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02/01/2010

Dry Wine, Sweet Wine … huh?

A wine’s flavor and impact on your palate is determined by the grape, but what makes a wine taste dry or sweet?

Every wine features three essential elements: alcohol, acid and tannin. Although it’s the fermentation process – and the amount of alcohol produced – that determines the dryness or sweetness of a wine, the balance of alcohol, acid and tannin greatly influences the perception of dryness and sweetness, as well as the overall flavor and structure of a wine.

Alcohol – Alcohol is created during the wine’s fermentation process as the yeast “consumes” the natural sugar in the wine grape. Aside from turning grape juice into an “adult beverage,” alcohol adds fullness or body and helps make a wine more substantial. Whether a wine tastes dry or sweet is a result of how much of the original grape sugar was converted into alcohol. When nearly all of the sugar is converted, the wine is considered dry. If there is some sugar left, known as “residual sugar,” the wine will taste sweet.

How sweet depends on the amount of sugar left after fermentation. Completely dry wines have less than .1 percent residual sugar; wines with .5 to about 2 percent residual sugar can taste almost sweet, and late harvest wines usually fall between 5 to 30 percent residual sugar. The level of residual sugar left in a wine is determined by how sweet the wine grapes were at harvest, and also by the winemaker, who has several techniques for controlling the level of sugar remaining after the fermentation process. Note: the term “fruitiness” is often used interchangeably with sweetness, but it’s not necessarily accurate. Fruitiness describes a wine’s fruitlike aromas and flavors, and is influenced directly by aromas and flavors of the wine grape. A wine can be completely dry, but still taste fruity.

Acid – When a grape ripens and its sugar content rises, its acid level decreases. This is why growers are constantly testing the acid levels in their grapes prior to harvest, as the perfect balance of sugar, acid and pH is essential to creating a well-balanced wine. Acid adds a certain vigor to a wine’s texture. A wine with residual sugar can be sickeningly sweet without the proper level of acidity, but the proper amount of acid can make the same wine beautifully balanced. Acid also helps to preserve wine and ensures that it ages properly.

Tannins – Belonging to a class of compounds called Phenols, a wine’s tannins come from the seeds and skins of the wine grapes. Tannins give a wine its backbone and structure; it’s the foundation upon which all the other elements of a wine’s character are built. Tannins can make a wine seem drier than it is, giving it an almost chalky characteristic in the mouth. This is particularly true for red wines. People often talk about “puckering” tannins – tannins that make a wine seems so dry your lips actually pucker.

In sum, it’s the overall balance of alcohol, acid and tannin that really give a wine its complexities. The winemaker’s job is to strike this perfect balance, but it is the wine grape grower’s job to grow and deliver the grapes that form the foundation of the wine. Without the well-cared for grapes produced by California wine-grape growers, the sugars, acids and tannins that bring life to California wine wouldn’t exist.

The balance of alcohol, acid and tannins help determine the dryness or sweetness of wine.