Which white wine is sweet?

A white wine may be called sweet from 45 grams of residual sugar per litre. That threshold is set in the European labelling rules and applies to all still wine, white as well as red.

Below that threshold three other terms apply. Medium sweet runs from just over 12 to 45 grams per litre. Medium dry goes up to 12 grams, or up to 18 grams when the wine has enough acidity. Dry stays below 4 grams, or below 9 grams with sufficient acidity.

A wine with 30 grams of residual sugar is therefore labelled medium sweet. In the glass it may still come across as sweet, because acidity and alcohol help determine how you perceive the sugar.

The well-known sweet white wines come from areas where the grapes stay on the vine longer and build up sugar, from Sauternes in Bordeaux to Tokaji in Hungary.

From France come Sauternes, Coteaux du Layon from the Loire, Gewurztraminer vendanges tardives from Alsace and Gros Manseng moelleux from the south-west. Italy supplies Moscato d’Asti, Asti Spumante and Passito di Pantelleria. Hungary stands for Tokaji in the Szamorodni and Late Harvest styles.

There is also a group of sweet fortified wines, such as Muscat de Beaumes de Venise, Muscat de Rivesaltes and Rivesaltes Ambré. With these wines the fermentation is stopped with alcohol, so the grape sugar stays behind in the bottle.

For still wine the producer may omit the sugar indication; for sparkling wine it must appear on the label.

For sparkling wine the law prescribes the terms. The driest classes are called brut nature, extra brut and brut, followed by extra dry and sec. Demi-sec runs from 32 to 50 grams of sugar per litre and doux is above 50 grams.

That is why with still wine you often see only the appellation. Names such as Sauternes, Coteaux du Layon or the addition moelleux then tell you what is in the bottle. For still wine the stated value may differ from the actual value by 1 gram per litre, for sparkling wine by 3 grams.

Alcohol in our sweet selection ranges from 5.5 to 16.5 per cent, because the sugar stays in the bottle by three different routes.

With a Moscato d’Asti the fermentation is stopped early, so a lot of grape sugar and little alcohol remain. With a fortified wine neutral alcohol is added, and the European category liqueur wine then requires 15 to 22 per cent alcohol in the bottle.

With Sauternes, noble rot does the work. The grapes are picked by hand in several passes and must bring at least 221 grams of sugar per litre of must, at a natural alcohol content of at least 15 per cent. Of that, at least 45 grams of residual sugar per litre remains in the bottle.

Of the 1,082 wines at Brink 2, 308 are white, 39 dessert wine and 86 sparkling, alongside 419 red, 42 champagne and 38 rosé.

Our own taste chart lists 25 wines with the profile Full & Sweet and 9 with Light & Sweet. Taking white, dessert and sparkling with a sweet profile together, you are left with 22 bottles from 6 countries: France 10, Italy 6, Spain 2, Hungary 2, Greece 1 and Argentina 1.

Niet alles in dat schap is wit van kleur. Banyuls en Mavrodaphne of Patras zijn rood, en Rivesaltes Ambré krijgt zijn amberkleur door rijping op vat. Alcohol verkopen wij niet aan iedereen onder de 18 jaar. NIX18.

Choose medium sweet when the wine has to go with the meal, and sweet when it has to carry the dessert.

A medium-sweet Gewurztraminer or a Gros Manseng moelleux has enough acidity to stand up to a spicy or highly seasoned dish. A Sauternes or a Tokaji with 45 grams of residual sugar or more calls for something that is itself sweet or salty, such as a fruit tart or a robust blue cheese.

If in doubt, look at the acidity. The higher the acidity, the less heavy the sugar feels. That is why the law allows a higher sugar limit for dry and medium dry as soon as the wine has enough acidity.