A great dessert wine is not an afterthought; it can be the best thing on the table. The trick is matching its richness to the moment.

Dessert wine is any wine sweet and rich enough to round off a meal, and the classics have earned their status over centuries. The key to serving them well is a single rule: the wine should be at least as sweet as the pudding, or the pudding will make it taste sour and thin.

The Classics

Sauternes, golden and honeyed, is the benchmark, sublime with tarte tatin or, famously, with salty blue cheese. Tokaji from Hungary offers the same botrytis magic with a brighter, more citrus edge. And for the deepest, most decadent style, Pedro Ximénez sherry is pure liquid raisin, made for pouring over ice cream.

How to Serve

Serve dessert wine well chilled and in small glasses; these are wines to sip, not swig. And do not save them only for pudding. A glass with a cheese board, or simply on its own as the meal's final flourish, is often the finest way to enjoy them.

Pour something golden at the end of the night and you turn a good dinner into a memorable one. It is the easiest bit of hospitality there is.