The place for all things wine, focused on serious wine discussions.

definition of dry

Moderators: Jenise, Robin Garr, David M. Bueker

no avatar
User

Victorwine

Rank

Wine guru

Posts

2031

Joined

Thu May 18, 2006 9:51 pm

Re: definition of dry

by Victorwine » Sun Sep 10, 2006 9:09 pm

I’ll have to agree with Robin on this one; one should never confuse a wine being tannic and a dry wine.
As I think about it more, I don’t think there is a precise definition for a “dry wine”. Even though a majority of the population might consider wines with a so-and-so RS percentage “dry” or so-and so RS percentage “sweet”. Everyone has their own personal threshold for level of sweetness (or dryness). BTW I think Robin’s definition; dry is not sweet, fits the bill nicely.

Salute
no avatar
User

David Creighton

Rank

Wine guru

Posts

1217

Joined

Wed May 24, 2006 10:07 am

Location

ann arbor, michigan

Re: definition of dry

by David Creighton » Mon Sep 11, 2006 10:43 am

having just returned from canada - which publishes a sugar code for each wine i discovered some interesting things.

two red wines - yellow tail and calatera are a sugar code 1 - definitly NOT dry. some of the niagara wines labeled as dry rieslings are a 0 and some are 1. there is at least one 'off dry' riesling (according to the label) which is a 2. i wish we could have something like that here.
david creighton
no avatar
User

Howie Hart

Rank

The Hart of Buffalo

Posts

6389

Joined

Thu Mar 23, 2006 4:13 pm

Location

Niagara Falls, NY

Re: definition of dry

by Howie Hart » Mon Sep 11, 2006 11:18 am

creightond wrote:having just returned from canada - which publishes a sugar code for each wine i ........ i wish we could have something like that here.

I agree. While not the complete answer wrt how it feels in the mouth, it is very helpful, especially when comparing wines of the same varietal.
no avatar
User

Oliver McCrum

Rank

Wine guru

Posts

1075

Joined

Wed Mar 22, 2006 1:08 am

Location

Oakland, CA; Cigliè, Piedmont

Re: definition of dry

by Oliver McCrum » Mon Sep 11, 2006 3:10 pm

Jackson's 'Wine Science' defines dry as 'having no perceptible sweetness,' which is a useful way of looking at it.

Other than this pragmatic way of using the word, there are at least two others: in my experience winemakers use 'dry' to mean 'no fermentable sugars' (ie <2g/L or so), and marketers use it to mean 'less sweet than similar examples, therefore sophisticated, so buy some.'
Oliver
Oliver McCrum Wines
Previous

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests

Powered by phpBB ® | phpBB3 Style by KomiDesign