Asti Spumante is taken for what it is: A sweet, sparkling, simple wine, made from very fragrant Muscat grapes, that tastes delightful with light fruit desserts or all by itself.
It's good to know that something slightly better than Asti exists -- a wine with a slightly higher pedigree, slightly better taste, and most important of all, a slightly more refined name, Moscato d'Asti.

Australian Shiraz is Red wine with a little sweetness.

Muscat d'Alsace
In Alsace, on the eastern edge of France, they treat Muscat with a great deal of respect and turn it into a wonderfully dry, marvelously flowery wine that is the usual aperitif tipple of the region. It is available here, too, in limited quantities

Eiswein (pronounced, in German, "ICE-vine.")
Grapes--most often Riesling grapes--are left on the vine until the first frost hits. At about 3AM that night the grapes are picked and winemaker crushes the grapes gently so as to leave the water nature has frozen in the grapes behind. Trying to squeeze whatever honeyed drops out of you they can, without crushing the ice crystals inside. The best examples are very rich and sweet, but shot through with the most searing acidity you've ever experienced; the balance will take your breath away. On top of that, the aromas and flavors should be on the far side of divine: some Platonic version of peaches, nectarines, apricots, mangoes. One of the world's truly great dessert wines.
 

Sherry is a wine made in the south of Spain, around the main Sherry town of Jerez de la Frontera. It is a fortified wine, which means that some extra alcohol is added to it, typically bringing it up to somewhere between 15% and 18%--more than table wine, but not as much as Port. It is usually made from Palomino grapes, but a grape called Pedro Ximenez sometimes plays a role.
Sherry actually comes in many styles.
Most of the Sherry consumed in Spain looks like white wine, and has only a few degrees of al cohol more than white wine. It is light, graceful, bone-dry. It's flavors are slightly nutty, with a hint of bruised apples--unique in the world of wine, and devastatingly delicious. This type of Sherry is usually called Fino Sherry, but a type called Manzanilla is often even lighter and crisper.
When a Fino ages for some time, it picks up a light-brown color, and greater complexity. The nuts go nuttier, the suggestion of butter creeps in. You're now in the realm of Amontillado Sherry
Another Sherry category is Oloroso, which tends to be browner still, more complex with buterscotch and caramel--but not necessarily sweet
Sherry producers often add a sweeter wine, made from Pedro Ximenez grapes, to their dry Olorosos, creating a creating a wine that is definitely sweet. Now we're in vicarage territory. The producers don't even mess around with the obscure name "Oloroso" on these label--they just call the wine Cream Sherry.
Lastly, some producers make a whole bottling out of that sweeter Pedro Ximenez stuff. They call it, not surprisingly, Pedro Ximenez. It is like dark, thick, very sweet prune juice--it's actually better than it sounds.
 

Taru Sake is the most delicious sake, most find sake too fruity, or not dry enough, or not crisp enough. These qualities detract from the sake's ability to partner food. This one, is ultra-dry, ultra-crisp, and lighter on the palate than most sakes. It's only 13.8 percent alcohol, compared to the usual 16 percent. What's more, the flavors are great. The company in Kobe, Japan, ages it in Yoshino cedar casks, which produces a cedary, cigar-box flavor, tinged with a little earthiness, leafiness, and a haunting green apple suggestion. It is a junmai sake, which means it is pure rice, and naturally brewed.
 
 

"Caipirinha. Brazilian cocktail."
Cut half a lime into small cubes, and place them in a cocktail shaker. Sprinkle the lime with a teaspoon of quick-dissolving sugar. Smash the lime with a pestle, spoon or muddler; work it for a minute or two to release all the oils from the rind. Add a handful of cracked ice to the shaker, and pour over all 1 1/2 ounces cachaca (the brand you're most likely to find in liquor stores is Pitu.) Shake like crazy, at least 30 seconds. Then pour all into an Old-Fashioned glass, and garnish with a slice of lime.
 
 

Loco Soda
Most fruit sodas on the market come from fruit extracts, concentrates, even artificial fruit flavors. Loco comes from fresh fruit juice. Furthermore, the addition of jalapeno, habanero, and serrano chiles gives the sodas not only an exciting, spicy kick, but also lends an authentic flavor of the Southwest to the drink.
 

Vinho Verde is made from a jumble of little-known grape varieties in the northern corner of Portugal. It can be either white or red wine, though most of what comes here is white. It's called "Vinho Verde," or "green wine," because the Portuguese habit is to drink it when it's super-young, or, metaphorically, green.
producers that I've found to most reliably ship authentic Vinho Verde to the US:
Adega Coopertiva de Ponte do Lima
Rei do Minho
Cruzeiro Lima
Mesa do Presidente
Quinta da Avaleda
 
 

French Rose
a little something that's wet, refreshing, and utterly harmonious with food
Here are some of the southern French roses (along with their appellations) that I've particularly liked:
Chateau Grande Cassagne Rose (Costiere de Nimes)
Domaine Fallenc Sainte-Marie, Rose des Glacieres (Vin de Pays d'Oc)
Chateau Penin (Bordeaux Clairet)
Chateau de Roquefort, Corail (Cotes de Provence)
Mas de Gourgonnier Rose (Les Baux de Provence)
 
 
 

Traditionally, beer is made with malted barley--but wheat beer substitutes a substantial proportion of wheat for the barley. This changes things greatly. The beer is lighter, both in color and mouth-feel. A wonderful acidity creeps into the brew, insuring the sensation of freshness. And insipidity's not part of the recipe. The yeasts used for wheat beer in many places provide some of the most interesting flavors in all of beerdom: spicy ones, with hints of clove, and fruity flavors, sometimes suggesting apples or bananas. As if this weren't enough, in Belgium there's also a tradition of adding such things as Cura? orange peels and coriander seeds to the brew, resulting in even more flavor.
Belgian names for the product; Witbier, Wit Bier, Witte, or Bi? Blanche
German names for the product as Weissbier, Weisse, and Weizen. If the label says "Hefeweizen," or "Hefe Weizen," or "Hefe-Weisse," or "mit Hefe," the bottle contains unfiltered wheat beer, with the yeast still in the bottle, turning the beer cloudy and the flavor more profound
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