Guide to Sweet Whites, Rose and Light Red Wine

In the last article, we covered sparkling wine and the whites.

This time we're moving into territory that gets more contentious: the sweet whites that most people have never properly tried, the rosé that Andrew refuses to acknowledge as a real thing, and the light reds that tend to convert people who think red wine isn't for them.

Three styles, all underrated, all worth your time. Let's go.

Sweet White Wine

Sweet white wines are the oldest style on this list, and probably the most misunderstood. Most people either love them or assume they're not for them, usually without having tried the good ones. If your only reference point is a sticky supermarket Muscat or a glass of warm Liebfraumilch at a wedding in 1987, it's time for a reset.

The key thing to understand is that "sweet" in wine doesn't mean simple, cheap, or unsophisticated. Some of the most complex, expensive, and age-worthy wines in the world are sweet whites. Château d'Yquem, the greatest Sauternes, regularly commands prices that would embarrass a first-growth Bordeaux red. A great Trockenbeerenauslese Riesling from Germany is practically a collector's item. These are not casual wines.

What unites the sweet white category is aromatic intensity. These grapes (Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Muscat, Torrontés) produce wines with an explosive perfume that springs out of the glass before you've even lifted it. The sweetness is often balanced by high acidity, which stops them feeling cloying and makes them far more food-friendly than people expect.

Riesling

Background: Riesling is one of the great white grapes of the world, and one of the most unfairly neglected outside of specialist wine circles. It produces wines across the full spectrum from bone-dry to intensely sweet, but always with that characteristic high acidity and a distinctive mineral, almost petrolly note that develops with age. Yes, petrol. It sounds alarming; it's actually rather wonderful once you understand it.

Germany is Riesling's spiritual home, and the classification system there runs from Kabinett (lightest, often off-dry) through Spätlese and Auslese to the extraordinary Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese, essentially tracking increasing ripeness and sweetness. Alsace (France) produces drier, fuller-bodied Rieslings. Austria makes some of the finest dry Rieslings in the world. Australia's Clare and Eden valleys produce a completely different style: lime-driven, bone-dry, and built to age.

What to try: A Mosel Spätlese is the ideal introduction: the low alcohol, the balance of fruit sweetness and racy acidity, and the price (rarely more than £15 - 20 for something excellent) make it one of wine's best entry points. Producers like Dr. Loosen, J.J. Prüm, and Selbach-Oster are benchmarks. For dry Riesling, Alsace producers like Trimbach and Hugel are widely available. And if you've never tried an aged Riesling (even a modest German Kabinett from ten years ago), the way petrol and honey develop over time is one of wine's more surprising pleasures.

Gewürztraminer

Background: Gewürztraminer is the most immediately recognisable white grape in the world. Nothing else smells quite like it: lychee, rose petal, ginger, Turkish delight, and a distinctive spice note that gives the grape its name (Gewürz means "spice" in German). It's a deeply unfashionable grape in certain wine circles, possibly because its unashamed flamboyance makes subtlety-obsessed critics nervous. Ignore them.

It's at its best in Alsace, where the long, warm, dry growing season produces wines of extraordinary concentration. It ranges from off-dry to very sweet (Vendange Tardive and Sélection de Grains Nobles are the late-harvest Alsatian sweet wine categories) but always has that weight and aromatic intensity.

What to try: An Alsace Gewürztraminer from a decent producer (Hugel, Trimbach, Zind-Humbrecht, Weinbach) is the definitive version. Serve it slightly warmer than you would a light white (around 12°C rather than 8°C) to let the aromas open up fully. It's one of the few wines that works with spiced Asian food, particularly Thai and Vietnamese cuisine, where the aromatic weight matches the food rather than fighting it.

Moscato d'Asti

Background: Moscato d'Asti is from Piedmont in north-west Italy, made from the Moscato Bianco grape (a relative of Cleopatra's beloved Muscat of Alexandria), and it's one of the most effortlessly charming wines in existence. It's gently fizzy rather than fully sparkling, low in alcohol (typically 5–5.5% ABV), delicately sweet, and smells of peaches, apricots, and orange blossom. It's also very, very easy to drink.

What to try: Moscato d'Asti is a DOCG, so any bottle bearing that name is regulated. Producers like Saracco, La Spinetta, and Michele Chiarlo make excellent versions. Drink it young and cold, ideally with fruit-based desserts, fresh berries, or the classic Piedmontese pairing: a plate of biscotti. The low alcohol makes it a sensible choice for anyone who wants something sweet without the commitment of a full dessert wine.

Torrontés

Background: Argentina's most distinctive white grape, and one that surprises almost everyone who tries it. Torrontés smells extraordinarily aromatic (floral, grapey, almost perfumed) and you'd be forgiven for expecting something very sweet. Then you taste it and it's completely dry. That disconnect between nose and palate is part of what makes it so interesting.

It thrives in the high-altitude vineyards of Salta and La Rioja in north-west Argentina, where the intense sunshine and cold nights produce grapes of exceptional aromatic concentration.

