Over the past few months, I’ve been collating a few articles explaining the different components of wine. If you want to get up to speed and learn some cool stuff about wine, you can check them out (tannins, body, acidity and also terroir). But I am yet to write an article about sweetness in wine, and a conversation I had recently got me thinking it was about time we explored it!
A friend at work was telling me when she was away travelling with a few different couples that one lady, in particular, was quite picky when it came to wine. They were trying Rosé across Puglia (as you do) and without fail this lady in their group would refuse wine because of the colour. She had decided that wines that were a bright pink would be sweet. So whenever they got a wine, regardless of how the rest of the group felt about its sweetness, if it was too pink, she would refuse it. As you can imagine this made for a frustrating experience for everyone, but on the plus side more Rosé to share around.
This story got me thinking, how does the sweetness in wine affect the taste of it? And how do you tell if a wine is going to be too sweet before you buy it? I myself have fallen into this trap of shying away from bright Rosé because I think it will be too sweet, but I’ve come to learn this isn’t an indicator at all. So in the interest of helping us all pick wines that we will enjoy, I thought I’d dive into the topic of sweetness in wine.
What is sweetness in wine?
There are lots of ideas around about what a sweet wine is. There are also very few people that would rather enjoy a soft drink than drink a super sweet wine. However, some of the sweetest dessert wines actually have the same amount of sugar as a soft drink! So think about that next time you choose lemonade over Moscato!
The problem with sweetness in wine is that it all comes down to perception, but this is widely impacted by the balance in the wine. The combination of tannin and acidity in the wine will balance out sweetness, changing the perception of how the wine tastes. The problem is that on top of this we all have differing ideas of what ‘ too sweet’ is, similar to how everyone has a different perception of flavours that they like. This means that one person might like something that is sweeter, but the other might hate it. It’s really for the best, so we have a bit of variety in our lives right?
The problem with sweetness is also that it is hard to spot on a label. Some wines such as sweet dessert wines are easy to pick out from a crowd because of their bottles and prices, but when it comes to drinking wine they really look exactly the same to dry wines. So picking a bottle based on the appearance of the wine is not the way to go!
How do you taste it?
Tasting sweetness in wine is easy because it is something we do every day with all of our foods. Our perception of whether something is sweet starts on the tip of your tongue. If they tingle when you taste a wine, there is sweetness present. By focusing on these taste buds you’ll get an idea of how sweet the wine is, even in dry wines. You can also look for an oily sensation on the middle of your tongue.
Another way to tell if a wine is sweet is through sight. Sweet wines tend to have a higher viscosity, so when you swirl it around your glass, the wine will fall down the side of the glass slowly.
When thinking about wine being too sweet, have a think about lemonade. Each person will want a different level of sugar in their lemonade as it balances out the sour flavour. A glass of one lemonade might be too sour for you will be perfect for another person. The same goes with sweetness in wine – it is all about balance and what your threshold is.
What impacts sweetness in wine?
So what causes the sweetness in wine? Well, there are plenty of factors to do with fermentation and the winemaking process, but the simple answer is residual sugar. This comes from the natural sugar found in wine grapes, including fructose and glucose. Winemaking processes use yeast to convert the sugar into alcohol, making dry wine. But when there is some remaining residual sugar that isn’t fermented, the sweetness is leftover.
Some of the reasons a wine can be sweet are:
- Fermentation stops naturally before all the grape juice is converted to alcohol (eg. Botrytis grapes and Ice wines)
- Fermentation is stopped deliberately before all the sugars have been converted into alcohol to leave residual sugar (examples of this include Prosecco (when it is done using cold temperatures that kill the yeast) or Port (where fermentation is stopped using the addition of spirit)
- The wine has had sugar added back in with a permitted sweetening agent. This is common with your cheap wines, which explains why sometimes a $5 bottle tastes really sweet
- With Champagne and Sparkling wine, the style (eg. Brut vs Demi-Sec) is based on the amount of residual sugar or ‘dosage’ in the wine.
The amount of residual sugar varies in different types of wine, as the grapes and growing processes are different. Typically a ‘dry’ wine will still have about 10g/L of residual sugar, whereas sweet wines usually start at around 35 g/L of sugar. Unfortunately for us, this isn’t something that comes on wine labels, so again isn’t a good indicator of what wines are sweet when you are in the bottle store.
Why is sweetness in wine important?
So you may be thinking what is the point of sweetness in wine if no one really wants it? Well, sweetness in wine is actually very important because it affects the delicate balance of flavour. The key to a good wine is a balance between the sweetness and sourness or acidity. Without some sweetness, the acidity could overpower the taste. But without acidity, you’ve got yourself a sugary beverage.
When it comes to naturally sweet wines, the key is balance. This delicate balancing act is really difficult to perfect with wines such as Riesling which often don’t get the respect they deserve. Often when speaking about sweet wines you’ll find most people talk about dessert wine, skipping those wines that are still sweet but with the right balance can be absolutely delicious.
Not all wines will be sweet, in fact, it is more common with white wines. However, understanding how sweetness plays into the fine balance of wine will help you know what to look for.
So how do you know if a wine will be sweet?
As I mentioned before, this is a tough one as the residual sugar is rarely indicated on the bottle (unless you’re drinking sparkling wine in which case look out for the style). Some winemakers will include sweetness as a tasting not on the back label, but because it has a bit of a bad reputation you’ll be unlikely to find this clue in their marketing spiel.
One good way to check for sweetness is to look at the alcohol by volume (ABV), although this isn’t foolproof. Each wine bottle will have a percentage measure of alcohol. If you think about it, wines are usually sweeter because not all the sugars have been converted to alcohol. So in theory, wines with less alcohol content should be sweeter. Therefore, use this as your general guide:
The link between alcohol and sweetness
- Less than 10% ABV = sweet
- 11%-12.5% ABV = some residual sugar/off-dry
- 12.5% and above = dry
The problem with using this as a measure is that it isn’t always the case, especially if the winemaker has added sugar to the wine. So make sure you are also checking for the quality of the wine before you decide. If it is a cheap bottle, it may be sweeter than you think.
The safest way to go when deciding what wine to pick is to start with what actually creates most of the sweetness in wine: the grape. By knowing which varieties are sweet and which are not, you’ll be able to pick and choose with confidence at the bottle store. This doesn’t mean that a Riesling should always be discounted as too sweet, as plenty are well balanced and dry. But it is a good indicator generally that the wine will have more residual sugar, then it is up to the winemaker to balance this out.
Here’s a handy guide for you to use next time you are in the bottle store:
The sweetness of specific wines
- Very Dry – Bordeaux, Chianti, Montepulciano, Chenin Blanc, Pinot Grigio
- Off-Dry – Beaujolais, Burgundy, Cabernet Franc, Sangiovese, Valpolicella, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay
- Medium – Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Malbec, Merlot, Shiraz, Zinfandel, Gewurztraminer, Moscato, Muscat, Riesling
- Sweet – Sauternes, Port
- Very Sweet – Ice Wine
Know how sweet you like it before you buy
Although sweet wines have suffered from a poor image, some of the greatest older varieties in the world are actually sweet. The reason for this is that with sweetness comes high acidity to balance out the sugar, making delicious wines. So when it comes down to it, it’s all about balance.
So don’t be ashamed if you love a sweeter wine. Everyone should be exploring the delicate balance between sugar and acid in wine, finding out what your perception of sweetness is and your perfect match. Who knows, maybe even the lady from the start of this article could learn to love a sweet wine if she tried one!