Sauternes substitutes

Hungary's botrytised sweet white, made from furmint and other local grapes affected by noble rot.

Best for

sabayon, poached fruit, fruit tarts, with foie gras or blue cheese

The closest thing to Sauternes made anywhere else, and usually cheaper. Because it comes from the same process of noble rot concentrating the grapes on the vine, it has the same apricot, honey and marmalade character and, critically, the same bracing acidity that keeps a rich dessert from feeling heavy. In a sabayon, a poaching syrup for peaches or a jelly it is essentially indistinguishable. It runs a little more toward orange peel and tea leaf and a shade less toward beeswax. Look for the number of puttonyos on the label as a guide to sweetness, with 5 puttonyos sitting close to a typical Sauternes.

Other French botrytised sweet whites from nearby appellations, several made from exactly the same grapes.

Best for

poached fruit, sabayon, cheese courses, cooking on a budget

The smartest substitution on this page in value terms. Monbazillac sits just up the river from Sauternes, uses semillon and sauvignon blanc, and is made in the same style for a third of the money; Cadillac and Loupiac are Bordeaux neighbours doing the same thing; Coteaux du Layon is chenin blanc, which brings more quince and a firmer, almost mineral acidity. All three give you honey and apricot with the necessary sharpness. In a cooked dish there is no meaningful difference, and beside a Roquefort or a tarte tatin the difference is nuance rather than kind.

German and Austrian sweet whites from very ripe or botrytised riesling, high in acid and moderate in alcohol.

Best for

berry desserts, rhubarb, sabayon, poached pears

A very good swap with a small shift in direction. These are just as sweet and just as sharp, but the fruit is lime, green apple and stone fruit rather than apricot and honey, and riesling often carries a distinctive petrol or slate note that Sauternes does not have. A sabayon or a fruit syrup made with one comes out brighter, leaner and more citrus-driven, which is a genuine improvement with berries and rhubarb and a slight loss with peaches or foie gras. Their lower alcohol also means the syrup thickens a touch faster. Late-harvest sauvignon blanc is another close relative.

The cheapest and most available sweet white, floral and grapey rather than honeyed.

Best for

poached fruit, macerating berries, syrups, everyday cooking

Usable, and it is what most people will actually have access to, but be clear about the trade. Moscato is sweet and fragrant with orange blossom and grape, and it is much lower in acidity than Sauternes, which is exactly the quality that makes Sauternes work. Without help, a Sauternes reduction made with Moscato tastes flat, sugary and one-dimensional, and it can turn cloying in anything with cream or egg in it. Lemon juice fixes most of that; a strip of orange zest simmered in the syrup adds a little of the missing marmalade note. Add the lemon at the end so it stays lively.

The pantry fix, building sweetness onto a wine you already have open.

Best for

poaching liquid, glazes, pan sauces, using what you have

A workmanlike solution for a cooked sauce or a poaching liquid, and honest about what it misses. You get roughly the right sweetness, the right acidity and the right alcohol, which is most of the mechanical job. What is absent is the botrytis character, that particular apricot-and-beeswax aroma that no combination of wine and sweetener produces, so the result tastes like a sweetened white wine rather than a dessert wine. Choose an aromatic white such as a riesling, chenin or viognier rather than a neutral pinot grigio, since the aromatics get you closer. Dissolve the honey in the wine before it goes near heat.

The alcohol-free option, using apricot to chase the right flavour rather than just the right sweetness.

Best for

alcohol-free desserts, poached fruit, cooking for children, fruit syrups

Apricot nectar is the clever choice here, because apricot is precisely the fruit note Sauternes tastes of, so this comes closer than plain grape juice does. The lemon is not optional: without it you have a sweet fruit drink with no cut, and it will taste sickly in anything with cream or butter. The orange zest adds a marmalade lift. What you lose is the alcohol, which carries aroma and, in frozen desserts, keeps the texture soft, so a sorbet made this way freezes much harder. Reduce it gently and watch the pan, because fruit sugar catches sooner than wine does.