list of driest to sweetest--red and white

[Botafogo]

Drew, I was responding to the denial involved in the statement that "just about all reds except Lambrusco are dry":

Many wines in styles that one would assume would be dry are in fact possessing considerable residual sugar these days, in particular the fruit bomb reds made with extracts like "Super Red" (a dirty little secret of many of the top California and Australian winemakers, it is massively concentrated grape must akin to German Suissereserve that can be added with impunity as as little as three percent in a wine can radically up its "smucker factor" without requiring any disclosure in labeling). There is nothing "wrong" with these wines except for their representation as "dry red table wines" which they are not anymore than KJ Chard with 5% unfermented muscat in it is "dry Chardonnay". It never ceases to amaze me when consumers tell me they want a really "dry" wine and then, when I ask what they are drinking already, they cite these fruit punch wines. They then often characterize actually dry wines as "sour" or "tart".

And, yes, I enjoy many non Italian wines but immediately chafe when most people completely ignore entire phylums and kingdoms of wine in sweeping gerneralizations, including many medium dry or soft reds from Eastern Europe, South Africa and Modesto as well as Italy. Sometimes if it wasn't for me, a grossly inadequate representation of availlable styles, varietals and values would not see the light of day here and in many other forums.

The wines I talk about ARE in distribution and are NOT "off the wall", they ARE ignored by many as actual diversity as opposed to a plethora of labels of the same thing is scary to many.

This is not a slam on YOU either, just a statement of fact: there is a broad range of sweetness in both Red and White non fortified table wines.

Roberto

[This message has been edited by Botafogo (edited 03-15-2001).]