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Best dessert wines for Christmas 2024
Read on for our expert-approved guide to the best pudding wines, from £6.25
Tested by JoJo AnastasiouFood and Drinks Tester
There’s something about the rich, lusciously sweet quality of a dessert wine that is guaranteed to get you in the festive spirit.
To ensure you stock up on the best bottles ahead of the big day, the Good Housekeeping Institute tasted a range of styles with our expert-approved picks starting from just £6.25!
We’ve also rounded up the best port, sherry and liqueurs to ensure you’re sufficiently covered for after-dinner drinks this Christmas.
Best dessert wine 2024
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Best supermarket dessert wine and best sauternes
Waitrose No.1 Sauternes Château Suduirat
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What is considered a dessert wine?
“Dessert wine” is a catch-all term that covers a variety of wines served at the end of a meal, which can complement cheese or pudding. Sweeter and higher in alcohol than a standard red or white wine, the best examples aren’t too thick or syrupy and have a shot of acidity for balance.
Many (but not all) of the most highly regarded sweet wines are made with grapes affected by botrytis cinerea or “noble rot”. Noble rot is a beneficial fungus that attacks the grapes, dehydrating the fruit so it becomes “raisined”. This concentrates the sugars and acidity, resulting in a more intense flavour.
This process has made some of the most famous dessert wines, such as France’s sauternes and Hungary’s tokaji (see below). However, the conditions need to be just right for this process to occur, making dessert wines particularly special and, in some cases, very rare.
Types of dessert wines
There are many different types of dessert wines, and while this is in no means exhaustive, here are three of the most popular.
Sauternes
A sweet French wine made in Bordeaux, sauternes (pronounced saw·tuhnz), typically displays a rich honeyed note, with the flavours of stone fruit (such as apricot and tinned peaches), butterscotch and cooking spices. It tends to be deliciously aromatic, with lively acidity, and pairs well with rich, creamy desserts.
Tokaji
On the nose, you may find Hungary's tokaji similar to sauternes, but it has fresher acidity, so it should appear a little less sweet overall. Roasted pineapple, chocolate orange desserts and Christmas pudding are all excellent matches for this wine.
Eiswein
As the name suggests, Eiswein or “ice wine” is a German dessert vino made from grapes (often riesling) that freeze on the vine. Again, this results in a very sweet, concentrated grape juice, with notes of pineapple, lemon curd, honeysuckle and apricot. It’s a pretty versatile wine, pairing well with a variety of cheeses, through to creamy, fruity desserts.
How we test dessert wine
The GHI tested 23 dessert wines across a variety of styles. The panel — made up of WSET-trained wine and spirits experts and consumers — tasted each one neat and blind to avoid brand bias.
They were looking for well-balanced, versatile examples, with a rich and velvety mouthfeel and a touch of acidity for balance.
Score: 93/100
Organic, Fairtrade and utterly delicious, our winning dessert wine comes from South Africa, and is made with the naturally sweet muscat grape. The indulgent sweetness of ripe apricot and luscious honey is perfectly balanced with refreshing acidity, making this a truly memorable wine worthy of the big day.
Key specifications
| Volume | 37.5cl |
|---|---|
| ABV | 10% |
Score: 90/100
A New Zealand Marlborough sauvignon blanc — but not as you know it. This dessert wine has the perfect profile for pairing with fruity puddings, with a tropical palate dominated by stone fruit. However, the rich sweetness is shot through with bracing acidity for an uplifting finish.
Key specifications
| Volume | 37.5cl |
|---|---|
| ABV | 10.5% |
Waitrose No.1 Sauternes Château Suduirat
Score: 89/100
Bordeaux’s sauternes is a classic dessert wine, and this well-priced example is a must-buy for Christmas. Rich and elegant, the complex sémillon-led drop is full of the flavours of ginger, cinnamon and caramel — akin to our favourite crumble — underscored with candied orange peel. Superb!
Key specifications
| Volume | 37.5cl |
|---|---|
| ABV | 14% |
Score: 86/100
With the concentrated flavours of rich honey, ripe peach and layers of zesty grapefruit, this is exactly the kind of sticky ending we’re looking for after a decadent meal. There’s also a touch of aromatic elderflower on the nose, and a thread of acidity to keep each sip on the right side of refreshing.
Key specifications
| Volume | 37.5cl |
|---|---|
| ABV | 10.5% |
Score: 84/100
Made for Sainsbury’s by a top Bordeaux producer, this well-priced sauternes has everything you’d want from the traditional pudding wine. Honeyed stone fruit and nutty marzipan create a beautiful fragrant nose, with hints of minerality adding complexity. The full-bodied palate is luscious and sweet with crisp acidity and more candied fruit.