What to try: Clos de los Siete and Crios de Susana Balbo make widely available examples. It's brilliant with seafood, particularly prawns and white fish, and works very well with spiced dishes where a more delicate white would get lost. If you like the aromatic intensity of Gewürztraminer but find it a little heavy, Torrontés offers something similar at lower alcohol and lower prices.

Muscat

Background: Muscat is a family of grapes rather than a single variety, and it appears in wines ranging from the delicate fizz of Moscato d'Asti to the rich, fortified sweetness of Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise and the extraordinary Rutherglen Muscat from Victoria, Australia. What unites them is a grapey, floral, intensely aromatic character that's completely distinctive. Muscat, more than almost any other grape, actually smells of grapes.

It's also genuinely ancient. Muscat of Alexandria, the variety Cleopatra reportedly favoured, is one of the oldest cultivated grape varieties in the world, grown across the Mediterranean for thousands of years.

What to try: Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise (fortified, from the Southern Rhône) is a lovely introduction: golden, rich, and sweet without being cloying. For something completely different, a Rutherglen Muscat from Australia (producers like Chambers Rosewood or Morris) is one of wine's most extraordinary experiences: dark, treacly, intensely complex, and capable of ageing almost indefinitely.

Rosé

Rosé has had an image problem it doesn't deserve. It spent two decades being synonymous with sugary, novelty bottles, and hen parties, and the better producers have spent the last ten years quietly making some of the most elegant, food-friendly wines in France.

The gap between bad rosé and good rosé is enormous. This is a guide to the good stuff.

Technically, rosé sits between white and red wine. It's made from red grapes, but the skins are only left in contact with the juice for a matter of hours rather than days. Long enough to pick up colour and a little structure, but not long enough to develop the tannin and depth of a red. The result is a wine with the freshness and acidity of a white and the faint fruity character of a red, which makes it one of the most versatile food wines in existence.

The best rosés in the world come from Provence in southern France, and they bear almost no resemblance to the pink stuff on the bottom shelf of the supermarket. They're pale (often barely pink), bone dry, and delicate.

Andrew has, to date, tried none of them.

Provence Rosé

Background: Provence is the undisputed heartland of serious rosé, and the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée system here: Côtes de Provence, Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence, and the smaller, higher-quality Bandol, produces wines of genuine distinction. The grapes are typically Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cinsault, and Carignan, blended to produce that characteristic pale, elegant style.

The colour is not an accident. Provençal winemakers press their grapes very gently and for a very short time to extract the minimum colour. The result is wines that look almost like a very pale white wine with a pink tint. This light extraction also means very little tannin, high acidity, and flavours that tend towards strawberry, white peach, citrus, and herbs rather than the deeper, jammier fruit of a darker rosé.

What to try: Whispering Angel from Château d'Esclans is the most famous Provence rosé and a genuinely good introduction, though the price reflects its fame. For better value, look to Miraval (owned by Brad Pitt and now solely by Angelina Jolie, in case you need a conversation starter), Château Roubine, or any Côtes de Provence from a reputable producer. Bandol Rosé, made with a higher proportion of Mourvèdre, is fuller, more structured, and can age for several years, which is almost unheard of for rosé.

Tavel

Background: Tavel is the only AOC in France dedicated exclusively to rosé, and it's a very different animal to Provence. Deeper in colour (salmon to copper), fuller in body, and considerably more structured, Tavel is made primarily from Grenache and Cinsault and is designed to be a serious food wine rather than a casual aperitif. It's one of the few rosés that actually improves with a couple of years in the bottle.

What to try: Château d'Aquéria and Domaine de la Mordorée make excellent Tavels. Pair it with grilled lamb, duck, or robust Mediterranean dishes. This is not a wine for delicate food. If you've written off rosé as something you drink on a sun lounger, Tavel might change your mind.

Spanish Rosado

Background: Spain produces some outstanding rosé under the name Rosado, and it tends to be darker in colour and more fruit-forward than Provençal rosé, closer to a very light red than a pale pink. The best come from Navarra (made from Garnacha) and Rioja, where Tempranillo and Garnacha produce wines of real character and food-friendliness at prices that make their French counterparts look extravagant.

What to try: Navarra Rosado is the classic. Look for Ochoa or Nekeas for reliable quality. A Rioja Rosado from a producer like Muga or López de Heredia offers considerably more complexity. The López de Heredia Viña Tondonia Rosado is one of the more unusual wines you'll encounter: aged for years in oak, oxidative in style, and like nothing else in the rosé world.

English Rosé

Background: English rosé has improved enormously over the last decade, following the same trajectory as English sparkling wine. The cooler climate produces rosés of genuine delicacy: pale, high in acidity, with a distinctive freshness that works particularly well in the English summer (both of them). Pinot Noir is the dominant grape, either still or sparkling.

What to try: Bolney Estate and Hattingley Valley make excellent still rosés. For a sparkling English rosé, Nyetimber's Blanc de Noirs and Chapel Down's Brut Rosé are both worth trying. Prices are higher than equivalent French rosé, but the quality justifies it and there's an obvious appeal to drinking something made down the road.

