Wine, sweetness and acidity

As a newly opened commercial winery, there have been a few things that I have noticed from customers. The biggest is sweetness. From my observations of people that make wine (many of us on WMT) seem to like wines a bit dryer than what the typical wine drinker usually does. Myself, I prefer a wine in the 1.0-1.012 range by hydrometer readings. This isn't perfectly accurate way to measure sugar, but it's close enough, IMO. From our sales, it's obvious people typically like wines in the 1.1+ range and not all our wines are there. Also, many of the customers seem to like a softer wine, pH's that are in the 3.5+ range (we don't go much higher in pH as above 3.8 pH can make a wine's shelf life suffer). I completely understand that each wine has it's own "sweet spot" for both sweetness and pH, but that it also will vary person to person. This leads me to this poll. What do you typically prefer???????

Also, this poll is a reference to what you like most, not necessarily all the wine you like or drink. I realized that many wines with higher acid also have more sugar. So if you like higher acidic, sweet wines, maybe check the last option. If you like dry wines with low pH then the last option should cover that. Go ahead and leave a comment too!!!!!!!!!!!!

I like Rieslings semi-sweet, but everything else I drink is dry.

robie said:

I like Rieslings semi-sweet, but everything else I drink is dry.

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I do like Rieslings myself, but I can pretty much drink any wine, as long as it's less than 1.2 SG or so. Real sweet wines are hard for me to drink. I used to drink more sweet wines, but as I get older and the more wine I drink, the dryer I seem to get. Part of the reason we started our winery was to make slightly dryer fruit wines. Typically, most fruit wines are sweeter and that's perfectly fine, but we like to be different. Now after much feedback, we need to make at least a few sweet wines to appeal to a wider customer base.

The biggest problem with dryer wines, for me, is that they need more time to age. I am not patient. lol.

I think it would be best to edit your original posts. You are making the same mistake I make at times myself "Myself, I prefer a wine in the 1.0-1.12 range by hydrometer readings". I think what you meant was 1.0- 1.012. This is one reason reading in brix is so much less confusing.

Runningwolf said:

I think it would be best to edit your original posts. You are making the same mistake I make at times myself "Myself, I prefer a wine in the 1.0-1.12 range by hydrometer readings". I think what you meant was 1.0- 1.012. This is one reason reading in brix is so much less confusing.

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Yes, I was confused by this also. I presume you mean SG. 1.12 would be awfully darn sweet!

Yup, even finished ice wine wouldn't be that sweet.

reds, 0 brix, whites 1-2 brix, fruit, 2to 4brix.

Anyone care to guess the fastest growing wine varietal/type these days?

I was surprised to say the least.

ibglowin said:

Anyone care to guess the fastest growing wine varietal/type these days?

I was surprised to say the least.

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My guess would be Riesling for sure.

Nope.

I found this little tidbit out during our annual Vine and Wine Conference this Winter.

This is currently the wine of choice of the "Millennium Generation"

I think I read something like Merlot or Pinot Noir as the fastest growing wine type? I do believe that the most sold wine is a white. Chardonnay?

Oh, and thanks for noticing my mistake. A 1.12 wine would be crazy sweet. I'm more of a dry to semi-sweet, with pH's in the 3.3-3.5 range.

Believe it or not the fastest growing wine type/varietal is .............................


Moscato!

From a commercial wine mag I get, IIRC, something like 80% of wines sold in the US would be considered sweet. Not sure it that counts the boones farm or some of the other flavored type drinks. I'm not really sure those are real wine, IMO.

I learned so much from that one 20 min presentation last February. Lots about the market, where its headed, who is buying what.

The largest purchaser of wines in the US is the housewife doing her weekly grocery run and more often than not she likes her wines off dry.

Question? I'm on day 5 primary 6- Gal fermenter Merlot Red. The SG is 1.013. The kit is that of a dry wine and should be in the primary for about 7 days. I kind of like a lightly sweet wine. Could I stop fermenting now and Secoundary rack? Or should I let fermenting continue and then just back sweet it before botteling? I don't want to lose any of the ABV.

•SG .990-1.000 Dry
•SG 1.000 - 1.010 Medium Sweet
•SG 1.010 - 1.025 Sweet
•SG 1.025 and up Very Sweet

Is the above good chart for sweet content?

btom2004 said:

Question? I'm on day 5 primary 6- Gal fermenter Merlot Red. The SG is 1.013. The kit is that of a dry wine and should be in the primary for about 7 days. I kind of like a lightly sweet wine. Could I stop fermenting now and Secoundary rack? Or should I let fermenting continue and then just back sweet it before botteling? I don't want to lose any of the ABV.

•SG .990-1.000 Dry
•SG 1.000 - 1.010 Medium Sweet
•SG 1.010 - 1.025 Sweet
•SG 1.025 and up Very Sweet

Is the above good chart for sweet content?

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You want to ferment dry and backsweeten before bottling. Be sure to use both sulfites and sorbate to inhibit secondary fermentation. Do a bench test with some friends that like similar wine and try adding sugar at different intervals and tasting. See which one brings out and compliments the flavor. When you find the one that you like, measure the specific gravity and add sugar in your main batch until it is the same gravity. Don't forget to write down the gravity you sweetened to. I always forget and never write down anything and I always regret it.

I prefer a medium to sweet wine

joea132 said:

You want to ferment dry and backsweeten before bottling. Be sure to use both sulfites and sorbate to inhibit secondary fermentation. Do a bench test with some friends that like similar wine and try adding sugar at different intervals and tasting. See which one brings out and compliments the flavor. When you find the one that you like, measure the specific gravity and add sugar in your main batch until it is the same gravity. Don't forget to write down the gravity you sweetened to. I always forget and never write down anything and I always regret it.

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Thanks will do.

From our polls, most people seem to gravitate toward semi-sweet wines. That being said, what we attempt to do is be sure we are balancing the acid with the "perception" of sweetness. I think this is more useful than declaring a certain SG.

Turock said:

From our polls, most people seem to gravitate toward semi-sweet wines. That being said, what we attempt to do is be sure we are balancing the acid with the "perception" of sweetness. I think this is more useful than declaring a certain SG.

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After looking at our sales and response, I would agree. People seem to *think* our blueberry is the sweetest, but it's not. It hits about 1.009 and the blackberry is about 1.012, yet people seem to think the blueberry is sweeter. IIRC, the blue was a pH of 3.55 or so and the blackberry is 3.45. Not a huge difference there, but blackberry is just more tart flavored to begin with.