SO, WATER IS DRY?
“Hello. Is there any way I can help you?”
“Yes. I want a good red wine, but I don’t like them when they are dry.”
“Then you’re looking for a sweet wine, Sir?”
“Oh no. I don’t like sweet wines at all. I just don’t want it to be dry.”
“So, you want one that’s off-dry, with just a hint of residual sugar?”
“Buddy, aren’t you listening to me?? I just told you, I do not like sweet wine. I just don’t want it to be dry either.”
As the cherub faced prison guard said to Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke, “What we got here, is a fail-iure t’communicate.” The problem arises from the often-confusing vocabulary littering the world of wine.
I’ve always thought of water as being wet. It quenches your thirst better than anything else and feels sooo refreshing going down. But, did you know that according to wine-speak, water is dry? That’s because it contains no sugar.
Sweet and dry are at opposite ends of a line describing sugar levels in wine with semi-sweet, semi-dry, and off-dry taking positions in the middle. Other flavors in wine, such as ripe fruit flavors and the vanillin imparted from oak, can add to the perception of sweetness.
There are other components in wines that affect how dry they seem to the mouth. Acidity and tannins are the primary culprits that make a non-sweet wine seem more dry, or drying, to the mouth.
Acidity, in varying degrees, is present in almost all wines. It’s also noticeable in many fruit juices, including orange juice. OJ’s acidity is the reason it is so unpleasant to eat that sweet pastry first, then follow it with a big sip of juice. Once you’ve had that sugar in your mouth, the acid in the orange juice makes it taste sour and tart.
Acidity keeps a wine crisp and refreshing and preserves the wine. It balances out sugar and rich fruit flavors and provides structure. Too little acid and the wine’s called fat or flabby. Too much and it is identified as tart or sharp.
Tannins are found in the stems and seeds of all grapes, the skins of dark colored grapes and the oak of the barrels used to age wines. Tannins also add structure and depth to wine. They add longevity to wines and help them age well.
When they support and complement the wine with a velvet glove, they are called smooth, integrated, and silky, among other positive terms. But when they grab at your mouth, assault your tongue with astringency and make you feel like someone clamped a wooden vise to the back of your tongue, that’s when they are referred to as harsh, aggressive, sharp edged or rough.
Tannins can be so astringent and puckering, they can dominate the flavor of a wine. They are arguably the main culprits for creating the many misunderstandings about dryness in wines. Wines that are roughly tannic and astringent are perceived as dryer than those that are soft. The wine may be dry, but that is usually not the problem. Rather, sharp acidity and aggressive, harsh tannins are the factors driving away those seeking wines they enjoy, and struggling for a way to express what it is they dislike.
Just remember that wine is available in an incredible variety of styles and there is something out there that’s right for every lover of wine. Understanding wine terminology will make it much easier to find it.
