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Sweet Wine: Vin Doux Naturel

Sweet Wines

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: Must Weight

Part 3: Botrytis

Part 4: Late Harvest Wines

Part 5: Eiswein

Part 6: Dried Grape Wines

Part 7: Vin Doux Naturel

In my final instalment of this exploration of the sweet wines of the world, I will be looking at wines made using mutage, the addition of grape spirit to the must. Like the dried grape wines, this is an ancient method which has its home around the Mediterranean coastline, particularly around the appellations of southern France. One particular exception is Portugal, where mutage is the method employed in the production of Port, although the term, being French (it is derived from môut, meaning must), is not commonly used here. The spirit is added to the must either before or during fermentation, hence either preventing or stopping fermentation. Those grape sugars not converted to alcohol by the action of yeast provide the sweetness, the added grape spirit more than compensating for the reduced conversion of the grape sugars to alcohol.

Adding the spirit before fermentation results in a sweet, alcoholic drink which is effectively unfermented grape juice with added kick, known as a vin de liqueur. Probably the best known example is Pineau des Charentes, which originates from the Cognac region of South-West France, it being a mixture of unfermented must with cognac of at least one year of age. One can question whether this is really wine, the must never having undergone fermentation of any kind, but examples will certainly be found in most of France's wine regions. One reason for this is that it is relatively easy to make, and the resulting beverage has no lack of sweetness, alcohol and potent effect! Many are mixed with fruit flavours derived from peach leaves, cherry stones or the like. The addition of fruit flavours is where I draw the line though; at this point we are moving too far from what I regard as wine, and thus here we should move onto those wines made by mutage during rather than before fermentation. These wines are referred to as vin doux naturel.

Vin doux naturel translates as 'naturally sweet', but it is already clear that this is hardly the case. Truly 'naturally' sweet wines are those where the concentration of sugars in the grapes when harvested is so high that the fermenting yeasts die, poisoned by alcohol, long before all the sugar has been converted; the wealth of sugar results usually from dehydration, as is the case with botrytis and late harvest styles. With mutage, however, the yeast action is halted by the addition of alcohol, resulting in what is really a blend of wine, unfermented grape juice and added grape spirit. The most common styles involve Muscat, as in Muscat de St Jean de Minervois and Muscat de Beaumes de Venise, and Grenache, as in Banyuls and Maury, the latter both appellations of Roussillon. This region might be regarded as the birthplace of the vin doux naturel method in France, as it was here, in the 13th Century, that Arnaud de Villeneuve, of the medical school at Montpellier University, perfected the technique. Arnaud de Villeneuve, an eminent doctor who attended many a royal or papal sickbed, demonstrated that the addition of spirit to the must halted fermentation, and so won a patent from the king of Majorca, who then ruled Roussillon, to produce wines in the region using the method. Despite this great success, this particular use of grape spirit was of no great interest to Arnaud; like many physicians, he valued the relatively new process of distillation because of the medicinal properties of the alcohol so obtained. Nevertheless, centuries later, Arnaud's method of mutage remains essentially unchanged.

Further afield, the method is employed in Portugal in the production of Port, and also on the islands of Madeira and Malaga, although it is not referred to here as mutage. The great difference between Port and other fortified wines, and those that are vin doux naturel, is in the amount and strength of spirit added. With a vin doux naturel, the spirit accounts for up to 10% or the total volume, but it is traditionally a very strong spirit that is added, often around 95% ABV; as a result the total alcohol content of the finished product is typically 15% ABV. Port, however, is typically 20% grape spirit, but traditionally the spirit used is not so concentrated, often less than 80% ABV, so as a consequence the total alcohol content is also not that much higher than a vin doux naturel, typically 20% ABV. Nowadays, the grape spirit for both is likely to come from the same source, the European wine lake, rather than local distillation, but whatever the source, the blending is such to give the final desired ABV in keeping with local tradition and, of course, wine laws.

Key points

Mutage is a unique method for producing sweet wines

The increase in sugar in many sweet wines results from grape dehydration; this is not the case with mutage

Here the sweetness comes from unfermented sugar, the result of adding grape spirit, this halting the fermentation

It is the method used in making Port, although here the term mutage is not used

Like the dried grape wines, some wines made using mutage are handled in an oxidative fashion, producing a rancio character which is perhaps difficult for many to appreciate in these days when consumers are used to clean, bright, fruit-flavoured wines. A typical example is Rivesaltes, which can be found in this style, whereas top Banyuls and Maury is less likely to be an oxidative style. Top producers include Mas Amiel, Domaine du Mas Blanc and Domaine de la Rectorie. Certainly, those wines made using Muscat, in Frontignan, Beaumes de Venise and St Jean de Minervois would usually be protected from oxidation, producing a wine full of the sweet, fresh, musky and aromatic character of this particular grape. The Rhône négociants such as Jaboulet often include a Muscat de Beaumes de Venise in their portfolio (and Chapoutier look further afield, with a Banyuls in theirs), but one of the most enjoyable and profound - if it is not too ridiculous to put such a description to such a wine - Muscats I have tasted was the 1999 (subsequent vintages have not been so remarkable) from Domaine Montahuc, part of the Comte Cathare portfolio. Port, of course, is certainly protected from oxidation during the processes that follow fermentation, and there is no shortage of Port profiles on this site.

This brings to the end my series looking at the myriad of different methods behind that are employed in the production of sweet wines. I have found it instructive, and I hope that readers have too. Next time I open a bottle of something with a decent amount of residual sugar, I will certainly think back to these articles, and perhaps understand what I hold in my hand just that little bit more. (21/7/04)

Back to the beginning: An introduction to Sweet Wine.

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