubbles.

Mosketto Red (Rosso) ($12)
This sweet red wine has everything going for it from its birthplace, Piedmont, a region of Italy noted for fine wine grapes. If I may digress for a moment, I have often said that if I could not live in the United States, I would go to Piedmont. When I visited there, I found the wines, wherever I ate, to be exceptional. The aroma of this beverage captures all of the fruits that red wines are famous for: cherries, raspberries and pomegranate mixed in with an unforgettable floral aroma in the background. I will add that my opinion of Piedmont wines was both justified and reinforced by this wine.

Acquesi Asti White and Piedmont Brachetto Red Sweet Sparkling Wines ($17)
Available in the same styles as the Mosketto still wines, the Acquesi wines are fully sparkling and a pure delight. Unlike many of the other affordable sparkling wines whose bubbles die as soon as the cork is popped, the Acquesi sparkling wines have small, long-lasting bubbles and what seems to be a never-ending aroma. As an added extra, the wines are presented in flower-designed bottles. If it is your custom to have wine with dinner, try a sparkling wine for a change as it can even make leftover meatloaf seem like a gourmet feast.

Wine columnist Bennet Bodenstein can be reached at frojhe1@att.net.