South African dessert wine: the ones we would pick

Fortified Hanepoot, for cold nights and hot curry

Fortification is the oldest trick in the sweet-wine book: add wine spirit while the yeast is still working, and the fermentation stops with the grape's own sugar still in the glass. Hanepoot is the Cape grape that does it best, and it is one of the most distinctive things South Africa makes.

Darling Cellars take their time over it. The crushed juice sits a full day on its skins at a cool seven degrees with gentle pump-overs to draw out that heady Muscat perfume, then it is drained and left to settle before the spirit goes in at just the right moment. The result is 100 percent Hanepoot that makes no apology for its sweetness, with enough lively acidity running underneath to stop it turning syrupy.

The vines help. They grow as unirrigated bush vines in weathered granite, close enough to the Atlantic for sea breezes and the cold Benguela Current to slow the ripening down.

Who it suits: anyone who wants one bottle that works twice. Wildflower Hanepoot Jeripigo is lovely chilled on its own after supper, and it is one of the few wines that takes a fragrant, spicy chicken curry in its stride. Blue cheese with honey and walnuts is the other easy win. Fortification also makes it stable, so a well-stored bottle will sit happily for years, the fruit drifting towards dried apricot.

The sweet wines that belong at the start of the meal

Here is the bit most guides skip: some of the Cape's sweet wines are not for pudding at all. They are for chilli. Sweetness cools heat in a way that a dry white simply cannot, and once you have tried it with a proper Thai green curry you will keep a bottle in the fridge for good.

Four Cousins Natural Sweet White is the obvious starting point. It is a blend of white grapes with a touch of unfermented grape juice held back, the fermentation stopped while the natural sugars remain, and no oak anywhere near it. Limestone in the Robertson soils gives the fruit a lifted edge that keeps things bright. Serve it at 8 degrees with jasmine rice and green curry, or with sticky chilli prawns, and it earns its keep. Lemon tart afterwards, if there is any left.

The Four Cousins Natural Sweet Rosé is the one to bring when you are feeding a crowd and half the table is not fussed about wine. Cool fermentation keeps the Muscat perfume and the strawberry-and-cherry character intact, and the sweetness is gentle rather than heavy. Cape Malay chicken curry with yellow rice is the pairing we would push hardest; strawberry pavlova is the safe and very happy alternative. Drink it young, within twelve to eighteen months, while that perfume is still in full voice.

Food pairing for Four Cousins Natural Sweet White, Thai green curry with jasmine rice

Getting the temperature right

Sweet wine served too warm tastes thick and tiring, which is where most of its bad reputation comes from. Both Four Cousins bottles want 8 degrees, properly cold from the fridge door. The straw wine prefers 10, cool but not numbed, so the honeyed side still comes through.

Pours are small, so a 750 ml bottle of something sweet goes considerably further than you expect. A straw wine after dinner is a glass each, not a glass and a half, and you will have plenty left for the following week.

If you're curious about where sweet Cape wine goes next, the same logic applies right across the range: pick the bottle for the moment rather than the label. Have a wander through everything we ship from South Africa and see what fits your autumn.