How Sweet It Is

Your guide to wines’ sweetness scale—and how to choose varieties you’ll love

While a wine’s sweetness depends on the type of grapes used and when they’re harvested, just as important is how long the grapes are fermented. That’s the process that converts sugars in fruit into alcohol. The climate in which the grapes are grown and how long a bottle is aged also factors into whether the finished product is sweet, dry, or somewhere in between. 

Dry Wines

Dry wines contain very little (if any) residual sugar once fermentation is complete. The drier a wine, the fewer its residual sugars. Dry wines have a crisper, more mineral mouthfeel and not as many nectary or fruity notes.

Off-Dry/Semi-Sweet Wines

Off-dry and semi-sweet are basically interchangeable terms—they represent the halfway mark between dry and sweet. These wines tend to have a small amount of residual sugar for a mildly sweet flavor, or they may have no residual sugars at all but contain fruitier notes that lend a hint of sweetness.

Sweet Wines

Sweet wines contain the most residual sugar, which translates to a stronger presence of honeyed notes and syrupy mouthfeel on the palate.

Here’s where some popular varietals land* on the sweetness scale:

Very Dry	Dry	Off-Dry/ Semi-Sweet	Sweet	Very Sweet
Sauvignon Blanc Muscadet Sangiovese Tempranillo	Chenin Blanc Pinot Grigio Chardonnay Grenache Pinot Noir Syrah Cava Brut Prosecco Cinsault Cabernet Sauvignon Tempranillo	Riesling Moscato Merlot Pinot Noir Malbec Zinfandel Sangiovese	Lambrusco Port White Zinfandel White Merlot	Ice Wine Tawny Port Pink Moscato

*Note: The region where a grape is grown can play a part in the wine’s sweetness due to differences in soil, terrain, and climate, so not all regional varieties will fit perfectly on this scale.