“Not Too Sweet, Please”
by Felicia M. Sherbert

It seems strange that Americans are perhaps the most enthusiastic consumers of sweet soft drinks, but when it comes to ordering a wine, the operative word is "dry". In fact, the quest for "dry" leads many to ignore certain categories of wine, particularly riesling and rosé, because they assume these wines will be too sweet.

The truth is that there are wines that are naturally sweet and crafted to showcase this quality like rich German rieslings. There are others like white zinfandels,also known as blush wines that are manufactured specifically to appeal to a broadbased audience who prefer a sweet beverage. For those who ask for a wine with the caveat, "not too sweet, please," they will be pleasantly surprised to find that there are clean, crisp, and dry styles of rieslings and rosé s readily available at the market or wine shop, and very reasonably priced. In a dry style, virtually all of the sugar is fermented during the winemaking process, rendering wines that range from ever so slightly sweet to bone dry.

Riesling

The easiest way to select a dry riesling is to look for the word "dry" found on the label of many U.S. wines from California, New York, Oregon, and Washington."Dry" can also be found on wines from Australia, New Zealand, sometimes the Alsace region of France and even Germany. German rieslings sometimes include the German term for dry — trocken or halbtrocken — which signify a slightly sweeter style often referred to as off dry.

With their zippy style and fresh but not overbearing fruit, dry rieslings are considered to be extremely food-friendly, pairing particularly well with lighter Indian andAsian dishes. These wines are perfect with light curries, chicken satay, sushi,and Pacific Rim cuisine, as well as pork, and most certainly German dishes as simple as a bratwurst with mustard.

Rosé

Even veteran wine consumers who enjoy wine on a daily or weekly basis have been known to avoid rosé wines for fear that they could be cloyingly sweet. Put a glass of rosé from Spain, Italy, or France in their hand and their tune changes quickly. European rosé s are a completely different breed from the American blush wine. While both types of wine are made from red grapes whose skin is pressed lightly to release a tint of pink color, the European rosé's and some American versions made in the European style are typically a more pale shade of salmon than blush wines. In terms of flavor, rosé wines, which are chilled like white wines, are lighter, drier and fresher tasting. Yet because these wines are made from a number of different red grapes such as tempranillo from Rioja in Spain, cabernet franc from the Loire Valley in France, sangiovese from Italy and cabernet sauvignon from California, they inherently stand up well to more robust flavors from pasta salads to grilled vegetables and pizza. Some may even consider rosé a red wine masquerading as a white wine.

So next time you’re looking to try something a little different, but "not too sweet,"consider a dry Riesling or a refreshing rosé.

Felicia Sherbert is the award-winning author of "The Unofficial Guide to Selecting Wine" and the president of What’s My Wine? LLC, a communications and consulting company specializing in the wine, spirits, and hospitality industries.

Felicia M. Sherbert is a wineanswers.com contributor and the author of The Unofficial Guide to Selecting Wine, winner of the Georges Duboeuf "Book of the Year" Award (Wiley Publishing, Inc.). Her articles have appeared in food, wine, and lifestyle magazines including Wine Spectator and Food Arts. She collaborated with Kevin Zraly on the best-selling Windows on the World Complete Wine Course. Felicia is the president of What’s My Wine? LLC, and a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Le Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne in Switzerland.