Why are many Ainoa wines sweet?
Aren’t dry wines more popular?
It is true, dry and near dry wines are drunk at far higher rates. Sweet wines used to be more popular, but currently they account for less than 1% of world-wide wine consumption. In the last few years sweet wines have seen increased interest, but the question remains, why would Ainoa focus so much of our efforts on such a small segment of the market. Wouldn’t it be smarter business to aim at the heart of the market where most of the consumers are?
As in many things, the answer is “it depends”. If you are a big company with access to resources that allow you to take advantage of economies of scale and to target audiences of millions, then the answer is unambiguously “yes.” But if you are a small company or startup the answer is often different. For every startup that targets the heart of the market and succeeds, there are dozens which fail. Startups are often better off trying to identify a new market that has not yet been exploited or a market segment that is too small for the big companies to put any effort towards. That fits our situation and has helped with our business success - though it is not the reason we developed our sweet wines.
In the past year we have had a couple of visitors from Tokay visit the winery. Both times the conversation went something like this:
Visitor: “… I am originally from Tokay in Hungary.”
Me: “Great, I’m a fan of Tokay wines, and I am happy to be able to show what we are doing to someone who really understands dessert wines.”
Visitor: “You know, we don’t just make dessert wines. We make really good dry wines in Tokay too.”
I’ve never tasted a dry Tokay and have never heard anyone who wasn’t from Tokay praise dry wines from there, but I am sure they are right. Tokay has a long tradition of winemaking; the winemakers know what they are doing and that is the key to making a good dry wine. But a lot of places produce good dry wines. Tokay also possesses a terroir and climate such that in years when the weather is right they can produce extraordinary dessert wines, and that is much more difficult to achieve. It sets them apart and is the reason Tokay is counted among the great wine regions of the world.
Finland has a similar situation. It is possible to make good dry fruit wines from Finnish berries. Our dry blueberry wine Silkki has a lot of fans; they tell us it is like a good red grape wine. We know they are right about that because we have sent our wines to some of the most discriminating wine tastings in the world to be rated by the experts. Silkki has earned ratings that place it at a level with good red wines, but when compared to the best Riojas, Malbecs or New Zealand Pinot Noirs Silkki does not come out at the top. Our dessert wines on the other hand are regularly rated better than some of the best Sauternes, Eiswines and Tokays.
How is this possible? It gets back to what makes a great dessert wine. Most people think that sugar level is the defining characteristic of a dessert wine, but they are wrong. High sugar along with wonderful acidity are necessary in a great dessert wine, but they are not the key items. The key is flavor intensity. Great dessert wines have far more intense flavors than great dry wines, and that can only come from using the right fruit. Finnish berries are sweet, have wonderful acidity and incredible intense flavors. It is no wonder they can produce great dessert wines.
Our goal at Ainoa has always been to make the best wines we can, and the best wines we have made from Finnish fruits have been dessert wines. That is the reason so many of our wines are sweet.