“One serving or 5 fl oz of sweet dessert wine is about 23 per cent sugar. So, if you are watching your sugar intake, it’s also important that partaking a sweet wine is infrequent.” Wine writer RICHARD CALVER hits the stickies (but not very often). 

I seldom eat dessert. I say that not to boast, but because it is a conscious health choice. 

A health and wellbeing website says that Australians, on average, consume about half a kilo of sugar each week, much of this hidden via consumption of sweetened products such as cakes, pies, confectionary and sugary drinks. 

Eating large amounts of sugar has a direct connection to tooth decay and weight gain, as well as other health problems including obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, liver disease and some cancers. 

So, the consumption of sugar should be ameliorated; given its addition to everyday items, including such things as bread, it would be almost impossible to eliminate it from your diet, despite any flan-tastic efforts you went to. 

Plus I have a confection to make: when I do eat dessert, I very much like to have a sticky with it. 

Sugar in wine is highly dependent on the style of wine. Of course, the sugar in wine is naturally occurring and is derived from the grapes. 

In traditional wine making, the sugar feeds yeast and forms alcohol. A food data website that breaks down the nutrition facts about particular foods indicates that one “serving” or 5 fl oz of sweet dessert wine is about 23 per cent sugar. So, if you are watching your sugar intake, it’s also important that partaking a sweet wine is infrequent. 

That factor means, for me, a quality dessert wine should be consumed when indulgence strikes. My favourite is Noble One from De Bortoli Wines. I’ve tried the 2020 most recently, $36 from the winery, although it was a present to me, and I’m not the only one who appreciates this drop. The website selling the wine lists no less than 27 awards it has won. 

The varietal used in Noble One is a semillon and it has been affected by botrytis. This is a fungus, also known as noble rot, that can have a devastating effect on grapes. It can induce grey rot, spoiling the grapes to make them unusable. 

But under the right growing conditions, especially high humidity, its effect is to concentrate the sugar and juice of the grapes, adding intensity to the flavours. 

In Noble One you get a golden-toned liquid that couldn’t be more distant in colour from the desiccated grapes affected by noble rot. On taste, the 2020 has layers of honey and fruit with a lemon peel tang overlaid with light vanilla. It’s not claggy and has a vibrant, balanced acid finish. 

I consumed it with strawberries and cream sprinkled with coconut sugar. First made in 1982, this sweet hit hasn’t disappointed since. 

And all this talk of sugar reminds me of the poor old man who wanted to give himself a treat so he goes into town, parks his car and slowly walks into an ice cream parlour. 

Carefully and painfully he climbs on to a stool at the counter, lets out a stifled groan and orders a banana split with whipped cream. The woman serving behind the counter asks: “Crushed nuts?” “No,” he says, “it’s just bad arthritis.”