This is the time of year when, yes visions of sugar plums dance in your head (for some of us it’s after a couple of glasses). But also where, after getting the kids to bed, dinner’s done; with the dishes in the dishwasher, visions are more of feet up, a good book, great music or your favorite movie and a nice glass of something. A fire wouldn’t hurt in this fantasy as well; let’s face it, we are in Maine where the majority of us have a wood stove as our main(e) source of heat.

(image courtesy of Bartlett Winery)

This time of year, sitting down with an after dinner drink is calming, warming, and utterly necessary. Most of your choices are in the category of Dessert Wines, and they tend to turn people off because of the worry that they will be too sweet and cloying. Well, don’t judge a book by it’s cover, because most of these wines have acidity which breaks up and balances out the sugar.

Of all of the dessert wines, one of my absolute favorite (I have to say “one of” because as you get to know me, you’ll see I say that very often; I have a lot of favorites), and unfortunately the most overlooked is Madeira. It was the wine that toasted the Declaration of Independence, so it can’t be all that bad.

A little background on the juice; Madeira is an Island belonging to the European Union, as part of Portugal. They exported wines and on one occasion found a lot (I mean a lot as in a pallet, although a lot as in many would also work) of wines to return unsold from their trip. The round trip caused serious temperature changes, which caused oxidation to the wines. When they returned, the wines were much more pleasing. It became routine to send the wines on a round trip to re-create the end result and people sought out the bottles that were stamped with the official notation of the round trip. When this became too expensive, (can’t imagine why?), they found a way to re-create the process that we find so endearing in Madeira today. That beautiful caramel, slightly bitter flavor mingled with incredible acidity and orange peel. Sounds good, right?

Another incredible option is Port. Port comes from Portugal; surprise. And in the category of Port is a slew of more options; LBV (late bottle vintage), Vintage, Colheita, Tawny, Ruby; on and on…LBV Ports are quite nice and usually reasonably priced. Vintage Ports are wonderful, but need to be treated as a vintage wine would be; meaning you have to drink it in a few days. The best values are in the Tawny, Ruby, and Colheita; they can be sipped from for months.

Bartlett Winery in Gouldsboro, Maine serves up a Port-style wine (I say style because it is made in Maine and not Portugal) called Trio. It is in almost equal thirds blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry. I had a chance to give it a taste at the Maine Fare this fall, and I have to say that it was quite pleasant. Very good representation of a Maine terroir based fruit wine that is not fortified as Port is, but is actually fermented to 18.5% abv. The raspberry is fairly heavy on the palate but mingles nicely with a bit of cocoa and blueberry. The finish has some acidity and the mouth feel is silky and smooth.

Now about that fire…

Jen Flock is a Certified Sommelier, Cook, Blogger, mother, and is always thirsty.