Sweet Versus Fruity
by Felicia M. Sherbert
Virtually all but the most experienced wine tasters have a tendency to confuse the taste sensations of sweet and fruity. To make matters worse, those who “get it” usually have a difficult time explaining the difference between sweet and fruity without offering a chemistry lesson.
The “sweet versus fruity” dilemma is most likely to come up when people taste new wines (at least new to them) whether they are experimenting with a new bottle from a restaurant wine list, at a dinner party with friends, or at a formal wine tasting with a group of strangers who quickly become new friends.
Essentially, they put the glass to their lips, take a sip, and with a look of surprise or utter disdain on their face share their first impression of the wine, either quietly to their partner, or perhaps not so quietly to the group -- “This is sweet!”
In reality, more often than not, that “sweet” tasting wine is in fact a fruity wine, but all that the taster knows, and rightfully so, is that the wine tastes sweet to them. So how does one tell the difference between sweet and fruity?
One way is to pour yourself a glass of iced tea or even hot tea. Take a sip. It is bone dry, tannic even. Add a squeeze of lemon and taste again. The tea remains dry but there is a fruity component that offers an element of perceived sweetness. Add sugar or honey and now you will taste both fruity and sweet. Can you taste the difference?
Another way is to do an informal tasting at home or at a wine bar. First, taste a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and then taste a Riesling. While the Sauvignon Blanc could very well have tropical and/or citrus flavors and a tanginess that could be mistaken initially for “sweet,” you’ll get a better idea of what sweet really is when you put it up alongside the Riesling which typically has a lot more residual sugar (i.e., sugar left behind during the fermentation process) than the Sauvignon Blanc. For those who automatically write off Riesling because it is “too sweet,” keep in mind that better made Rieslings are well balanced, with acid that makes the wine taste more lively and refreshing rather than cloyingly sweet…but that is another story.
Theoretically, higher alcohol wine will produce a drier style of wine because more of the sugar in the grapes is converted to alcohol. Due to the cooler climate in winegrowing areas such as Germany, the grapes are not as ripe as those from say, California, so there is less sugar in the grapes to be converted to alcohol in the first place. This you will see on the label as German wines have about 8-11% alcohol by volume whereas it is not uncommon for California wines to be register more in the range of 12% to14% alcohol by volume.
| 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. |  |