Light-Bodied Red Wine

Light reds are the ones that get condescended to at dinner parties by people who think bigger always means better. It doesn't. A great Pinot Noir or a cru Beaujolais shows more finesse, more complexity, and more sheer drinking pleasure than plenty of wines twice the price and twice the weight. They're also considerably more civilised on a Tuesday.

The defining characteristics of this style are: pale colour (light enough to see through in the glass), low tannin, relatively low alcohol (usually 11.5–13%), and high acidity. Tannin, that drying, astringent sensation from grape skins and oak, is what makes some red wines feel grippy or rough. Light reds have very little of it, which makes them immediately approachable, food-friendly, and surprisingly versatile: they're the only red wines that can genuinely work with fish.

Serve them slightly cooler than you would a bigger red, around 14–16°C rather than room temperature. A light red that's too warm loses its freshness and starts to feel flat.

Pinot Noir

Background: Pinot Noir is one of the world's great red grapes, and one of the most difficult to grow well. It's thin-skinned, temperamental, prone to disease, and brutally transparent about the quality of its terroir. A bad Pinot Noir is insipid. A great one is extraordinary: silky in texture, complex in flavour (red cherry, raspberry, earthy undergrowth, sometimes smoke or game as it ages), and with a persistence on the palate that belies its apparent delicacy.

Burgundy is its home, and the great red Burgundies (Gevrey-Chambertin, Chambolle-Musigny, Vosne-Romanée) are among the most sought-after and expensive wines in the world. But excellent Pinot Noir is now made across the globe: New Zealand's Central Otago and Martinborough, California's Sonoma Coast and Santa Barbara, Oregon's Willamette Valley, and increasingly, England.

What to try: Village-level red Burgundy is the obvious starting point. A Gevrey-Chambertin or Chambolle-Musigny from a good producer shows what Pinot can do at a price that won't require a second mortgage. For New World Pinot, New Zealand's Ata Rangi, Felton Road, and Cloudy Bay make excellent examples. Oregon's Willamette Valley (Adelsheim, Domaine Drouhin Oregon) produces a slightly fuller, riper style. For everyday drinking, a Bourgogne Rouge from a reliable négociant like Louis Jadot or Joseph Drouhin is consistently good value.

Beaujolais / Gamay

Background: Beaujolais gets a bad reputation it largely doesn't deserve, and almost all of it stems from Beaujolais Nouveau: the famously thin, banana-scented wine released every November that became a marketing phenomenon in the 1970s and 80s and a laughing stock shortly after. The mistake is judging all Beaujolais by Nouveau, which is like judging all English cooking by a service station sandwich.

Real Beaujolais, particularly the ten cru Beaujolais villages (Fleurie, Morgon, Moulin-à-Vent, Brouilly, Chiroubles, Côte de Brouilly, Chénas, Juliénas, Régnié, and Saint-Amour), is a completely different proposition. Made from Gamay Noir on granite soils, the crus produce wines of genuine complexity, individuality, and ageing potential. Morgon in particular can age for a decade or more and develop an almost Burgundy-like depth.

What to try: Start with a Fleurie for something immediately charming: floral, silky, and delicate. Move to Morgon if you want more structure and complexity. The wines of Marcel Lapierre, Jean Foillard, and Guy Breton (collectively part of the "Gang of Four" who revived authentic Beaujolais winemaking in the 1980s) are benchmarks. For everyday drinking, a Beaujolais-Villages from a reliable producer at £10–14 is one of the best-value food wines in France.

Schiava

Background: Schiava (also called Vernatsch) is from Alto Adige in north-east Italy and is probably the lightest red wine in mainstream production, so pale it can look almost like a dark rosé in the glass. It's low in tannin, low in alcohol, and has a distinctive almond and red cherry character with a slightly bitter finish that's entirely its own. It's not a wine that demands attention, which is precisely the point.

What to try: Santa Maddalena DOC and Lago di Caldaro DOC are the main appellations. It's widely drunk in the South Tyrol as a lunchtime wine and that's probably the best way to approach it: cool, with simple food, without overthinking it. At £10–15 a bottle from an Italian specialist, it's a useful addition to the repertoire.

Zweigelt

Background: Austria's most widely planted red grape, and one that deserves considerably more attention than it gets outside central Europe. Zweigelt sits at the lighter end of medium-bodied, with a juicy cherry and pepper character, soft tannins, and a lively acidity that makes it an excellent food wine. It's a crossing of Blaufränkisch and St. Laurent, developed in the 1920s, and at its best it has a real elegance that the more serious Austrian reds (Blaufränkisch, Zweigelt's own parent) can lack in youth.

What to try: Weingut Umathum, Moric, and Pittnauer all make excellent Zweigelts. It's a brilliant match for roast pork, wiener schnitzel (obviously), and grilled sausages. Unsurprisingly, given where it comes from. It's also one of the more interesting things to order by the glass in a wine bar when you want something a little off the beaten track.

Frequently Asked Questions