Stickies

March 9, 2018

“Stickies” are the affectionate name Australians give to their sweet wines. Though sticklers (so to speak) reserve the term specifically for late harvest wines and wines affected by the noble rot known as botrytis, other Aussies include the country’s phenomenal fortified wines under the sticky umbrella. The most wickedly delicious of these are the sweet fortified muscats and topaques (formerly known as Tokays) from the Victoria region. Reminiscent of toffee, brown sugar, roasted nuts, vanilla, honey, and chocolate syrup, these are wines not to be missed.

Chile is missing something most other wine countries have. Is it:

A. The legal ability for wineries to sell directly to consumers

B. A system of geographic appellations

C. Phylloxera

D. Taxes on wine

C.

Chile is the only major wine country in the world where no phylloxera exists. A lethal insect, phylloxera devastated most of the world’s vineyards in the 19th century, after which vines were necessarily grafted onto resistant rootstock. But most of the vines in Chile today remain ungrafted. Phylloxera’s curious absence is not fully understood.

“The minor miracle of wine is that it has evolved to the point where alcohol is perhaps the last element that gets the wine lover drunk. With wine, from a particular place and vintage, we can get drunk on history; anyone who has drunk a great wine twice their age will immediately relate to this. We can get drunk on place, recalling memories and associations with the region in which the wine was made. We can get drunk on remembrance: each wine naturally reminds us of previous occasions when it or similar wines were consumed, and this in turn can evoke countless memories of friends, meals and times past. Of course, wine lovers can get drunk purely on the lifted perfume of a great bottle or the textured, velvety mouthfeel and lingering flavors that scent the breath after swallowing.”

—Robert Walters, “The Wine of Astonishment” The World of Fine Wine, Issue 22

—Robert Walters, “The Wine of Astonishment” The World of Fine Wine, Issue 22

Stickies

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