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+--- Thread: Sweet Fruity Wines (/thread-17607.html)
- Tradney - 07-27-2001
I am looking to purchase several wines. My wife and I both like sweet wines. I need help in finding some wines of that sort. Any help would be appreciated.
- Innkeeper - 07-27-2001
Hi Tradney, and welcome to the Wine Board. There are two kinds of sweet wines, those that actually are sweet, and those that seem sweet. There are two other kinds of sweet wine, those that are slightly sweet and those that are very sweet. Those that are very sweet are also known as dessert wines. Those that are slightly off dry fall into the large family of table wines that also include dry wine. We will confine our coments to sweet table wine.
Dry wine is wine that has had all the sugar in the grapes fermented into alcohol. When the fermentation process is stopped somewhere along this way, the sugar that is left is called residual sugar or RS. Just a little RS makes the wine taste sweet. Wines that fall in this category include the red Lambrusco, and most of the whites made from riesling, chenin blanc, and gwurtztraminer grapes; particularly those made in the USA.
Dry wines can seem sweet. This is because of other chacteristics in the wine. A wine that is fruit forward will seem sweeter than one that is acid forward. Fruit forward wines include reds Beaujolais, and those made from the pinot noir, barbera, syrah, and zinfandel grapes to name a few. Whites include those mentioned above that can be made dry, as well as chardonnay and pinot grigio, among others.
Hope this gets you started. Peruse various threads on this board for more information, including information on good reference books.