Study and careerFortified & sweet
Wine sweetness chart: from dry to sweet, explained
What dry, off-dry, medium and sweet mean in grams of sugar, the scale on sparkling wine labels, how sweet wines are made, and why some dry wines taste sweet.
Updated October 2026
Rewritten by Alper Billik, Advanced Sommelier
5 min read
The short answer: a wine's sweetness is its residual sugar, the grape sugar left when fermentation ends, measured in grams per litre (g/L). In the EU, a still wine labelled dry has up to 4 g/L (up to 9 g/L if its acidity is high), medium dry up to 12 g/L, medium sweet up to 45 g/L, and sweet 45 g/L or more. Sparkling wine has its own scale, from brut nature to doux. How sweet a wine tastes also depends on its acidity, alcohol, tannin and temperature.
The wine sweetness chart
| Level | Residual sugar (EU still wine) | Typical examples |
|---|---|---|
| Dry | Up to 4 g/L, or up to 9 g/L when acidity is high | Muscadet, Chablis, Sancerre, Albariño, Assyrtiko from Santorini; almost all classic reds such as Bordeaux, Rioja and Barolo |
| Medium dry (off-dry) | Up to 12 g/L, or up to 18 g/L when acidity is high | Vouvray demi-sec, German Riesling labelled halbtrocken, some Alsace Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris |
| Medium sweet | Up to 45 g/L | Vouvray moelleux, German wines labelled lieblich, many fruity German Rieslings |
| Sweet | 45 g/L or more | Sauternes, Tokaji Aszú, Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese, Icewine, Pedro Ximénez Sherry |
- Dry
- Residual sugar (EU still wine)Up to 4 g/L, or up to 9 g/L when acidity is high
- Typical examplesMuscadet, Chablis, Sancerre, Albariño, Assyrtiko from Santorini; almost all classic reds such as Bordeaux, Rioja and Barolo
- Medium dry (off-dry)
- Residual sugar (EU still wine)Up to 12 g/L, or up to 18 g/L when acidity is high
- Typical examplesVouvray demi-sec, German Riesling labelled halbtrocken, some Alsace Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris
- Medium sweet
- Residual sugar (EU still wine)Up to 45 g/L
- Typical examplesVouvray moelleux, German wines labelled lieblich, many fruity German Rieslings
- Sweet
- Residual sugar (EU still wine)45 g/L or more
- Typical examplesSauternes, Tokaji Aszú, Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese, Icewine, Pedro Ximénez Sherry
Two notes on the chart. First, 'bone dry' is not a legal term; it simply means a dry wine with almost no sugar. Second, examples are typical, not guaranteed: a Vouvray or a German Riesling can be made at any sweetness, so read the label. Fortified wines such as Port sit outside this chart: their sweetness comes from stopping fermentation with grape spirit, and their alcohol is far higher, usually 19–22%.
On European labels you'll see the same four steps in other languages: in French sec, demi-sec, moelleux, doux; in German trocken, halbtrocken, lieblich, süß.
The sparkling wine scale
| Label term | Sugar per litre | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Brut nature (pas dosé, dosage zéro) | Under 3 g | Bone dry, nothing added after disgorgement |
| Extra brut | 0 to 6 g | Very dry |
| Brut | Under 12 g | Dry: the usual style of Champagne |
| Extra dry | 12 to 17 g | Just off-dry, despite the name |
| Sec | 17 to 32 g | Noticeably sweet |
| Demi-sec | 32 to 50 g | Sweet: a dessert sparkling wine |
| Doux | Over 50 g | Very sweet |
- Brut nature (pas dosé, dosage zéro)
- Sugar per litreUnder 3 g
- What to expectBone dry, nothing added after disgorgement
- Extra brut
- Sugar per litre0 to 6 g
- What to expectVery dry
- Brut
- Sugar per litreUnder 12 g
- What to expectDry: the usual style of Champagne
- Extra dry
- Sugar per litre12 to 17 g
- What to expectJust off-dry, despite the name
- Sec
- Sugar per litre17 to 32 g
- What to expectNoticeably sweet
- Demi-sec
- Sugar per litre32 to 50 g
- What to expectSweet: a dessert sparkling wine
- Doux
- Sugar per litreOver 50 g
- What to expectVery sweet
These are the Champagne terms, and other European sparkling wines use the same scale. The trap: extra dry is sweeter than brut. More on bubbles in Prosecco vs Champagne.
