“Is it sweet?” This is the single most asked wine question, everywhere. Tableside or retail, customers are concerned about sugar. Sweetness is a never ending discussion, with many consumers wary that wines are too sweet and another subset refusing anything but sweet wines. Labels don’t usually disclose too much, and there are few requirements for specific amounts of the residual sugar in a bottle of wine, just ranges. So how do you get what you want?

First and foremost, we need to know what is sweet versus what is dry.

Sweet is a taste and refers to a wine that has sugar, either residual or added, and that is perceptibly sweet. The human threshold of sweetness is at about 6 grams of sugar per liter. Even 7 grams per liter is still a very low amount of sugar to notice, and wine can still taste dry with higher amounts of sugar than that, depending on how much acidity is also in the wine. High acidity balances out high sugar and can make wines taste dry.

Dry refers to wines that have no perceptible sugar in them and usually contain less than 6 grams per liter to no amount of residual sugar. This is not to be confused with the drying sensation in your mouth from astringent tannins in red or orange wines. Those wines are called tannic wines. Many people, when asking for a dry wine, are actually requesting something tannic.

Residual sugar is the amount of sugar left in a wine when it finishes fermenting. Most wines ferment all the way to dryness on their own, when all or almost all of the sugar in the grape juice has been converted into alcohol. 

Sometimes wines stop fermenting on their own with some sugar still left over, resulting in anywhere from slightly sweet to unctuously sweet wine. This can happen for a few reasons. Ideal conditions regarding temperature, nutrients, and oxygen levels have to be met to complete fermentation. There may have been too much sugar in the ripe grapes to start with, and the yeasts struggle to multiply, eventually dying off. Also, though yeasts create alcohol, high levels — usually around 15 percent — can actually kill them off, leaving you with high alcohol and residual sugar.

Wine makers can also choose to stop a fermentation early to achieve a sweeter style of wine. They usually do this by lowering the temperature of a fermentation vessel or dosing the vat with high levels of sulfur dioxide, killing the yeast. 

Alternatively, some places allow sugar to be added back into a wine after it finishes fermenting. This is the case with most sparkling wines, where they call the additions dosage or in basic quality German wines where it’s referred to as süssreserve. Depending on the laws of an appellation the sugar can come in the form of grape juice; RCGM, or rectified concentrated grape must; cane sugar; or beet sugar. All taste about the same and serve the same purpose.

Another confusing factor is taste versus flavor. Flavors are the aroma compounds formed in wines, everything from strawberries to lemon, mushroom to toast. Flavors like strawberry are associated in our brains with sweet things. A wine can taste like sunkissed ripe strawberries and still be totally dry. The opposite of fruity would be savory, or the ambiguous concept of minerality.

Getting what you want starts with identifying which of the above characteristics you are looking for. Something sweet and fruity? Fruity and tannic? Dry and fruity? Mineral and sweet? The permutations are endless. 

Words to look for on a label that indicate the bottle has some sugar in it are: Off-Dry, Half-Dry, Demi-Sec, Molleaux, Doux, Feinherb, Halb-Trocken, Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese, Eiswein or Ice Wine. Confusingly, in German and Austrian wines, Kabinett, Spätlese, and Auslese are usually sweet but can be made dry and will usually include the word Trocken on the label, to indicate their dryness. Another added layer of confusion, for sparkling wines, including Champagne, “Sec” “Dry” equals a sweeter style, but the same words on a still wine mean they are dry. 

In many fine wine shops, dessert wines and sweeter styles like Moscato or blush are often kept in their own sections. This way you can find or avoid them, depending on your preference. 

If you prefer dry wines, then avoid most wines that are mass produced. Those you find at a grocery store tend to have a little bit more residual sugar to soften them and bring out the fruit flavors, making them more palatable.

The good news is that the vast majority of wines in a fine wine shop or on a good restaurant list are going to be dry. Wine professionals should not be suggesting or offering a sweet wine without warning. Find one you trust and you shouldn’t have to worry about getting what you want.