Dry wines

[zoeygirl]

I am new to this board but am interested in good DRY red and white wines(less carbs)that kind of thing. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks

[Innkeeper]

Hi Zoey, and welcome to the Wine Board. Dry is easy. Sweet is more difficult, and that is what we get the most questions on. Probably because most new wine drinkers are coming off soda pop.

Dry, as a review, means that all the natural sugar in the grapes has been fermented into alcohol. The more sugar, the more alcohol in a dry wine. So, if you are looking for low carbs, you also want less alcohol.

You can learn a lot from a wine label. The alcoholic content is printed on them; although sometimes in very small type! Red table wine (vice dessert wine) is almost always dry. One of few exceptions is Lambrusco from Italy.

White wines are a little more tricky. Most chardonnay, sauvigon blanc, pinots blanc and gris (grigio) are dry. Most Italian whites in addition to Pinot Grigio. such as Vermentino, and Verdicccio are dry. Riesling is only dry if it says "dry" or "troken" on the label. An exception is the riesling from Alsace, that is usually very dry without saying so. New World chenin blanc and gewurztraminer tends to be sweet, and Old World versions are usually dry. Hope all this helps.

[Thomas]

Less carbs? You have been fooling yourself. Real wine is real carbs--red or white, dry or sweet. The carbs are in the alcohol as well as the sugar.