How winemakers make a wine sweet
- Stop the fermentation with spirit: Port, Banyuls and other fortified wines. The yeast dies, the sugar stays.
- Stop it by chilling and filtering: Moscato d'Asti, which is why it is low in alcohol.
- Noble rot (botrytis): a fungus shrivels the grapes and concentrates their sugar. Sauternes, Tokaji Aszú, Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese.
- Dry the grapes: on mats or in lofts before pressing. Recioto della Valpolicella, Vin Santo, Pedro Ximénez.
- Freeze them on the vine: Icewine and Eiswein. Pressing frozen grapes leaves the water behind as ice.
- Pick late: late-harvest wines from very ripe grapes.
- Add sweetness after: the dosage in sparkling wine, or unfermented grape juice in some German wines.
The sugar science, in plain words
- Two sugars do almost all the work. Ripe grapes are full of glucose and fructose, and residual sugar in wine is mainly these two.
- Yeast eats glucose first. So when fermentation stops early, the sugar left is mostly fructose, which tastes sweeter than glucose.
- Added sugar doesn't stay as sugar. Sucrose, the sugar used to raise alcohol in cool years (chaptalisation), is split by the yeast into glucose and fructose and fermented.
- Even a dry wine keeps a trace of sugar. Some sugars in grapes, the pentoses, can't be fermented by wine yeast.
- How labs measure it: modern labs measure glucose and fructose directly, with enzymes or by chromatography (HPLC). Older 'reducing sugar' tests also count the unfermentable sugars, so they read a little higher.
Why some dry wines taste sweet, and sweet wines taste dry
- Acidity hides sugar. A Mosel Riesling with real sugar can taste balanced, even dry, because its acidity is so high. That is why the EU lets high-acid wines carry more sugar and still say dry.
- Alcohol tastes sweet. A ripe, high-alcohol red can seem sweet with almost no sugar.
- Ripe fruit and oak (vanilla, coconut) suggest sweetness that isn't there.
- Tannin dries the mouth, so a red can taste less sweet than a white with the same sugar.
- Temperature matters. Cold mutes sweetness; a warm sweet wine tastes heavy. Serve sweet wines well chilled.
- Bubbles lift it. The fizz makes the same sugar feel lighter.
This is why I describe wine to guests by how it tastes, not by its grams: 'dry, but very fruity' or 'sweet, but fresh'. If a guest asks for a dry wine, ask what they last loved: often they mean 'not too fruity' or 'not oaky'. See how to describe wine without sounding weird.
Pairing by sweetness
- The wine should be at least as sweet as the dessert, or the wine will taste thin and sour.
- Salty blue cheese loves sweet wine: Sauternes with Roquefort, Port with Stilton.
- Off-dry whites cool down spice: an off-dry Riesling with a Thai curry.
- Dry wines with savoury food: most dinners, most of the time.
Serving a sweet wine? See the Sauternes glass and ice wine glasses. For the alcohol side, read how much alcohol is in wine.
Questions people ask
How many grams of sugar make a wine dry?
Under EU rules, a still wine can be labelled dry with up to 4 g/L of residual sugar, or up to 9 g/L if its acidity is high enough.
Does sweet wine have more alcohol?
Usually the opposite: sugar left in the wine is sugar that didn't become alcohol, which is why Moscato d'Asti is light. Fortified sweet wines such as Port are the exception, at usually 19–22%.
Is extra dry Champagne sweeter than brut?
Yes. Extra dry has 12 to 17 g of sugar per litre; brut has under 12 g.
Does wine get sweeter as it ages?
No. The sugar doesn't increase. As a wine ages, its fruit and acidity change, which can make it taste softer or rounder.
Are all red wines dry?
Most are. Sweet reds include Port, Recioto della Valpolicella, Brachetto d'Acqui and some Lambrusco.
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