What Is The Driest White Wine You Can Buy
A dry white wine is a summer favourite around the world. The crisp flavours are best served ice cold, making it a refreshing drink on hot afternoon or evening. Of course, you can enjoy white wines any time of year and you really should. But they are generally known as wines for hot weather.
what is the driest white wine you can buy
The best part is that there are a lot of dry white wines out there with an array of flavour profiles. This means that you can find the right choice for your palate, and you can explore a lot of different options within the same range.
A dry white wine is classified as containing less than one percent of sugar, which is under four grams of sugar per litre. The dryness of the wine is created in the fermenting process, where the yeast turns the sugars in the grapes into alcohol. Winemakers can also control how much sugar is in the grapes at the start of the winemaking process by timing when they harvest the grapes.
Different types of grapes also have different levels of sugars in them naturally. This is why there are set types of dry white wines that are never made into medium or off-dry versions. It would be too difficult to ensure there is enough sugar in the final product with some grape varieties.
Sauvignon Blanc is often seen as the international standard when it comes to a dry white wine. It is always a crisp wine with a fairly high acidic level. One of the main tasting notes is bell pepper, along with grass and gooseberries. Sauvignon Blanc can be found all over the world, with countries like South Africa, Chile, USA, New Zealand, France and Italy all being big producers.
These grapes come from Germany originally and are often used as part of a white wine blend, although you do also get some great standalone Riesling wines. Again, the finished dry wine is usually quite acidic and includes mineral notes, apples and stone fruits as the usual flavour palate. While Germany is still one of the main producers, the USA also makes an array of dry Rieslings and Riesling combinations.
Chardonnay is definitely a dry white wine. It is made as either a wooded wine or an unwooded wine, with the former being the most common. The wine is aged in oak barrels, which adds to the flavour profile and lets the earthier vanilla notes sing louder than the tropical fruits and citrus that are also found in a classic chardonnay. How long the wine is aged in oak barrels will determine how wooded it is. If it is only left in the barrels for a short time, the wine is usually a lot fruitier in taste. If it is aged predominantly in the oak barrels, the vanilla and flinty notes will be a lot stronger.
The driest wine in terms of residual sugar is Assyrtiko from Greece. The grapes are grown largely on the island of Santorini. The dry white wine made from them has an extremely high acidity, making it incredibly crisp and quite refreshing on a hot day. There is also a saline note in the flavour profile, which is unlike anything else on the market.
Melon is another grape varietal that is incredibly dry and possibly a little better known than Assyrtiko. It comes from the Loire Valley in central France and is often referred to as Melon de Bourgogne. It is used in the Muscadet dry white wines.
Summer, winter, spring, seafood, sauces or sipping, dry white wine is a bit of an all rounder in just the right way. There are so many wonderful bottles of this wine available, and each offers something special.
When winemakers create wine, grape juice undergoes a fermentation process where powerful yeast eats the cloying sugars found naturally in grapes. This creates carbon dioxide, which aids in the creation of alcohol content. To create sweet wines like Gewürztraminer or Riesling, winemakers will end the fermentation process while there is still some residual sugar left. Winemakers that develop dry wines allow the yeast to consume all of the sweet stuff so there is no residual sugar left.
Very dry white wines contain less than 4 grams of residual sugar and are popular among wine drinkers who like crisp and dry notes. Aside from the options below, Albariño and Torrontés are also very dry white wines.
These types of dry white wine are notable for their high crisp flavors and are popular for cooking as well as sipping with friends and family. Sauvignon Blanc often includes acidic flavors or fruity notes like gooseberry as well as vegetal. This type of dry wine is mainly produced in Bordeaux, New Zealand, Chile, South Africa, and along the west coast of the United States. Share a few bottles of Sauvignon Blanc at Friendsgiving or peruse Better Homes and Gardens while sipping this delicious dry wine and dreaming of your next room remodel.
Chardonnay is another popular dry white wine. Variations can be found from Burgundy as well as from California and Washington. This wine has low sugar content and is bursting with fruit flavors including apples and tropical fruits. When aged in oak barrels, this white wine offers vanilla and roasted tasting notes. Chardonnay makes a great food pairing with buttery and creamy sauces and risotto.
Muscadet (say it: musk-uh-day), not to be confused with Muscat or Moscato, is made using Melon de Bourgogne grapes. This dry wine from the Loire Valley offers sharp, tart flavors with notes of citrus. Have a few bottles of Muscadet with buttery oysters, sweet mussels, or grilled scallops.
