Sweet red wine from South Africa: a guide for UK drinkers

Sweet red wine has spent years being sneered at. It was filed under beginner's wine and left there. That was always a bit unfair, because the good examples are food-friendly, unpretentious and rather harder to make well than the dismissal suggests.

South African producers have carried on making them regardless of fashion, which means there are now some genuinely good ones. These are not sugary confections built to disguise rough tannins. The sweetness is doing a job.

What the Cape brings to it

The advantage here is natural balance. Warm days ripen the fruit fully while cool ocean air preserves acidity, so winemakers are working with what the vineyard gives rather than correcting it afterwards.

The result tastes sweet without feeling heavy. You get the ripe, jammy fruit without the cloying finish that puts people off the category, and that is what tends to convert sceptics.

The wines to try

Fairview Sweet Red at £24 is the serious one. It comes from Fairview in Paarl, an estate with no interest in making a cheap novelty, and it has the structure to back up the sweetness. Very good with strong cheese, and better still with a chocolate pudding.

For something lighter and less expensive, Four Cousins Natural Sweet Rosé at £11.49 is the bottle to serve cold at a summer gathering, and its white sibling does the same job.

If it is the sweetness rather than specifically the red that appeals, the fortified and dessert wines are where the Cape really performs. Sedgwick's Old Brown Sherry at £13.69 is a South African institution. Darling Cellars Wildflower Hanepoot Jerepigo at £11.99 is floral and rich, and Piekenierskloof Samson Straw Wine at £31 shows what happens when someone takes the style entirely seriously.

What to expect

Cape sweet reds usually show ripe red and dark fruit, blackberry and cherry and plum, rather than the tropical notes you find in sweeter whites. There is often a note of spice behind it, cinnamon or black pepper or a suggestion of chocolate.

The sweetness reads as part of the wine rather than something stirred in. A good one finishes with enough acidity to clean up after itself, which is the difference between wanting another glass and having had enough.

At the table

The food potential is badly underrated. Sweetness handles chilli heat particularly well, so a glass alongside an Indian takeaway or a homemade chilli con carne works better than most dry reds would.

For cheese, look past the obvious. These wines are good with chocolate puddings, but they are just as good with a strong Cheddar or an aged Gouda, where the contrast between salty and sweet does the work.

British comfort food also holds up. Shepherd's pie, bangers and mash, even fish and chips, where the sweetness and acidity between them cut through the fat and pick up any caramelised edges.

Served slightly chilled, they also work simply as something to drink before dinner, and they tend to please people who claim not to like wine.

Serving

Half an hour in the fridge is about right. It sharpens the freshness and makes the wine considerably easier to drink. These do not need decanting or special glasses.

Most are made for drinking now, though the better bottles will keep for a few years without trouble. Store them like anything else: cool, dark, and lying down if it is going to be a while.

Choosing well

This is a forgiving category. You do not need much knowledge to buy well, only a willingness to try a few things.

Labels naming a specific grape variety usually indicate more care than a generic red wine label does. And unfamiliar producers are worth the risk here, because a lot of the better Cape names never reach a British supermarket shelf.

The sweet wines mixed case at £79 is the efficient way to work out what you like, and the full South African dessert wines range covers the rest. If you want to head in the drier direction instead, our South African red wines selection is the place to go. Delivered anywhere in the UK.