A sweeter red wine, perfect for holiday barbecues
Most premium reds are dry, but this one bucks the trend.
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Mark West “Black” Pinot Noir Central Coast, California
$16.99 14.2% alcohol
PLCB Item #1493
Sale price through 12/31 – regularly $18.99
Liquor store shelves are awash with wines like this one that didn’t exist in the 20th century: premium red wines with enough sugar content to register as faintly sweet. While most premium wines of all colors are dry, there have always been a few sweeter white styles. Reds used to be reliably dry, though, as long as you were shopping for a decent bottle. Back then, the only red wines that were not fully dry were cheap “jug wines,” where a kiss of sugar could mask a multitude of sins, besides some unusual outliers made from dried grapes, like Italian Amarone. The absence of detectable sugar content in traditional red wines made them an acquired taste.
In ancient times, all wines needed to be dry. Winemaking was a method of preserving perishable grapes by converting their grape sugar into alcohol, so leaving any residual sugar behind would defeat the purpose. Sure, a kiss of sweetness might taste good, but it would render the wine unstable, susceptible to microbiological spoilage. Nowadays, winemakers have much more control, making it possible to create lightly sweet reds like this one to meet the demands of a younger audience accustomed to sugary cocktails and craft beers.
Designed to be easier on a newcomer’s palate, most modern “off-dry” reds are blends that come from warm regions like California. Their runaway success in recent decades has inspired spin-offs like this one, a varietally labeled pinot noir that is enriched in sweetness and deepened in color. Compared to Mark West’s traditional pinot noir, a paler, drier offering, this wine contains twice as much residual sugar, a touch more alcohol, and slightly lower acidity as well. Its flavor profile evokes darker and sweeter foods as well, with fruit flavors that taste less like sour cherries and more like black cherry compote. Basically, it’s a pinot noir with training wheels, but even jaded sophisticates with drier tastes can appreciate how well these sweeter reds pair with foods that contain their own sweetness. They’re a natural for anything topped with barbecue sauce or teriyaki glaze.
Also available at:
Kreston Wine & Spirits in Wilmington, Del. – $12.99
Total Wine & More in Wilmington and Claymont, Del. – $13.99
Joe Canal’s in Bellmawr, N.J. - $13.99