Residual Sugar in Wine

"The subjective sweetness of a wine is determined by the interaction of several factors, including the amount of sugar in the wine, but also the relative levels of alcohol, acids, and tannins. Sugars and alcohol enhance a wine's sweetness; acids (sourness) and bitter tannins counteract it." - Wikipedia

Residual sugar refers to how much sugar is left in the wine after it is fermented. This amount tells you how sweet the wine is.

Commonly measured in grams or sugar per litre of wine, residual sugar is found in almost all wine, even dry wine because some types of sugar cannot be fermented. A wine that contains over 45 g/L is considered a sweet wine. Other aspects that influence the sweetness of wine include the acidity and alcohol levels, tannins, and whether it is a sparkling wine. If the level of acidity is high, a sweet wine may taste drier and if the level of alcohol is high, a dry wine may taste sweeter.

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At Home Palate Training Exercise

Your sense of taste is extremely important when tasting wine so here is an at home palate training exercise which will help you identify how you sense the tannin, acidity, sweetness, and alcohol in red wines.

What You'll Need:

• 1 bottle of dry red wine (avoid reds like Menage à Trois, Apothic Red and Jam Jar which contain Residual Sugar)

• 1 black tea bag

• 1/2 a lemon

• 1 tsp sugar

• 1 tsp vodka

• 4 identical wine glasses + one wineglass per person at the tasting

• a notepad and pen

Prepare the tasting:

Pour 3 oz of red wine in each of the 4 wine glasses. Add the tea bag to one glass, the 1/2 squeeze of lemon to the next glass, the sugar to the next glass, and the vodka to the last glass. Fill your own glass with red wine; it will act as your control glass.

Tannin - Black Tea Bag

In about 10 minutes, the black tea should dissolve at which point you can remove the bag. Taste the control wine first, then the black tea wine (without smelling it) and jot down what your taste and how it felt on your tongue. Tannin is usually bitter but you may also feel a drying sensation.

Acidity - Lemon

Taste your control wine, then taste the lemon win (without smelling it). With increases acidity, you may notice the lemon wine tastes less bold, your mouth may water, and more of the natural bitter notes may be presented. Try to ignore the lemony flavors since this is not a feature of acids in wine.

Sweetness - Sugar

Stir the sugar into your wine. After tasting your control wine, taste your sugar wine (you can smell it first). You should notice the sugar doesn't make the wine taste sweeter. Instead it brings out the fruit flavors of the wine and may add an oily texture to the aftertaste.

Alcohol - Vodka

Taste your control wine, then taste the vodka wine (without smelling it). Note what sensations you feel on your tongue and in the back of your throat when you swallow. Tiny prickles may be felt which makes the wine feel thicker. You may feel a hot sensation in the aftertaste.

Since everyone has different tastes and preferences, this exercise is meant to help you identify which aspects of wine you personally pick up on.

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