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Sweetness Terms
On the 29th April 2002, the European Union laid down in law the terms that can legally be used on wine labels to indicate the sweetness of a particular wine. Whilst the legal definitions are quite technical, they essentially split wines into 4 groupings – dry, medium-dry, medium-sweet and sweet.
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Sweetness Terms
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Legal Definition
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| sec, trocken, secco, asciutto, dry, tør, ξηρός, seco, kuiva, droog or torrt |
residual sugar content not exceeding:
(i) 4 grams per litre; or
(ii) 9 grams per litre, provided that the total acidity expressed as grams of tartaric acid per litre is not more than 2 grams below the residual sugar content
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| demi-sec, halbtrocken, abboccato, medium dry, halvtør, ημίξηρος, semiseco, meio seco, adamado, puolikuiva, halfdroog or halvtorrt |
residual sugar content in excess of the maximum set above but not exceeding:
(i) 12 grams per litre; or
(ii) 18 grams per litre, where the minimum total acidity has been set by the individual EU Member State
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| moelleux, lieblich, amabile, medium, medium sweet, halvsød, ημίγλυκος, semidulce, meio doce, puolimakea, halfzoet or halvsftt |
residual sugar content higher than the maximum set above but not more than 45 grams per litre |
| doux, süss, dolce, sweet, sød, γλυκός, dulce, doce, makea, zoet or sftt |
residual sugar content of at least 45 grams per litre |
To complicate matters further sparkling wines including Cava and Champagne have different sweetness scale, which is shown below:
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Sweetness Terms
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Residual Sugar
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| Brut Nature - (no added sugar) |
up to 3 g per litre |
| Extra Brut |
up to 6 g per litre |
| Brut |
up to 15 g per litre |
| Extra seco/Extra Dry |
between 12 and 20 g per litre |
| Seco/Sec |
between 17 and 35 g per litre |
| Semi-seco/Demi Sec |
between 33 and 50 g per litre |
| Dulce/Doux |
more than 50 g per litre |
A seperate system of grading sweetness levels exists in the Hungarian region of Tokaj-Hegyalja to describe Tokaji Aszú dessert wines:
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Sweetness Terms
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Min Residual Sugar
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| 3 puttonyos |
60 grams per litre |
| 4 puttonyos |
90 grams per litre |
| 5 puttonyos |
120 grams per litre |
| 6 puttonyos |
150 grams per litre |
| Aszú-Eszencia |
180 grams per litre |
| Eszencia |
450 grams per litre |
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