That’s why fruitiness and sweetness are both used to describe very different tastes in wine. The result is a wine that’s higher in residual sugar, and a sweet wine is born.ĭepending on the grape varietal, acidity, tannins, and other factors, a wine may still embody a wide range of fruit notes and aromatics even if residual sugars are low. The yeast, try as it might, is working against too much sugar to convert all of it into alcohol. Most of the grape sugar will turn into alcohol at this point, and winemakers will then add additional sugar to preserve the sweet taste. When yeast is added during fermentation, these natural sugars convert into ethanol, better known as alcohol. It’s also worth noting that our perception of fruity is often based more on aromatics, whereas sweetness is determined by taste.īecause all grapes are high in sugar content, dry wines will always contain natural sugars. This is due to residual sugar, the amount of sugar left in the wine after fermentation. There are fruity dry wines and “fruitless” sweet wines. But when it comes to wine, sweetness and fruitiness aren’t interchangeable. In a typical cocktail, a “fruity” drink is often loaded with added sugar or syrups, rarely containing any fruit at all. Related: Best Wines to Pair with Your Holiday Meal Difference between Sweetness and Fruitiness Keep an eye out for words like “doux” and “dolce,” which mean sweet in French, as well as “demi,” which can indicate some sweetness. Riesling and Moscatoare are the most common sweet choices for white wines, and a Port or Lambrusco will be good picks for red wines. Learning the names of popular sweet wines can also lend you a tip to choosing the right one. The most reliable indicator of a sweet wine is usually lower alcohol content, aka low ABV percentage. Let’s talk about what really makes wine sweet, the winemaking methods used to produce it, and how some of wine’s sweetness is all in our heads- or at least influenced by our perception.Īs you can see on the wine sweetness bottle chart below, both red wines and white wines cover the whole spectrum from bone dry to very sweet, so color isn’t an indicator of sweetness. Dessert wines are a part of it, but most sweet wines aren’t overpowering, nor are they sugary like soda. If you’ve never had sweet wine, you might be thinking it’s just full of sugar or tastes like dessert. While our focus will be more on introducing you to sweet wine, you’ll gain a better understanding of the difference between sweet and dry as we go along. So, if you’re not sure whether you like sweet or dry wine, we’ve put together a comprehensive guide so you can find out where you stand. But that would get expensive fast and probably not end in the result you want. When you’re trying to catch up, you may be inclined to try every wine on the shelf to figure out what you like. If you’re new to the wine world, trying to understand all of the terminology and jargon used by wine lovers can be overwhelming.
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