Sweet Wine Zodiac

The first sign of the zodiac is a starter: brave, impatient, competitive, and happiest when something is just beginning. You go straight for dessert and you do not apologize.

Banyuls comes from terraces so steep they are worked by hand, right where the Pyrenees fall into the Mediterranean. Fermentation is stopped with grape spirit, so the wine keeps its sugar and its power. Mars approves.

Your style

Banyuls, the Grenache-based sweet red of Roussillon.

The bottle

Domaine de la Rectorie or Domaine du Mas Blanc. Try a young, vintage-dated Rimage for fruit, or an aged one for nuts and coffee.

Pair it with

Dark chocolate. Banyuls is one of the few wines that can stand up to it.

Sommelier's tip

Serve it slightly cool, around 60°F. A warm room makes fortified wine taste hot.

Venus rules you through the senses. You are steady, loyal, and stubborn about quality, and you care how a wine feels as much as how it tastes. Comfort is not a weakness; it is a standard.

Sauternes is the most luxurious texture in wine. Noble rot, a mold called Botrytis cinerea, shrivels the grapes and concentrates them into honey, apricot, and saffron. It is Venus in a glass.

Your style

Sauternes or Barsac, the great botrytis wines of Bordeaux.

The bottle

Splurge: Chateau d'Yquem. Within reach: Chateau Suduiraut, or Chateau Climens in Barsac.

Pair it with

Foie gras, Roquefort, or roast chicken. Sauternes is better with savory food than with dessert.

Sommelier's tip

A half bottle is plenty for four people. Sweet wine is poured in small glasses, so one bottle goes a long way.

Mercury makes you quick, curious, funny, and social, with at least two opinions on everything. You light up with variety, conversation, and a good debate.

Sweet German Riesling is two things at once: sugar and electric acidity, pulling in opposite directions. It is the most Gemini wine there is, sweet and sharp in the same sip.

Your style

Mosel Riesling Spatlese or Auslese.

The bottle

Joh. Jos. Prum, Egon Muller, or Dr. Loosen. For something rarer, try an Eiswein, made from grapes frozen on the vine.

Pair it with

Spicy Thai food, pork belly, or a cheese board.

Sommelier's tip

Learn the ladder: Kabinett, Spatlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese. Each step means riper grapes at harvest, and usually a sweeter wine.

The Moon makes you protective, sentimental, and deeply tied to home and family. You remember everyone's birthday and exactly what they drank at it. Your table is where people feel safe.

In Tuscany, Vin Santo is the wine of hospitality. Families dry the grapes in the rafters over winter and age the wine for years in small barrels, then pour it for every guest who walks through the door.

Your style

Tuscan Vin Santo, made from dried Trebbiano and Malvasia.

The bottle

Avignonesi or Isole e Olena, two of the benchmarks.

Pair it with

Cantucci, the almond biscotti, dipped right into the glass. That is the tradition.

Sommelier's tip

Serve it at cool room temperature in a small glass, and keep the open bottle for a few weeks. It has seen plenty of air already.

Ruled by the Sun itself, you are warm, generous, dramatic, and built for center stage. You love hard, host big, and never do anything halfway.

Tokaji Aszu was the sweet wine of European royalty for centuries. "Wine of kings, king of wines" is the line usually credited to Louis XIV. Nothing is more Leo than that.

Your style

Tokaji Aszu from Hungary, 5 or 6 puttonyos.

The bottle

Royal Tokaji, Oremus, or Disznoko.

Pair it with

Blue cheese, foie gras, or a fruit tart.

Sommelier's tip

Puttonyos are the old measure of how many baskets of botrytis berries went into the wine. More puttonyos means sweeter and richer.

Mercury in an earth sign makes you precise, observant, and quietly devoted to doing things right. You notice every detail, and you want purity, not decoration.

Loire Chenin Blanc makes the most precise sweet wine in the world. Botrytis adds honey, but the grape's acidity keeps every sip clean and exact. Not a drop of flab.

Your style

Sweet Loire Chenin: Vouvray Moelleux, Quarts de Chaume, Bonnezeaux, or Coteaux du Layon.

The bottle

Domaine Huet in Vouvray, a biodynamic benchmark. Or Domaine des Baumard for Quarts de Chaume.

Pair it with

Tarte Tatin, chevre, or spicy Asian food.

