Many people are turned off by sweet wines, especially drinkers of dry red wines. Sweet wines are so intense and sugary, Australians refer to them as "stickies" - pertinent because they literally coat your mouth with sweetness and affect all flavors afterward.

But stickies are becoming more popular around the holidays, when these wines punctuate the evening's camaraderie with an exclamation point at the end of a fine meal. (As a rule of thumb, dessert wines should usually be sweeter than the dessert.) Ice and late harvest wines are also great holiday gifts.

"There is something ceremonial about late harvest and ice wines," says Bob Bertheau, head winemaker for Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery. "They come wrapped in these special bottles that you bring out to enjoy with your family and friends at the end of an evening. Then you get to taste this sparkling clear, sweet nectar. And what makes it more special is that these wines are not made every year, so it is an exceptional treat."

Ice wines are made when grapes freeze on the vine, resulting in overripe, super-concentrated fruit. The grapes are picked frozen, carried to the winery and pressed immediately. The sweet grape nectar is pressed from the grapes while the frozen water remains trapped in the skins. The viscous, sugar-concentrated juice is then fermented to produce a sweet wine that, due to the high acidity, is more refreshing than cloyingly sweet.

Late harvest wines, as their name suggests, are produced from grapes that are harvested late in the season. The grapes naturally dehydrate, and thanks to this longer "hang time" on the vine, the grapes shrivel like raisins, and as the water evaporates, the concentrated sugar remains in the grape, making for an intensely sweet and flavorful fruit.

Late harvest wines can be greatly affected by a beneficial fungus called Botrytis cinerea, or "noble rot," which creates the distinctive character of the great sweet wines of Sauternes, Germany, and Tokaj, Hungary. In Washington, Botrytis gives the grape intense honey flavors and texture.

Covey Run winemaker Kate Michaud helped to produce two dessert wines - a 2005 Late Harvest Riesling and a 2005 Reserve Semillon ice wine. Michaud says the '05 Late Harvest Riesling does not have overwhelming notes of Botrytis flavors, but rather allows the flavors of Riesling to shine through.

One of the more unusual sweet red wines produced in the United States is offered by Latah Creek in Spokane, called Natalie's Nectar. Winemaker Mike Conway discovered Recioto, a sweet Italian red wine, during his travels in Europe. In Italy, the red wine grapes are dried and shriveled. However, Conway takes a finished wine (Syrah) and adds unfermented grape juice and then quickly bottles the wine.

"It is a sweet dessert wine," says Conway. "It is intense in its fruit but doesn't pack the alcohol level

-  just a fun wine to make and drink."

At Chateau Ste. Michelle, Bertheau says five wines were produced from the 2006 vintage - a vintage he calls "the perfect storm" - a hard freeze with ripe fruit still hanging on the vine in the Horse Heaven Hills Vineyard, resulting in Botrytis on the grapes by Oct. 31.

"It was 13 degrees and I looked up in the sky at 4 a.m. and it was as crystal clear as I've ever seen," Bertheau says. "We knew it would be a special harvest."

The 2006 vintage is only the fifth time in Chateau Ste. Michelle's 40-year history that conditions were right for ice wine. Offerings this year include the 2006 Ethos Late Harvest White Riesling, 2006 Late Harvest Chenin Blanc and a 2006 Chenin Blanc Ice Wine. The winery will release an Eroica late harvest Riesling and its single berry select in 2008.