For day two of our look at the world's sweet wines we turn to a style called late harvest. This term applies to wines made from grapes that have been allowed to stay on the vine longer than usual. The grapes lose almost all of their water content and begin to resemble raisins. The dehydration concentrates the sugars and the result is a very sweet dessert wine. Late harvest covers a broad range of wines from Sauternes to Ice Wines but for this pairing find a Late Harvest Zinfandel from California. The deep cherry fruitiness of the Zin was made for Cherries Jubilee. This is a simple dessert of cherries flambeed with kirsch or brandy and then spooned over vanilla ice cream. It was all the rage in the 30's and 40's when almost every deluxe restaurant listed it on the menu. Queen Victoria celebrated her Diamond Jubilee in 1897, and her chef Auguste Escoffier prepared the first Cherries Jubilee especially for that occasion. For more information please visit http://www.vinicode.com. See recipe below.
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