Betty's Wine Musings

Welcome to Betty's Wine Musings, where you'll get fabulous wine tasting tips and wine tasting notes, discover personalized wines, and more! Whether you are a wine veteran or just getting started, there’s always something more to explore about the wonderful world of wine.

  • Home
  • Wine Business
  • Personalized Wine Labels
  • Virtual Wine Tastings
  • Wine Tastings
  • Blog
  • About Me
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Uncategorized / What’s the Difference Between Sweet Wine and Dry Wine

What’s the Difference Between Sweet Wine and Dry Wine

February 2, 2021 by BettyKaufman Leave a Comment

As a wine consultant, I get many questions about sweet wine and dry wine. My favorite is how can a wine be dry when it’s wet. That’s a really good question. Today we’re going to delve into this delicious topic. Are you ready?

What Determines Whether a Wine Is Sweet or Dry?

Exploring Sweet Wine and Dry Wine with Wine Folly
Exploring Sweet Wine and Dry Wine with Wine Folly

It all has to do with how much sugar is in the wine. When you make wine, you add yeast to your grape juice, which causes the sugar in the grape juice to turn into alcohol. This process is called fermentation.

If you let the fermentation go all the way, you will end up with dry wine, because all the sugar will be converted into alcohol. If you stop the fermentation part way, you are likely to end up with sweet wine, because the still has sugar in it.

On average, the longer you ferment grape juice, the drier the wine will be.

What Constitutes Sweet Wine and Dry Wine?

For a wine to be considered sweet, its residual sugar level (sugars left in a wine after the alcoholic fermentation finishes) must be above 20%.

For a wine to be considered dry, it must have less than 1% residual sugar. When a wine is called bone dry, it has less than 0.5% residual sugar.

Comparing Sweet Wines and Dry Wines

I’m sure you know that you can make a sweet Riesling, an off-dry Riesling and even a dry Riesling.

I came across a brand new Forbes article that describes the differences. Here’s one line from the article: “Residual sugar in a Riesling ranges from 3 grams, i.e., completely dry, to 300 grams per litre and can be anything in between. It gives an incredible range of flavours.”

Can You Always Tell Sweet Wines and Dry Wines?

Sometimes, it’s hard to tell whether a wine is sweet or dry. Let’s say you have a bottle of wine that tastes sweet, but you find out from the winemaker that it has only 5g of residual sugar. Guess what. You’re interpreting sweetness for fruitiness. Fruit forward is a term that is often used for these types of wines.

On the dry wine side, you can have a wine that tastes incredibly dry, but it happens to have a lot of tannins. It’s a very young Cabernet. Truth be told, most Cabernets are dry. But you need to be careful not to interpret heavy tannin tastes with dryness.

Whether you’re a sweet wine fan or a dry wine fan, I’ve got you covered. At WineShop At Home, we have a wide variety of wines. If you need some good wines, please let me know. Cheers!

BettyPhotoCircularAs an independent wine consultant with WineShop At Home, I absolutely enjoy bringing a taste of the Napa wine country home to you one sip at a time. Whether you simply love to drink wine, seek a special personalized wine gift, or are in search of a new wine jobs opportunity as a wine consultant, feel free to contact me for a truly unique wine tasting experience!

Cheers, Betty Kaufman
WineShop At Home

Related Posts

  • A Spoon in Sparkling Wine?A Spoon in Sparkling Wine?
  • Petit Verdot, How I Love TheePetit Verdot, How I Love Thee
  • Personalized Wines for Holiday GiftsPersonalized Wines for Holiday Gifts
  • Why Are Some Wines More Noble than Others?Why Are Some Wines More Noble than Others?
  • Revisiting Cab Franc vs. CabernetRevisiting Cab Franc vs. Cabernet
  • Counterfeit and Fake Wines Are Big BusinessCounterfeit and Fake Wines Are Big Business
Share and Enjoy:
  • Print
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Twitter
  • Google Bookmarks

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Reserve a Wine Tasting

Ready to host your own personal wine tasting? Please fill out the form below and I will contact you to schedule your own personal wine tasting.
  • Please enter both your first and last name.
  • Please enter the best e-mail address at which to contact you.
  • Please enter the best phone number at which to reach you.
  • Please enter a desired date for your wine tasting.
    Date Format: MM slash DD slash YYYY

Join my Wine Team

I’m building a successful wine consultant team that I’d love to have you join. And don’t worry -- you don’t need to be a wine expert. You just need to like wine and be enthusiastic about leading in-home wine tastings, enjoying the wine country lifestyle, and earning as much as 44% commission. If you’re looking for a wine job to end all wine jobs, please contact me to begin your wine consultant adventure today! If you would prefer to start by hosting a wine tasting for you and your family, I’d love to talk to you about that too! Cheers! Betty Kaufman Independent Wine Consultant WineShop At Home (650) 714-7009 betty@winetastingsandmore.com
  • What's the best email address at which to reach you?
  • What's the best phone number at which to reach you?
  • Please enter the state in which you currently live.

Follow Me

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinrssyoutubeinstagram

© 2021 · bettyswinemusings.com. | Privacy Policy