Wine sweetness chart: dry or sweet?
Pick a grape to see how sweet it usually is and how heavy it feels. Dry means no sugar you can taste; body is weight in the mouth, like skim versus whole milk.
Use the sweetness chart
Type a grape or another name for it, such as Shiraz.
- Agiorgitiko
- Aglianico
- Albariño
- Assyrtiko
- Barbera
- Cabernet Franc
- Cabernet Sauvignon
- Carignan
Pick a grape above, or tap one in the table below, to see how sweet it usually is.
| Grape | Sweetness | Body | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dry | Light to fairly light | None yet | |
| Usually dryCheck the label. | Light to fairly light | None yet | |
| Dry | Light to fairly light | ||
| Usually dry, up to off-dry | Light to fairly light | ||
| Dry | Light to medium | ||
| Dry | Light to medium | ||
| Dry | Light to medium | ||
| Dry | Light to medium | ||
| Usually dry, up to sweet | Light to medium | None yet | |
| Dry to lusciousCheck the label. | Light to medium | ||
| Usually dry, up to luscious | Light to fairly full | ||
| Usually dry, up to off-dry | Light to full | ||
| Usually dry, up to sweetCheck the label. | Light to full | ||
| Usually dry, up to medium sweet | Fairly light to medium | ||
| Usually dry, up to sweet | Fairly light to medium | None yet | |
| Usually dry, up to sweet | Fairly light to medium | ||
| Dry | Fairly light to fairly full | ||
| Dry | Fairly light to fairly full | ||
| Usually dry, up to sweetCheck the label. | Fairly light to fairly full | ||
| Usually dry, up to lusciousCheck the label. | Fairly light to fairly full | ||
| Dry | Fairly light to full | ||
| Usually dry, up to lusciousCheck the label. | Fairly light to full | ||
| Dry | Medium to fairly full | ||
| Dry | Medium to fairly full | ||
| Dry | Medium to fairly full | ||
| Dry | Medium to fairly full | ||
| Dry | Medium to fairly full | ||
| Dry | Medium to fairly full | ||
| Dry | Medium to fairly full | ||
| Usually dry, up to off-dry | Medium to fairly full | None yet | |
| Usually dry, up to medium sweetCheck the label. | Medium to fairly full | ||
| Usually dry, up to sweetCheck the label. | Medium to fairly full | None yet | |
| Usually dry, up to sweetCheck the label. | Medium to fairly full | ||
| Dry | Medium to full | ||
| Dry | Medium to full | ||
| Dry | Medium to full | ||
| Dry | Medium to full | ||
| Usually dry, up to sweet | Medium to full | ||
| Usually dry, up to sweetCheck the label. | Medium to full | ||
| Usually dry, up to sweet | Medium to full | ||
| Dry | Fairly full to full | ||
| Dry | Fairly full to full | ||
| Dry | Fairly full to full | ||
| Dry | Fairly full to full | ||
| Usually dry, up to off-dry | Fairly full to full | ||
| Usually dry, up to sweet | Fairly full to full | ||
| Usually dry, up to lusciousCheck the label. | Fairly full to full | ||
| Usually off-dry, up to medium sweet | Light to medium | None yet | |
| Dry to sweetCheck the label. | Medium to full | ||
| Dry to lusciousCheck the label. | Light to full |
| Word on this chart | EU term on the label | Sugar (grams per liter) | Label words to look for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dry | dry | under 4, or up to 9 with high acidity | sec, trocken, secco |
| Off-dry | medium dry | 4 to 12, or up to 18 with high acidity | demi-sec, halbtrocken, abboccato |
| Medium sweet | medium, or medium sweet | 12 to 45 | moelleux, lieblich, amabile |
| Sweet | sweet | 45 to 120 | doux, süss, dolce |
| Luscious | sweet | over 120 | Trockenbeerenauslese |
Why a dry wine can taste sweet
Ripe fruit smells sweet, and the nose carries that onto the tongue. A Viognier or a Gewürztraminer full of peach and lychee can seem sweet with almost no sugar in it.
Alcohol pushes the same way. The warmth of a 15% red reads as sweetness, so a ripe Zinfandel can seem sweeter than its sugar.
Acidity (the tartness that makes your mouth water) works the other way and hides sugar. A high-acid Riesling near 9 g/L can taste as dry as a soft white with far less. Under EU rules, a high-acid wine may still say dry on the label at up to 9 g/L.
To find real sugar, take a small sip, swallow and count to three. If your cheeks pucker and the fruit fades, that is acidity or tannin. If a soft, syrupy feel stays on the tip of your tongue, that is sugar.
How to read the wine sweetness chart
Each grape gets a bar on the five-step ladder, from Dry to Luscious. On the sweetness bar, the dark cell is the usual style, and the lighter cells show how far the grape can go.
- One word, such as Dry: the wines made mainly from that grape sit on that step.
- Usually dry, or usually off-dry: most bottles sit on that step. Any sweeter style is either rare or carries its own name on the label, such as passito, Port or Sauternes.
- Check the label: the same grape name covers many sweetness levels, or part of its range rests on our reading of the rules.
If the label shows a sweetness word, trust it over the grape. The ladder is for still wine only. Sparkling wine uses its own words, such as Brut and Extra Dry, listed on the wine sweetness scale.
Body: how heavy the wine feels
Alcohol does most of the work in wine body. Oak and leftover sugar add weight too.
When you buy, check the alcohol on the label: under 12% usually means a light wine, and above 13.5% a full one.
Quick answers
Which white grapes are almost always dry?
Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Picpoul, Verdejo and Cortese sit at Dry on this chart. Albariño and Grüner Veltliner reach off-dry at most. The one sweet exception is a blend: Sauternes includes some Sauvignon Blanc.
Which grapes make both dry and sweet wine?
Riesling, Chenin Blanc, Muscat, Furmint and Gewürztraminer run from dry to sweet or luscious under the same grape name. With these, read the label: trocken, sec and száraz mean dry. Aszú means sweet, and Vendanges Tardives usually does.
Which red grapes make sweet wine?
Touriga Nacional, a main grape of Port; Grenache, in fortified vin doux naturel; Zinfandel, as Primitivo di Manduria labeled Dolce Naturale; and Agiorgitiko, in sweet Nemea. Most bottles of all four are dry reds.
