Yaaah! What was that? A spooky goblin? Bats in the belfry? Or something much more terrifying: A sweet wine!

It's true that sweet wines are usually drunk by people on either end of the wine-learning curve. Very often, a beginner's introduction to wine will be a sweet one. At the other end, we have experienced wine drinkers who twitch uncontrollably with delight at the mere thought of having aged Sauternes with some Roquefort.

Unfortunately, most folks in the middle of the curve are unlikely to order, or even have to opportunity to try dessert wine. But have no fear: Sweet wine is just as sophisticated and heavenly as the drier varieties.

There are a few categories of dessert wines, and many different grapes used, but I am going to give you two basic categories: fortified and unfortified.

Fortified wines
Fortified wines are made stronger with the addition of alcohol, the alcohol being added before fermentation has been completed so that some sugar will remain. The resulting wine is sweet and strong; a prime example of this is port. Port comes in two distinct styles, tawny and ruby. Named for its color, tawny has been aged in wood, and has a slightly nutty quality. Ruby ports can be vintage, or vintage-character. They are aged in the bottle or in stainless-steel tanks and tend to have a cleaner, brighter fruit quality.

Tawny and vintage-character ports are ready to be drunk upon release, whereas vintage ports require a long aging period before they are approachable (for example, the youngest port now being served at the Rainbow Room is a '77 Crofts). This also means that vintage port is usually much more expensive than the others.

Usually the least expensive is a vintage character, like Graham's Six Grapes or Fonseca Bin 27, both of which are very good. Your tawnies cost a bit more, and your vintage ports can cost a pretty penny. So to see if you like the stuff, try a vintage character and a 10-year tawny, and see which style you prefer before you drop the big bucks.

Unfortified Wines
Unfortified dessert wines are made in the traditional manner, and retain sweetness either because the grapes were so darned sweet at the beginning that some sugar remains, or the fermentation is halted in some other way (such as refrigeration) before the yeasties eat all the sugar.

Sauternes is one of the most famous (and expensive) dessert wines around. It comes from Bordeaux, France, and is made from Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc grapes. Not only are the grapes sweet to begin with, they are affected by a mold (eeww!) called Botrytis Cinerea or the Noble Rot. This fungus pokes microscopic holes in the skins of the grapes and allows some water to evaporate, which makes the juice more concentrated. It also adds some (good) flavor to the wine. Some Chateaux to look for are Doisy-Daene, Raymond-Lafon, and the famous and very expensive Chateau d'Yquem. For a less pricey alternative, try Barsac, from the stepchild town next door to Sauterne.

Other quality dessert wines include:

• Muscat de Beaumes de Venise, from the Rhone
• Moscato d'Asti, a lovely and lightly sparkling wine from Italy
• Muscat Vin de Glaciere from Bonny Doon, California
• Edelwein Gold, Freemark Abbey, a late-harvest Riesling
• Kendall-Jackson late-harvest Riesling
• Markham Vineyards Muscat, a great value!

Now that you know a little bit about these wines, drink some! I prefer to drink dessert wine by itself, as its own dessert, maybe with some plain cookies or fresh fruit -- though given the season, candy corn might be another option. There are some amazing combinations, though. Vintage Port with Stilton cheese, Vin Santo with biscotti, the aforementioned Sauterne with Roquefort. However, most dessert wines are complete palate-pleasers unto themselves, and should be served before dessert or alone. And I shouldn't have to say this, folks: Tootsie rolls, trick-or-treaters. Dessert wines, grownups. Got that?