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Vin doux naturels

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An Island Chef

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Vin doux naturels or Natural sweet wines are one of the oldest wines fortified with alcohol to help improve their length of life. The resultant wines have high sugar levels as fermentation ceases due to the higher alcohol level. This technique is called ‘mutage’ and was first discovered by the famous scholar, physician and ambassador Arnaldus de Villa Nova who was also the first person to use alcohol as an antiseptic.

A Maury Wine

Vin doux naturels are a French speciality and include Banyuls and Maury from the Roussillon, Frontignan and Mireval wines from the Languedoc and Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise from Rasteau. The two most popular grape varieties for making vin doux naturels are Muscat à petit grains blancs and Grenache noir. Vin doux naturels come in a variety of styles from fruity to oxidative and have a range of flavours from strawberries and cherries to nuts, raisins, and coffee. They make delicious aperitifs and pair perfectly with blue cheeses and chocolate.

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Welcome to The Caskaway

Personal, subjective and in no way definitive but I hope The Caskaway reveals a little of the passion I have for wine and beer. I’m no expert but I love to learn and wanted to share my knowledge and discoveries with all my drink writing in one convenient place. Why am I doing this when there is so much information out there already? Well, if one person reads and tries something new, I will call that a win.

There are honest tasting notes that you might hopefully find helpful, entertaining and maybe even instructive. Some posts try to help with the confusing and often obscure specialist terminology and language in both the beer and wine worlds and yes, there is a lot! Finally, there are links to all of my favourite recipes made using wine and beer (see below), and finally some expanded reviews of great pubs and other bits and pieces.

Formerly a full-time chef and publican, I’ve worked for two breweries, an award-winning Jersey based wine merchants and now try to write and broadcast about food and drink for local and national media including What’s Brewing and BBC Local Radio.