I think there are Loire chenins you could get for $20 or less which are either sweet tasting Secs or actually Demi Sec.
Marc Bredif Vouvray for example is $20.
And those should age fine for several years if you need to set them aside.
Monchhof Estate Riesling is pretty widely available at $18-20. Good wine, fine for geeks as well as civilians, will age for a decade plus if you wanted.
I like the half bottle (375ml) of Sauternes suggestion. Look for the second of third label of well known wines and they can often offer tasty drinking. Usually less than $20, sometimes significantly less. And they will keep in the fridge for a few days after opening. ‘Carmes de Rieussec’ is usually pretty good, as is ‘Lions de Suduiraut’.
Do some looking around. Good luck.
+1 on Donnhoff, the base Riesling is very enjoyable.
Does riesling scratch the same itch as Barefoot Muscat and White zin?
It may be sweet but its not the same animal.
Vajra’s should be better
I’ve served Donnhoff/ Prum Spatlese /Auslese wines which are noticeably sweet (not off dry). MIL says they are fine by her, she’s neutral between that and barefoot. Served Dr L once, she’d prefer more sweetness, hence my skepticism on kabinett (but I can be proven wrong!).
That Vietti Moscato is one of my favorites, good call!
Kabinett, and even feinherb, should have more RS than white Zin. For me that is probably what threw me off and I didn’t realize you were only asking for fully sweet wines. If it was me, I would try a decent off dry riesling and see how it went. Use it as a measuring stick.
My mother also only will drink wines with some perceptible residual sugar, but she likes kabinett/feinherb. It doesn’t have to be a sugar bomb, she just does not want it to taste tart (to her). She doesn’t drink much of it, but then she doesn’t drink much of anything.
Makes sense, I’m trying to dial in the right sweetness level.
As others have mentioned, if you are looking for truly sweet (i.e., Sauternes), then Donnhoff is not sweet per se. However, if looking for something that has some sweetness and refreshing (at least for me), I really enjoy the Donnhoff Oberhauser. Klamm is good as well, though I prefer Oberhauser.
Thanks everyone for some great suggestions, have a few wines to source now! Always appreciate being able to crowdsource these questions through the berserker community.
The medium sweet for the Boundary Breaks will. Be great for that - plenty of sweetness there. Didn’t realize they did a Gewurztraminer too - that is relatively new! The semi dry for Leidenfrost is pretty round and enjoyable
Yes, Chiarlo Nivole or another high quality Moscato d’Asti are great ideas. I’m going to disagree somewhat in that I think a lot of the ones most stores carry are extremely boring in comparison, but if you go with a good producer or importer, and spend more than $13 (for a 750 mL), you should be able to find a good one.
CSM Riesling is fine, but you can do a lot better in another category for a few dollars more.
From what I’m seeing, White Zinfandel tends to be in the 20-35 g/L RS range. Feinherb Rieslings I’m seeing are 10-25 g/L. Of course, the Rieslings will have much more acidity, so they’ll seem even less sweet than the numbers imply. 2020 Dr. L Riesling has 46 g/L. Kabinetts are in a wide range. Some I’m seeing are between about 32 and 55 g/L. I would guess the middle of that range will taste about as sweet as a typical white Zin. Barefoot Moscato is 67 g/L, again with probably a lot less acidity than German Riesling, so much sweeter tasting than something like a Feinherb Riesling. High quality Moscato d’Asti tends to be over 100, often 120-130 g/L, so sweeter than the wines we know Aleks’ MIL likes (which is a good point).
If you can find Bera’s Moscato d’Asti, I highly recommend it. It is a wine like no other, and meets your price requirement. It is a complex, distinctive wine which means there’s a small chance it will weird out some of your friends. I recommend giving it a shot anyway.
I honestly had no idea that white zin had that much sugar. It is entirely possible I’ve never consumed white Zin, and if I did it was likely in college. I was imagining a slightly sweet rose, not something with more sugar than kabinett. That’s what led me to thinking feinherb would work, so my bad.
In light of that, if it was me I’d likely go with something like the basic Donnhoff Riesling and see what she thinks of it. Of course, I’d only do that if I wanted to drink some as well or elevate her options. Leitz Dragonstone might be another to consider, and I remember liking that more than Dr. L.
Seconding Leitz Dragonstone. MUCH better than Dr L.
Does OP want a sweet / off dry wine, or a true dessert wine? I get the sense its actually the former both from posts in this thread, as well as my life context of friends/family who are this kind of consumer.
That’s what I was wondering too. Some of the off-dry Rieslings are quite nice. Another thing to look at is Braccheto d’Acqui. Slightly chilled on a warm day it’s a great afternoon wine. And let’s not forget various ciders!!
Beaulieu Vineyard used to, and I think they still do, make a nice little sweet wine - their Muscat for something around $10 for a 375ml. It’s actually not bad at all.
Hermes is a Greek producer that makes an acceptable Muscat for around the same price. Chateau Belingard Monbazillac isn’t too expensive, although it may not fit the bill. The Inniskillin ice wines are good but probably over budget.
And you might try a vin santo - Belini makes one that they usually have at Total Wine.
I just had that BV Muscat last week… I think it’s pretty cloying… And I like sweet stuff