Vendange tardive
Vendage tardive is a French term used on Alsatian wine to denote that the grapes are literally the result of a late harvest. Unlike late harvest wines from the United States or Germany, Alsacian vendage tardive wines are typically fermented to the point where they have little or no residual sugar, although there are numerous exceptions. This means that they are typically table wines rather than dessert wines. The legal standard for vendage tardive is that the grapes have reached a certain must weight (that is, sugar content at harvest), but quality producers routinely exceed the minimum. Grapes that are substantantially riper are used for making the sweet Sélection de Grains Nobles.
|
