Label reading?

[stevebody]

With most "still" wines - those not sparkling - assume they're dry unless it's clearly stated on the bottle that it's not. You'll seldom find a non-French wine that has any sugar content to speak of that doesn't say so on the label.

Problem is HOW it's said on that label. In French winespeak, you'll sometimes see the words "demi-sec" on a bottle of still wine, even though that term is usually used only for sparkling wines. I've seen the term "off dry" a couple of times, too. Unless it's a dessert wine, the frank staement "sweet" seldom ever appears on a label. On New World wines (those from this side of the Atlantic, including Australia) reading the back label sometimes will let you know if it's a little (or a lot) sweet. Don't worry: wineries sneaking a sweet wine into an unmarked bottle is pretty rare. I've only had it happen once in the past twenty years, with a Sine Anne Oregon Pinot Gris that was distinctly off-dry without noting it on the bottle.

Makers of sweet wines present them as something that clearly means sweet. "Late Harvest" will nearly always be a wine that's pretty sweet. "Ice Wine" or the Germanic "Eiswein" will be very sweet. Muscat or moscato, in its many variations, is almost always nicely off-dry, UNLESS it says "dry" on the bottle. Muscat is such a fabulous package of aromas and flavors in its sweet state that it's not fermented dry often.

If you don't see any mention of sweetness, it's safe to assume that it's not. One important note, though: Many, many of my customers say they don't like a very dry wine when what they're actually saying is that they like a lot of fruit flavors. Fruitiness, even in a bone-dry wine, will read on your palate as a sort of sweetness. To see what I mean by that, get a bottle of Pepperwood Grove Syrah and taste that. It comes across as sweet, even though there's not sugar at all in it. Then try a cheap Bordeaux like the Rothschild basic bottle or Premius or Chateau Bonnet. They'll tsate a whole lot drier, even though they're the same sugar content as the PG. It may be you like fruit and not sugar? Experiment a bit and find your comfort zone and ask questions in this forum whenever you need answers. Lots of smart, non-judgemental wine folks here!