Sampling wine is an intimate experience. You properly swirl your glass, sniff, and sip, focusing on the many tasting notes that arise. There are designated terms for describing the sensations; words like buttery, tannic, or earthy pinpoint specific notes. More generalized descriptors, such as dry or sweet, delineate wines by the amount of sugar. While such a manner of describing wine is so ingrained, you may wonder what actually determines dryness in wine. After all, drinkers commonly attach the term to bottles without knowing what gives them such a character.
In the simplest terms, dryness refers to wines with a low amount of sugar. This comes about due to more fermentation, since yeasts have consumed the sweetness. While dry wine can be perceived as a boozier wine, which tastes extra-dry by way of alcohol’s flavor, it’s not necessary for wine to be especially alcoholic to be considered dry. Other characteristics like the grape variety, quantity of tannins, and production style also influence the perception of sweetness. So untangling what makes a wine dry is difficult, with many factors at play.
The wine variety and production determine dryness
Wine’s a complex beverage; it’s estimated that thousands of chemical compounds contribute to its flavor. Sensations of taste emerge due to the quality of certain molecules; whether it’s fructose that lends sweetness while acetic acid a puckery tanginess. Such compounds also interact with each other, influencing the predominant flavor. For example, even if a wine is high in residual sugar, it may also be loaded with acidic molecules, and will thereby taste more dry as a result. Generally, higher quantities of tannins, acid, and alcohol lead to perceptible dryness, but untangling the precise composition’s too complicated.
Such delicate nuances are determined based on the grape variety, environment, harvest time, and production, hence why terroir plays such a large role in wine. As a result, wine enthusiasts categorize dryness per the wine variety. It’s helpful to know the sweetest and driest wine types; you’ll generally experience a correlation of dryness to a specific bottling. For example, open a tempranillo, and you can expect less sweetness than a malbec. However, between two inherently dry merlots, it can be hard to know which one’s sweeter. And when you’re dealing with red wine blends, it’s really up to the winemaker on what determines dryness. So although there are influences, you can’t fully estimate dryness until you open a bottle.