Dry Pinot Grigio wines come from Italy, France, Germany, and the United States. Italian Pinot Grigio has mineral undertones while the French varieties from Alsace are fruitier. Pair it with an antipasti topped with seafood and marinated fish or sip it alongside a buffalo burger with melted mozzarella cheese.
If you have a sweet tooth, go for the doux. For a middle-of-the-road approach, try a medium-dry brut or extra sec, which has more sugar than brut wine, but is less sweet compared to doux. Looking for really dry sparkling wine or champagne? Try the extra brut.
Dry red wines are produced across the globe from France to South America and the United States. In addition to the options below, other dry red wines include Black Muscat, Malbec, Touriga Nacional, and Grenache.
This tannic red wine is hearty and bold with tasting notes including green olives, cherries, and herbs. Cabernet Sauvignon is made with a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc grapes. Serve this dry wine at your next dinner party and dress up the menu with hearty dishes and red meats.
This dry Burgundy-style wine has notes of tobacco and dark cherries as well as earthy undertones. California and Oregon make exceptional New World varieties in addition to the classic offerings from France. Pack a picnic with a few bottles of Pinot Noir that go perfectly with a lox bagel and avocado toast.
Best of all, you can find dry options whether you prefer red, white, or rosé. Flavor and texture play a huge role in the joy of wine-drinking. Discover the beauty of dry wines and pick up a few bottles to delight your taste buds with a new experience.
The maker of a wine determines its sweetness. Popular varietal wines and styles tend to share the same sweetness level. Wine sweetness ranges from virtually nothing to upwards of 70% sweetness (like a rare bottle of Spanish PX!).
To simplify the concept of wine sweetness, you can compare wines on this chart. Although not all wine conform to the generalizations within, you can still learn a great deal about how to find wine in the sweetness range you prefer.
Some wines are so dry that they scrape the moisture from your tongue and make the inside of your mouth stick to your teeth. On the other end of the spectrum, some wines are so sweet that they stick to the sides of your glass like motor oil.
These off-dry white wines bump up the sugar content once more. Though I wouldn't consider the wines on the lower end of the scale sweet, they're definitely more approachable for somebody new to wine than drier varieties.
There is a range when it comes to the dryness of wines. Some wines taste dry due to the presence of other characteristics, like acidity or alcohol. These wines are on the sweeter end of the dry spectrum and usually have residual sugar present. Then there are truly bone-dry wines, in which the winemaker has let the yeast consume all of the sugar, and no residual sugar remains.
Even wines that have a reputation for being extremely sweet can be made in a dry style. Riesling is a great example of this. Riesling is usually thought of as cloyingly sweet, but there are some really lovely dry Rieslings out there.
Albarino is a lesser-known yet incredibly delicious, dry Spanish white wine. The Paco & Lola Albarino is a perfect example of the style. Incredibly aromatic, the nose has citrus notes of grapefruit and lime and floral aromas of white flowers, acacia, and orange blossom. The palate is fresh, citrusy, and intensely fruity. This Albarino offers an elegant yet slightly bitter finish.
If you are new to wine, one of the first things you will want to know is about the sweetness. Sweetness is a major flavor factor, and it can be annoying to ask whether through so many wines whether they are sweet or dry. Do you think chardonnay is sweet? Is Pinot Grigio sweet? Most people are often surprised by these two popular white wines. Both happen to be dry (not sweet). However, you may still be surprised to know that you like the fruity flavours of these wines (even if they are not as sweet as you would like). With our wine sweetness chart for both red wines and white wines, it is easy to see which dry and sweet wines you might like. Read on to discover our wine sweetness chart and learn all about the different tastes of wine, from sweet and fruity Moscato to rich and creamy Chardonnay.
Sweetness is measured by calculating the residual sugar (RS) left in the wine after fermentation. If all the sugar in the wine has been transformed into alcohol, then the alcohol by volume (ABV) tends to be high and the RS will be low (or 0). This wine will be at the driest end of the spectrum. On the other hand, if after fermentation the wine still has some sugar, then the ABV tends to be lower and the SR is higher, resulting in a sweeter wine. If you want a sweet wine, look for bottles with 11% GLA or lower, and for dry wines usually 14% or more. This is a good rule of thumb, but like any wine, there are exceptions. 041b061a72