The subjective sweetness of a

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

is determined by the interaction of several factors, including the amount of

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

in the wine, but also the relative levels of

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

acid An acid is a molecule or ion capable of either donating a proton (i.e. Hydron, hydrogen cation, H+), known as a Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory, Brønsted–Lowry acid, or forming a covalent bond with an electron pair, known as a Lewis ...

s, and

tannin Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and Precipitation (chemistry), precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' is widel ...

s. Sugars and alcohol enhance a wine's sweetness, while acids cause

sour The gustatory system or sense of taste is the sensory system that is partially responsible for the perception of taste. Taste is the perception stimulated when a substance in the mouth biochemistry, reacts chemically with taste receptor cells l ...

ness and bitter tannins cause bitterness. These principles are outlined in the 1987 work by Émile Peynaud, ''The Taste of Wine''.

History

''Vintage: The Story of Wine'', a book authored by British wine writer Hugh Johnson, presents several methods that have been used throughout history to sweeten wine. The most common way was to harvest the grapes as late as possible. This method was advocated by

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

and

Martial Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman and Celtiberian poet born in Bilbilis, Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of '' Epigrams'', pu ...

in Roman times. In contrast, the

ancient Greeks Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically re ...

would harvest the grapes early, to preserve some of their acidity, and then leave them in the sun for a few days to allow them to shrivel and concentrate the sugar. In

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

, a similar effect was achieved by twisting the stalks of the grape to deprive them of sap and letting them dry on the vine—a method that produced passum and the modern Italian equivalent, passito. Stopping the fermentation also enhanced a wine's potential sweetness. In ancient times, this was achieved by submerging the amphorae in cold water until winter. Wine can also be sweetened by the addition of sugar in some form, after fermentation is completed – the German method like the '' Süssreserve''. In Roman times, this was done in preparing mulsum, wine freshly sweetened with honey and flavored with spices, used as an apéritif, and also in the manufacture of conditum, which had similar ingredients but was matured and stored before drinking. It was also common from the Roman era until quite recently to sweeten wine with ''sugar of lead'', a toxic substance that increases the apparent sweetness of wines and other beverages. The practice continued well into the 19th century, although the leading was mostly restricted to very cheap wines after the harmful nature of lead was demonstrated in the 17th century.

Residual sugar

Among the components influencing how sweet a wine will taste is residual sugar. It is usually measured in grams of sugar per

litre The litre ( Commonwealth spelling) or liter ( American spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metres (m3). A ...

of wine, often abbreviated to g/L. Residual sugar typically refers to the sugar remaining after

fermentation Fermentation is a type of anaerobic metabolism which harnesses the redox potential of the reactants to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and organic end products. Organic molecules, such as glucose or other sugars, are catabolized and reduce ...

stops, or is stopped, but it can also result from the addition of unfermented

must Must is freshly crushed Juice, fruit juice (usually grape juice) that contains the skins, seeds, and stems of the fruit. The solid portion of the must is called pomace and typically makes up 7–23% of the total weight of the must. Making must ...

(a technique practiced in Germany and known as Süssreserve) or ordinary table sugar. Even among the driest wines, it is rare to find wines with a level of less than 1 g/L, due to the unfermentability of certain types of sugars, such as pentose. By contrast, any wine with over 45 g/L would be considered sweet, though many of the great sweet wines have levels much higher than this. For example, the great vintages of Château d'Yquem contain between 100 and 150 g/L of residual sugar. The sweetest form of the Tokaji, the Eszencia, contains over 450 g/L, with exceptional vintages registering 900 g/L. Such wines are balanced, keeping them from becoming cloyingly sweet, by carefully developed use of acidity. This means that the finest sweet wines are made with

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,0 ...

varieties that keep their acidity even at very high ripeness levels, such as Riesling and

Chenin blanc Chenin blanc (, ; known also as Pineau de la Loire among #Synonyms, other names) is a white wine grape variety from the Loire Valley (wine), Loire Valley of France (wine), France. Its high acidity (wine), acidity means it can be used to make var ...

. How sweet a wine will taste is also controlled by factors such as the acidity and

levels, the amount of

present, and whether the wine is sparkling or not. A sweet wine such as a Vouvray can actually taste dry due to the high level of acidity. A dry wine can taste sweet if the alcohol level is elevated. Medium and sweet wines have a perception among many consumers of being of lower quality than dry wines. However, many of the world's great wines, such as those from Sauternes (including Barsac) or Tokaj, have a high level of residual sugar, which is carefully balanced with additional acidity to produce a harmonious result.

