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What does “dry” wine actually mean? How much sugar can a dry wine contain? And why can two wines with the same residual sugar taste very different?
In this episode of The Wine Lab, Andreea explores the science and sensory side of sweetness in wine. We look at residual sugar, acidity, aroma, temperature, and balance; how winemakers create sweet and off-dry styles; and why Riesling, Champagne, Sauternes, Port, icewine, and other wines can make the language of sweetness surprisingly complicated.
We’ll also decode confusing terms like Brut, Extra Dry, Demi-Sec, trocken, Spätlese, and Auslese, and explain why sweetness is a wine style rather than a measure of quality.
Glossary
Residual sugar (RS) — Sugar remaining in wine after fermentation, usually expressed in grams per liter.
Dry wine — A wine containing very little residual sugar. Under OIV definitions, wines may qualify as dry at up to 4 g/L sugar, or up to 9 g/L when sufficiently balanced by acidity.
Off-dry — A wine with a small but noticeable amount of sweetness. Exact definitions vary between regions and regulatory systems.
Glucose and fructose — The principal fermentable sugars naturally present in grapes.
Acidity — One of the major structural components of wine. Higher acidity can reduce the perceived intensity of sweetness.
Perceived sweetness — How sweet a wine tastes, which may differ from its measured sugar concentration because of acidity, aroma, temperature, texture, and other factors.
Süssreserve — Sterile grape must traditionally used in some German wines to adjust sweetness after fermentation.
Noble rot — Beneficial infection of grapes by Botrytis cinerea under suitable conditions, causing water loss and concentrating sugars, acids, and flavor compounds.
Late harvest — Wines made from grapes harvested later than usual, often with higher sugar concentration.
Icewine / Eiswein — Wine traditionally made from grapes that freeze naturally on the vine and are pressed while frozen, producing highly concentrated juice.
Fortified wine — Wine to which grape spirit has been added. Depending on when fortification occurs, the resulting wine may be dry or sweet.
Brut Nature — A very dry sparkling-wine category, generally containing less sugar than Extra Brut or Brut.
Brut — A widely used dry sparkling-wine category.
Extra Dry — A sparkling-wine sweetness category that is, confusingly, sweeter than Brut.
Demi-Sec — A noticeably sweet sparkling-wine category.
Doux — One of the sweetest sparkling-wine categories.
Trocken — German term meaning dry.
Halbtrocken — German term indicating a wine with somewhat more residual sugar than trocken.
Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese — German Prädikat categories related primarily to grape ripeness or must weight at harvest, not necessarily to the sweetness of the finished wine.
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