Understanding The Differences Between Sweet And Dry Wines

If you don't have a substantial knowledge of wine

, you may not understand the differences between sweet and dry wines. It seems it should be simple: sweet wines have more sugar while dry wines have less sugar. That is true to a certain point however there are other points to take into consideration. Below, you'll discover some great info about why some wines are sweet and others are not.

When the Grapes Are Harvested

The more mature the grapes are, the sweeter the wine. There are some other methods to make sweet wine that use grapes that are not mature. Having said that, the most typical method to make a sweet wine is to harvest the grapes late. These grapes will definitely have more sugar and less acidity. The lower the level of acidity, the more sweeter wine. after fermentation occurs, there will be more sugar in the wine.

Reduced Fermentation Method

Another means to make a wine sweeter is to end the fermentation process before it would ordinarily occur. Fermentation is what creates alcohol in wine and that alcohol is made from the grapes' sugar. When fermentation is stopped early, more sugar is left in the wine.

Using Sugar to Sweeten Wine

In some circumstances, sugar is added to the liquid of the grapes. This technique is typically used for cultivated in environments that are cooler. The technical word for this is chaptalization; having said that, several countries manage the addition of sugar in regards to just how the wine is categorized.

Freezing Grapes on the Vine

Dessert wines called Eiswein or Icewine are made by freezing mature grapes while they are still on the vine. The grapes are then pressed and the iced water from the grapes is thrown out. The condensed and syrupy liquid is what is used to make these sweet wines.

The LCBO Sugar Code

The LCBO Sugar Code is used to rate the amount of sugar found in a bottle of wine. The scale runs from 0-30. The zero is used for wines that are very dry and seven and over is very sweet. While this sugar code could be used to tell you if a wine is "technically" sweet or dry, variables like alcohol, tannin, and acidity alcohol content, acidity, and tannin levels may change your perception of the sweet taste of the wine. This means that the code could tell you that the wine is sweet, yet the way it tastes to you might be closer to dry.

A Few Last Thoughts

Now that you have a better understanding of why a wine is considered as dry or sweet, it's time to test out your own palette and determine which you like. A lot of new wine drinkers discover that they like the sweeter wines, as dry wines are often a taste that one grows in to over time. Having said that, do not avoid the dry wines because you think you might not like them. One idea is to apply a wine aerator. This will help highlight the real flavor profile of both sweet and dry wines, making both of them much better. Wine aerators are simpler to use than a decanter and it will be easy for you to see just how well they perform in delivering to you the very best the wine has offer.

Copyright (c) 2012 Patricia Lanford

by: Patricia Lanford

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