In fact, we think it’s the perfect choice to get you in the mood for Christmas.
Key specifications
| Volume | 37.5cl |
|---|---|
| ABV | 12.5% |
Score: 83/100
This organic, fortified Argentinian malbec is a great alternative to more classic white dessert wines. Fruity and indulgent, it’s brimming with blackberries and black cherries, with an indulgent hint of treacle adding richness. Team it with gorgonzola, chocolate or coffee-based desserts for a match made in heaven.
Key specifications
| Volume | 50cl |
|---|---|
| ABV | 19.5% |
Score: 74/100
Although it’s the most expensive bottle we tested, we think this very special wine warrants the splurge. The “ice wine” is made from riesling grapes that are only picked once they’ve reached . This technique results in a more concentrated, intensely sweet flavour, in this case bursting with juicy peach, lemon sherbet, pear and apples.
It’s extremely versatile, pairing with everything from chocolate to cheese, and our panel loved the bracing acidity, finding it fresh and crisp, with bags of complexity.
Key specifications
| Volume | 37.5cl |
|---|---|
| ABV | 9.5% |
Score: 72/100
Dripping with the enticing notes of tinned peaches, pineapple, mouth-watering citrus and raisins, we could easily be fooled into thinking we were drinking a sauternes that cost double the price. One to snap up while you can...
Key specifications
| Volume | 37.5cl |
|---|---|
| ABV | 14% |
Score: 71/100
The premise of Morrisons’ “The Best” wine range is to shine a light on top quality wines from the best producers, at an accessible price. This bottle fits the bill perfectly, with its concentrated dried apricot, honey, lemon and tinned pineapple. It’s super sweet and fruity, with a long-lasting, non-syrupy mouthfeel. Delicious!
Key specifications
| Volume | 37.5cl |
|---|---|
| ABV | 14% |
Score: 71/100
We don’t want to shout about this too loudly in case word gets out, but Tesco’s dessert wine is a steal (shush!).
The fruit for this gloriously golden Australian semillon is picked late in the harvest, allowing the natural sweetness to intensify. And despite the affordable price, there’s plenty of complexity here, with an array of tropical fruit coming to the fore — think lychee, apricots and citrus peel.
Try it with blue cheese for a real flavour pairing eureka moment.
Key specifications
| Volume | 37.5cl |
|---|---|
| ABV | 10% |
Score: 70/100
The distinctive De Bortoli style is widely recognised as Australia's benchmark sweet white wine, winning hundreds of awards over the years. So, you know you’ll be in good hands with a dessert semillon made by the producer, for Asda.
The use of botrytis or “noble rot” may not sound the most appealing, but it’s this intentional fungus that results in the beautifully concentrated, sweet, sticky wine we know and love. With notes of honey, peach and vanilla, our testers appreciated the long-lasting finish and velvety mouthfeel.
Key specifications
| Volume | 37.5cl |
|---|---|
| ABV | 12% |
Score: 70/100
Co-op's approachable dessert wine is a little lighter, with a soft floral nose of jasmine and apples. The welcome acidity cuts through rich desserts as effortlessly as it does a cheeseboard, making it a versatile wine to have in the rack.
Key specifications
| Volume | 37.5cl |
|---|---|
| ABV | 12% |
Stacey looks after all food and drink reviews — from coffee pods and veg boxes, to natural wine and tequila. Stacey is also founder of Crummbs, where she’s written nearly 2,000 restaurant and hotel reviews since 2013. Prior to this, Stacey wrote hundreds of in-depth buying guides for the Independent, i newspaper and BBC Good Food, as well as reviewing restaurants and interviewing celebrities in her column at Balance Magazine. Stacey has also appeared in BAFTA-nominated BBC documentary Blood, Sweat & Takeaways, where she investigated South East Asia's food production industry, appearing on both Newsnight and BBC World Service to share her findings. Regularly checking out the latest restaurants, bars and product launches, Stacey also loves experimenting with recipes at home, and is a WSET-certified wine and spirits expert, with over 10 years of experience in the business. You can follow Stacey on Instagram @crummbs_uk
Joanna Anastasiou is our Food and Drinks Tester, and has completed certifications in Sensory Foundation and WSET Wine Level 2 training. Prior to this she studied geography with conservation biology at the University of Exeter and trained at Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland. Through this she has developed a passion for sustainability within the food and agricultural sectors. Joanna also volunteers in kitchens with FoodCycle, as well as on multiple wildlife conservation projects, where she formed a particular love for bees!
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