Sweet Red Wines vs Dry Red Wines: How Are They Different?

This section provides an easy overview to help you understand the difference between sweet red wines and dry red wines. It also provides a quick overview of the four techniques used in making sweet wine.

There is some confusion surrounding the definitions of sweet red wine, dry red wine and also fruity red wine. Sweet and dry wines are on the opposite end of the same spectrum.

These terms refer to the amount of residual sugar in a wine. Sweet wines contain more residual sugar. This happens during the wine making process when only some of the sugar in the wine is converted into alcohol.

On the opposite end, when all of the sugar is converted into alcohol then that wine is dry. Wines with around 5 to 30% residual sugar are sweet wines. If it's in the 3 to 5% range, it's a medium or semi sweet red wine. Dry wines have residual sugar of only 1 to 2%.

So, if a wine is sweet, it can't be dry. If a wine is dry, it can't be sweet. Some people confuse the fruity taste in a wine with sweetness. However, this is just the intensity of the fruit in the wine as a fruity red wine can be either sweet or dry.

4 Techniques Used to Make Sweet Red Wine

Sweet red wines are very challenging to produce. It's hard to balance the residual sugars just right to make the perfect sweet wine. These techniques are also risky since the grapes can be ruined during the process. Here are the four most common techniques:

1. Ice Wine: This is a process of letting the grapes freeze while still on the vine. Canada is well known for their ice wines. See the section What are Ice Wines? for more information.


2. Late Harvest: These wines are created leaving the grapes on the vine as late in the season as possible. The sugar content of late harvest grapes is very high.


3. 'Raisining' The Wine: This is a process of drying out the grapes while still on the vine or after picking, essentially turning them into raisins before the wine making process.


4. Noble Rot: Grapes that are attacked by noble rot have a high concentration of sugar. Noble rot evaporates the water out of the grapes, leaving a high amount of sugar still in the grape.

Buying Sweet Red Wine

Wine makers are not required to add the sweetness of a wine onto the label. However, you are usually able to pick out the sweeter red wines based on a few keys terms used on the label.

It may be called an ice wine or a late harvest wine. It might also show the residual sugar on the back, which is a call out that it's closer to the sweet side of the spectrum than a dry wine. In the description on the back, it may also call out that it's a sweeter wine and/or call out details of one of the sweet wine making techniques.

Is There a Difference Between Sweet Wine & Dessert Wine?

People typically interchange the definition of a sweet wine and a dessert wine. However, there is a difference between the two. The classification of dessert wines is usually used to refer to Port, sweetened Sherries and late harvest wines.

Most of these have higher alcohol content and some sweetness. The official regulation in the US is that a dessert wine is any wine that is between 14 and 24% alcohol. This means that more and more drier wines are falling into the technical definition of a dessert wine.

Sparkling Red Wines

Sparkling red wines are sometimes called blanc de noirs. This means made from black grapes, which is what the red or purple grapes were originally called.

Sparkling wine and champagne are anywhere on the spectrum from sweet to extra dry. This again is based on the residual sugar in the wine.

Terms for the Level of Sweetness in Wine

There is a common set of wine terms that indicate the sweetness of certain wines. Dry wines usually don't have a term added, but you'll find some of these terms on Sparkling wines and even white wines.

Here is the terminology used to describe the amount of residual sugar, usually for sparkling wine and champagne: