Palais des Anciens Cotes-du-Rousillon Blanc 2009 is packed with personality Sweet wines, or ‘stickies’, as they’re known in the trade, have a few diehard fans, but I believe that legions of undiscovered fans are waiting in the wings. In brief, a sweet wine is created when the grapes are left to hang on the vine for longer than usual, which concentrates There are various styles, flavours and degrees of sweetness, but for me sweet wines are at their best when matched with the right food. a good-value sticky such as the mellow Brown Brothers Orange Muscat and Flora from Australia (widely available for about £6) is worth serving as an aperitif in small glasses over crushed ice. You may think sweet wines such as Asti Spumante are unfashionable,The sparkling sweet wines of Asti are low in alcohol and, served chilled in the garden with a fruit salad, their jubilant fruity flavours are a guaranteed winner with guests after a meal.

And how about German stickies? The sweet wines of Germany are well worth exploring – look for Beerenauslese or the highly prized and even more intense Trockenbeerenauslese.For a glimpse, I warmly recommend diving into Majestic to splash out on a 187.5ml bottle of  Dr Loosen Riesling Beerenauslese 2006 for £10.99: flipping delicious matched with Then there’s France, which offers a wealth of sweet wines fromIf you’re after a bargain, look to the more mellow pudding wines of nearby Monbazillac. Meanwhile, demi-sec champagne matches brilliantly with puddings (try Mumm Demi-Sec Champagne, £30.99 from Look out for Bonnezeaux, Quarts de Chaume and even sweet VouvrayWith Vouvray, though, be warned – it’s best to ask about each specific bottle, as they can be dry as well as sweet. Your choices don’t end there either. Australia is noted for its sweet wines, and South Africa has iconic ‘straw wine’ made fromYou simply must taste the sweet tang of Vin de

Constance 2005 from Klein Constantia, at £30 for a 50cl bottle. The high sugar content gives sweet wines the potential for serious development of complex flavours over a very long period of time. that sounds right up your alley, my tip would be to go for Hungarian Tokaji Aszú – it ages beautifully and is a world-class wine that’s still amazing value for money.The sweetness of Hungarian stickies is measured in Puttonyos, generally from three to six, six being the sweetest. Sweeter still, though, is Aszú Essencia, which – if you can find it – is a once-in-a-lifetimeI once sampled the juice directly from the vineyard as the grapes were being harvested. More from Olly Smith Event for The Mail on Sunday... No place like Rhône ...and I’m grabbing as much of the sublime 2015 vintage as I can, even before it’s bottled OLLY SMITH: How to slay your thirst on St George’s Day? With a glass of vintage English, of course...

I DO give a damn about the cask-aged fortified delights of this island marvelFinding decent Pinot Noir can be hard work and very expensive. So I’ve done it for you... All for wine ...and wine for all! The swashbuckling flavours of Three Musketeers country Mick Hucknall loves Simply Red – but Pink avoids rosé! Six celebrities reveal their favourite wines Drops of perfection for a vintage mumwine for sale online australia Pop down the local ...because small growers using indigenous grapes are making some knockout wineswine bars food park cityPerfect pairings for pizza, from a corking Chianti to a scintillating Sicilian bargainbest red wine paris But don’t for a moment think sweet wines need to be served in dusty bottles laced in cobwebs to be worthwhile. best wine in houston

Not a bit – in fact, some winemakers are pushing the boundaries to create vibrant and exciting sweet wines. Take, for example, Inniskillin Sparkling Vidal Icewine 2007, a tipple favoured by my fellow Live columnist Chris Evans. Ice wine (or Eiswein in Germany) is created by allowing the grapes to freeze on the vine in winter. When the grapes are pressed, the ice crystals are left behind and the remaining juice is concentrated and divinely sweet. best selling wine in italyInniskillin Sparkling Vidal Icewine is sparkling sweet wine from Canada. best red wine to drink for health benefitsIt’s delicious, but it isn’t cheap – a 37.5cl bottle will set you back £52.98 at drinksdirect.co.uk. There are plenty of winemakers around the world creating supreme stickies that are fun and affordable. For example, there’s Concha y Toro Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc 2007 (£6.29 in Tesco), which is sweet and lemony.

Wines such as these have an impact on me similar to that of the magic potion on Asterix. If you want to feel this sweet surge for yourself, go for a bottle of Peller Ice Cuvée, £19.15 from slurp.co.uk.Sweet wine matched with food remains not just a treat, but a must for any serious foodie to experience.You’ve demolished the turkey and eaten the last sprout. Now you want to enjoy some Christmas pudding and what better to go with it than a glass of chilled dessert wine. Whether it’s Queen Victoria’s favourite, the Royal Tokaji from Hungary, a honeyed Muscat from France, Australia or South Africa, a pale gold Sauternes or an opulent English example of “noble rot”, there’s nothing quite like it. Most slip down easily with a salty blues cheese, too. So settle back and enjoy a little heaven on earth. 1. Leduc-Piedimonte Cidre de Glace: £27.54 for 37.5cl, Amazon Here’s something different for Christmas dinner. This ice cider is made from Spartan and Empire apples whose sugars have been concentrated by Canada’s cold winters.