Süssreserve

Süssreserve (; ) is a

term referring to a portion of selected unfermented grape

, free of microorganisms, to be added to wine as a sweetening component. This technique was developed in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and is used with German-style wines such as semi-sweet Riesling or Müller–Thurgau. The technique not only raises the sugar level of the wine, but also lowers the amount of

. Under German law, no more than fifteen percent of the final wine's volume may be the reserved juice. This practice is allowed also for Prädikatswein, the highest level in the German wine classification. It is often used for semi-sweet Kabinett and Spätlese, but more rarely for Auslese and upward. The use of Süssreserve results in a different composition of sugars in the wine in comparison to residual sugar from arrested fermentation. Grape must contains mainly the sugars

glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula , which is often abbreviated as Glc. It is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. It is mainly made by plants and most algae d ...

and

fructose Fructose (), or fruit sugar, is a Ketose, ketonic monosaccharide, simple sugar found in many plants, where it is often bonded to glucose to form the disaccharide sucrose. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and gal ...

. When wine ferments, glucose is fermented at a faster rate than fructose. Thus, arresting fermentation after a significant portion of the sugars have fermented results in a wine where the residual sugar consists mainly of fructose, while the use of Süssreserve will result in a wine where the sweetness comes from a mixture of glucose and fructose.

Terms used to indicate sweetness of wine

European Union terms for wine

According to EU regulation 753/2002, the following terms may be used on the

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affix ...

s of table wines and quality wines.

European Union terms for sparkling wine

Sparkling wine Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While it is common to refer to this as champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that word for products exclusively produced in the Champagne ( ...

s have ratings according to Commission Regulation (EC) No 607/2009 of 14 July 2009. Article 58 points out "the sugar content may not differ by more than 3 grams per litre from what appears on the product label", so there is some leeway. For example, a sparkling wine with 9 grams per litre of residual sugar may be labelled as either the drier, less sweet, classification of ''Extra Brut'' (because 9 - 3 = 6 grams per litre), or the slightly sweeter classification of ''Brut'' or even ''Extra Dry/Extra Sec/Extra Seco'' (because 9 + 3 = 12 grams per litre). The rules applicable to labellings before 14 July 2009 were:

Wine-producing countries

Austria

In Austria, the Klosterneuburger Mostwaage (KMW) scale is used. The scale is divided into Klosterneuburger Zuckergrade (°KMW), and very similar to the Oechsle scale (1 °KMW =~ 5 °Oe). However, the KMW measures the exact sugar content of the must.

Canada

In Canada, the wine industry measures wine sweetness as grams of sucrose in 100 grams of grape juice or grape must at 20 °C in degrees Brix.

Czech Republic and Slovakia

In Czech Republic and Slovakia, the Normalizovaný Moštoměr (°NM) scale is used. The scale measures kg of sugar in 100 L of must.

France

In France, the

Baumé scale The Baumé scale is a pair of hydrometer scales developed by French pharmacist Antoine Baumé in 1768 to measure density of various liquids. The unit of the Baumé scale has been notated variously as ''degrees Baumé'', ''B°'', ''Bé°'' and simp ...

is occasionally used. Sélection de Grains Nobles (SGN) is French for "selection of noble berries" and refers to

s made from

s affected by noble rot. SGN wines are sweet

dessert wines Dessert wines, sometimes called pudding wines in the United Kingdom, are sweet wines typically served with dessert. There is no simple definition of a dessert wine. In the UK, a dessert wine is considered to be any sweet wine drunk with a mea ...

with rich, concentrated flavours. Alsace wines were the first to be described as ''Sélection de Grains Nobles'', with the legal definition introduced in 1984.Hugel.com: Vendange Tardive and SGN
read on February 11, 2008 The term is also used in some other wine regions of France, such as

Loire The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône. It rises in the so ...

Germany

In Germany, sweetness of

and wine is measured with the Oechsle scale, and below are ranges of minimum must weights for Riesling, depending on the region. Kabinett – 67–82 °Oe Spätlese – 76–90 °Oe Auslese – 83–100 °Oe Beerenauslese and Eiswein – 110–128 °Oe (Eiswein is made by late harvesting grapes after they have frozen on the vine and not necessarily affected by noble rot, botrytis, which is the case with Beerenauslese) Trockenbeerenauslese – 150–154 °Oe (affected by botrytis)

Hungary

In Hungary, Tokaj wine region (also ''Tokaj-Hegyalja wine region'' or ''Tokaj–Hegyalja'') has a more graduated terminology to describe Tokaji Aszú dessert wines:

Spain

In Spain, the rules applicable to the sweet and fortified Denominations of Origen

Montilla-Moriles Montilla-Moriles is a Spanish Denominación de Origen, Denominación de Origen Protegida (DOP) for wines located in the southern part of the province of Province of Córdoba (Spain), Córdoba (Andalusia, Spain). It is bounded by the river Genil t ...

and Jerez-Xérès-

Sherry Sherry ( ) is a fortified wine produced from white grapes grown around the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain. Sherry is a drink produced in a variety of styles made primarily from the Palomino grape, ranging from light versio ...

PLIEGO DE CONDICIONES DE LA DENOMINACIÓN DE ORIGEN «JEREZ-XÉRÈS-SHERRY»
are:

United States

In the United States, the wine industry measures the sweetness of must and wine in degrees Brix.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sweetness Of Wine Oenology Wine tasting