We all know I’m a huge fan of dry wines, but sweet wines have a special place in my wine fridge, as well. I love to have a few bottles of sweet wines on hand in case I have any novice wine drinkers visiting. Sweet wines are great for wine newbies because they tend to be a lot easier to taste on the tongue. Unlike dry wines that are commonly favored by wine lovers with more of a developed palate, sweet wines tend to shy away from bold flavors and aromas.
What are sweet wines?
Wines are categorized as sweet wine not by their taste but by the amount of residual sugar in the wine. Residual sugar is the amount of naturally occurring grape sugar that remains in the wine after wine fermentation. In general, wines that have a residual sugar of 35 grams per liter or greater than 5% residual sugar concentration. Due to their high residual sugar concentration, sweet wine tends to have low alcohol percentages. The low alcohol content of sweet wines is another reason why I recommend sweet wines for those just starting their wine journeys.
Are fruity wines sweet wines ?
Not necessarily. Sweet wines and fruity wines are commonly confused due to the way fruit is perceived on the tongue. For example, when tasting a strawberry, you may taste the natural sugars of the strawberry and think, “wow, this is sweet”. Yes, the fruit is perceived as sweet on the tongue, but sweet wines are not categorized by how they taste on the tongue, just the amount of residual sugar. So in short, you can have a wine that has high fruity notes and not be classified as a sweet wine.
What to pair sweet wines with?
Most sweet wines are dessert wines or wines that have such a high sweetness that they pair well with desserts. One pro tip to pairing sweet wines with desserts is that you want a wine that is sweeter than the dessert. If not, then the dessert would overpower or dull the wine and that’s never our goal. I tend to pair my sweet wines with desserts that are heavy with fruit, caramel, or vanilla.
In addition to pairing with desserts, sweet wines pair nicely with salty, sour, and sweet dishes. For all of my Thai food lovers, sweet wines may become your new go-to.
What are some common sweet wines?
If you’re new to wine, try starting with a glass of Moscato, this sweet grape wine is rather fruity and super approachable. Not to mention, it’s pretty much sold everywhere that wine is sold so it shouldn’t be too hard to get your hands on. White Zinfandel is also another easy to obtain and approachable wine that novice wine drinkers should try. For more information on sweet wines, click the video below.
If you’ve discovered that sweet wines are where you’d like to live on the wine scale, check out my Brands to Support blog post for a few of my go-to sweet wine brands.
I love sharing wine knowledge, have some questions or gems you would like me to shed light on? Leave it in the comments and I will absolutely address it here!