Two years of ageing follow fermentation, producing a sweet, complex and very fruity drink that’s balanced by a subtle acidity. Enjoy as an aperitif or with cheese and desserts. 2. Heaven on Earth Muscat d’Alexandrie: £9.75 for 37.5cl, Vintage Roots Here’s a naturally sweet South African wine made from Muscat grapes partially dried on a bed of organic rooibos and straw. It’s a certified Fairtrade product that’s also organic and vegan friendly, its honey and apricot flavours are certainly heaven sent. 3. Hattingley Valley 2014 Entice Dessert Wine: £15 for 37.5cl, Amazon This is a hand-crafted English dessert wine from a Hampshire-based company known for its sparkling wines. Notes of apricot and peach are balanced by an underlying acidity to give you the perfect Christmas Day treat. 4. Barolo Chinato Cocchi: £30.15 for 50cl, The Whiskey Exchange Here’s one you can drink as an aperitif and then sample again with cocoa-rich dark chocolate once the selection boxes make the rounds.

Made from Barolo, this Italian wine is flavoured with quinine, rhubarb and spices such as cardamon and mace. It brings an exotic twist to the Christmas table. 5. Denbies Noble Harvest 2014: £19.99 for 37.5cl, Waitrose A limited edition of 3,000 bottles is being released of this opulent and satisfying “noble rot” (the benevolent form of the Botrytis cinerea fungus) dessert wine from the Surrey vineyards of Denbies, so get your Christmas order in now. Notes of citrus and honey make this a great partner for blue cheese or caramelised desserts. 6. Muscat de Rivesaltes 2011: £10.95 for 37.5cl, Slurp Uncork this Muscat and there’s a gorgeous aroma of citrus, peaches, apricots and exotic fruit from a sweet wine produced in Rivesaltes, a French commune between the Atlantic and the Pyrenees. Sipped slightly chilled, it goes down well with sticky toffee pudding. 7. Reserve Mouton Cadet 2013 Sauternes: £9 for 37.5cl, Asda From the world-famous Bordeaux appellation comes this limited-edition, pale gold Sauternes with a rich, honeyed and candied apricot aroma.

It’s made from three different grape varieties transformed by noble rot into a lusciously sweet wine. 8. Dessert Semillon Riverina GI, 2009: £6 for 37.5cl, Tesco A wine from Australia’s Riverina area, where lots of great sweet wines come from, this is made from semillon grapes that have had their flavours concentrated by noble rot. It has oodles of peach, honey and citrus and goes as well with salty blue cheese as it does with dessert 9. Muscat de St Jean de Minervois: £5 for 37.5cl, Sainsbury's Think marmalade with lots of orange peel with a side dish of honey and caramel. This is a beautifully sweet and not too expensive accompaniment for the pudding, the mince pies and even the sherry trifle. 10. Carte Or Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise NV: £7.99 for 37.5cl, Waitrose A beautifully pale, golden Muscat made from grapes grown in the Rhone Valley that have been fermented at a low temperature, ensuring it’s not too cloying or heavy. Its sweet notes are balanced by a pleasing hint of lemon.

11. Royal Tokaji 5 Puttonyes Aszu 2008: £24 for 50cl, Majestic We’ve been enjoying Tokaji or Tokay in the UK since the 18th century when the Hungarian vineyards first began producing this “noble rot” wine. Louix XIV was a big fan and Emperor Franz Josef used to send Queen Victoria gallons of the stuff. Sweet but with an underlying acidity, it’s easy to see why it was such a favourite. 12. La Magendia Lapeyre Jurançon 2008: £12.99 for 37.5cl, Selfridges In the French local dialect, La Magendia means the best and that’s not a bad description for this intense and fruity Jurançon fermented in new oak barrels which has a balanced and lingering flavour of exotic fruits, spices and vanilla. 13. Seriously Peachy Pacherenc du Vic Bilh: £9.99 for 37.5cl, Waitrose No points for guessing what’s the dominant flavour here. A rich and fruity wine from the Madiran area of Gascony that owes its peculiar name to the posts or stakes (pacherenc) that held the vines and came from the old country (“vic bilh”).

Having deciphered that you deserve a glass. 14. Morgex et de la Salle Chaudelune Vin De Glace: £22.50 for 50cl, Joseph Barnes Wines Made from grapes grown in Europe’s highest vineyard at the foot of Mount Blanc, this late harvest vin de glace (ice wine) is aged in barrels for 12 months before another two years of ageing in bottles, producing a wine bursting with apricot and caramel flavours. 15. De Bortoli Show Liqueur Muscat: £14.95 for 50cl, Slurp This Australian Muscat comes laden with international wine awards and it’s not hard to see why. Barrel aged for eight years it chock full of  the rich flavours of fig, raisins and spice with a concentrated sweetness that stays with you. Produced by an Italian family who emigrated Down Under in the 1920s. Old favourites such as Majestic’s Royal Tokaji and Sainsbury’s Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise mingle here with newer and equally impressive offerings such as Waitrose’s Seriously Peachy Pacherec du Vic Bilh, Denbie’s limited edition Noble Harvest and the fascinating and fruity Leduc-Piedimonte Cidre de Glace.