Dessert wine wine is also made in the United States, Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Italy, Australia, France and New Zealand in smaller quantities. Some of the most famous dessert wines, such as Château d'Yquem of Sauternes and Tokaji Aszú of Tokaj-Hegyalja in Hungary, or Seewinkel in Austria are made using grapes mouldy with "Botrytis cinerea", which sucks water out of the grape whilst imparting flavours of honey and apricot to the future wine. The fungus requires specific conditions to produce noble rot; if it is too damp, the same fungus causes destructive grey rot. Vignerons must ensure that they
Dessert wine dessert wines. In the United States, by contrast, a dessert wine is legally defined as any wine over 14% alcohol by volume, which includes all fortified wines - and is taxed more highly as a result. This dates back to a time when the US wine industry only made dessert wines by fortification, but such a classification is outdated now that modern yeast and viticulture can produce dry wines over 15% without fortification, yet German dessert wines can contain half that amount of alcohol. Examples include Sauternes and Tokaji Aszú. Makers of dessert wines want to produce a wine containing