Said they'd abandon drink that's very sweet (7,4)
I believe the answer is:
dessert wine
'said they'd abandon' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'drink that's very sweet' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'drink' could be 'wine' (wine is an alcoholic drink) and 'wine' is found in the answer.
'sweet' could be 'dessert' (synonyms) and 'dessert' is present in the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dessert wine that I've seen before include "Tokay or Sauternes, for example" , "Alcoholic accompaniment to pud" , "Alcoholic accompaniment for 6, say" .)