Sommelier's tip

These wines age for decades. A 20-year-old Vouvray Moelleux often tastes less sweet than a young one, because the sugar integrates.

Venus in an air sign makes you charming, fair, and allergic to ugliness. You see every side of an argument, which makes you a great host and a terrible decider.

Rivesaltes is the sweet wine for people who cannot pick just one: Ambre from white grapes, Tuile and Grenat from red, and Muscat de Rivesaltes for perfume. Balance across a whole family.

Your style

Rivesaltes, Roussillon's fortified sweet wine, red or amber.

The bottle

Domaine Cazes, a biodynamic estate. Look for a Rivesaltes Ambre Hors d'Age for caramel and walnuts.

Pair it with

Pecan pie, salted caramel, or aged Comte.

Sommelier's tip

Old Rivesaltes is one of the great bargains in wine. Decades-old bottles cost far less than Sauternes of the same age.

Intense, private, magnetic, and all or nothing. You go deep or you do not go at all, and you trust the things that take time to reveal themselves.

Occhio di Pernice, "eye of the partridge," is the rare Vin Santo made from Sangiovese. It ages for years in tiny sealed barrels and comes out dark, intense, and impossible to find. A secret worth keeping.

Your style

Occhio di Pernice, Vin Santo made from Sangiovese.

The bottle

Avignonesi Vin Santo di Montepulciano Occhio di Pernice, the most famous, and priced like it. Sold in half bottles.

Pair it with

Aged Parmigiano, dark chocolate, or nothing at all. Sip it slowly.

Sommelier's tip

Pour a tiny glass. Wines this concentrated are meant to be sipped, and one small bottle can carry a whole dinner party.

Jupiter makes you an optimist, an explorer, and a truth-teller. You would rather have a story than a souvenir, and you will try anything once.

Santorini Vinsanto is one of the oldest sweet wine traditions on earth. Assyrtiko and Aidani grapes dry in the island sun before they are pressed. Take the trip in a glass.

Your style

Vinsanto from Santorini.

The bottle

Hatzidakis or Estate Argyros, whose long-aged Vinsantos are legendary.

Pair it with

Baklava, dried figs, or aged hard cheese.

Sommelier's tip

Vinsanto and Tuscan Vin Santo are cousins, not twins. The Greek one comes from volcanic Santorini, and the name is said to come from the island itself.

Saturn gives you ambition, discipline, and a dry sense of humor. You play the long game, and you understand that the best things get better with time.

In 1681, the Austrian town of Rust bought its status as a free city partly with barrels of its sweet Ruster Ausbruch. That is a wine with serious credit.

Your style

Ruster Ausbruch, or another botrytis wine from around Austria's Lake Neusiedl.

The bottle

Feiler-Artinger, Ernst Triebaumer, or Heidi Schrock in Rust. Across the lake, Kracher makes some of the world's great Trockenbeerenauslese.

Pair it with

Apricot tart, Linzer torte, or blue cheese.

Sommelier's tip

Botrytis wines can age for 50 years or more. Buy one for a milestone birthday and forget about it.

Independent, inventive, and a little contrarian. You root for the underdog, distrust anything too popular, and usually arrive at the future before everyone else.

Maury breaks every cellar rule. Some producers age it outdoors in glass demijohns, right in the sun, before it goes to barrel. Heat and air are supposed to ruin wine. Here they make it great.

Your style

Maury, Grenache-based sweet red from the schist hills of Roussillon.

The bottle

Mas Amiel, famous for its glass demijohns baking in the sun.

Pair it with

Chocolate cake, coffee desserts, or a cigar on the porch.

Sommelier's tip

Vintage-dated Maury exists going back decades. It may be the easiest birth-year bottle in the world to find.

Dreamy, empathic, artistic, and romantic. You feel everything, you live half in your imagination, and you are drawn to the sea and to anything a little magical.

Pantelleria is a volcanic island in the middle of the sea between Sicily and Tunisia. Zibibbo grapes dry in the sun on low bush vines, a way of farming UNESCO recognized as cultural heritage. Pure island magic.

Your style

Passito di Pantelleria, sweet wine from sun-dried Zibibbo.

The bottle

Donnafugata Ben Rye, or Marco de Bartoli Bukkuram.

Pair it with

Ricotta cannoli, almond cake, or a cheese plate.

Sommelier's tip

Zibibbo is a kind of Muscat, so expect apricot, orange blossom, and honey. Serve it chilled, around 50°F.