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🍷 Sweet wine

Type of wine ✔ Checked: 10.2026 · sources: 5

Wine with a lot of sugar, drunk with dessert or instead of it.

Sweet wine keeps a lot of the grape's natural sugar. Under EU rules a still wine may be labelled sweet if it has more than 45 grams of sugar per litre. Such wines are served with dessert or cheese, or instead of dessert.

Sugar stays in the wine for different reasons. Grapes may be picked very late, when they are nearly raisins, as in Alsace and the Mosel. Berries may be hit by noble rot, as in Sauternes, Barsac and around Lake Neusiedl. Grapes may be dried in the sun or indoors, as for the Greek wines Malvasia Paros and Monemvasia-Malvasia. Or fermentation may be stopped with spirit, as in the fortified wines of Rivesaltes, Muscat de Lunel and Rasteau.

Sweetness does not make a wine heavy if it has enough acidity. Good sweet wines taste fresh and can age for decades. Many famous appellations in France, Greece and Germany are known for them. Sugar and alcohol add calories, so small servings are the norm.

What it includes

then🍷Syllabubworks with🍷Noble rotkind of🍷types of winemakes📍Neusiedlerseemakes📍Alsacemakes📜Alsace Grand Cru …makes📜Alsace Grand Cru …similar🍷Medium-sweet winesimilar🍷Late harvest winesimilar🍷Ice winesimilar🍷Residual sugarsimilar🍷Süßsimilar🍷Dolcesimilar🍷Dessert winesimilar🍷Vino dulce naturallinked🧀Roquefort🍷towardia.com
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🍷 Residual sugar, 🍷 Syllabub
Works with
🍷 Noble rot
Part of
🍷 Types of wine
Appellations
France: 📜 Sauternes, 📜 Hermitage, 📍 Alsace, 📜 Barsac, 📜 Bordeaux Supérieur, 📜 Rasteau, 📜 Rivesaltes, 📜 Vouvray, 📜 Alsace Grand Cru Brand, 📜 Alsace Grand Cru Hengst, 📜 Alsace Grand Cru Rangen, 📜 Alsace Grand Cru Schlossberg, 📜 Anjou, 📜 Banyuls, 📜 Bonnezeaux and 91 more
Italy: 📜 Asti, 📜 Falanghina del Sannio, 📍 Pantelleria, 📍 Piedmont, 📜 Recioto della Valpolicella, 📍 Soave, 📍 Aosta Valley, 📜 Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi, 📍 Abruzzo, 📍 South Tyrol, 📍 Cinque Terre, 📜 Colli Orientali del Friuli Picolit, 📜 Frascati, 📍 Irpinia, 📍 Orvieto and 79 more
Greece: 📍 Samos, 📍 Sitia, 📍 Crete, 📜 Mavrodaphne of Patras, 📍 Lemnos, 📍 Nemea, 📍 Santorini, 📜 Malvasia Paros, 📜 Dafnes, 📜 Mavrodaphne of Cephalonia, 📜 Monemvasia-Malvasia, 📜 Muscat of Lemnos, 📜 Malvasia Sitia, 📜 Cyclades, 📜 Muscat of Patras and 5 more
Spain: 📜 Sherry, 📍 Canary Islands, 📍 La Palma, 📍 Montilla-Moriles, 📍 Málaga (Axarquía), 📍 El Hierro, 📍 Empordà, 📍 Valencia (zone), 📍 Alicante, 📍 Lanzarote, 📍 Navarre, 📜 Lebrija, 📜 Ycoden-Daute-Isora, 📜 Tarragona, 📜 Valles de Sadacia
Portugal: 📜 Port, 📍 Carcavelos, 📍 Madeira, 📍 Palmela, 📍 Biscoitos, 📍 Setúbal Peninsula, 📍 Setúbal
Germany: 📍 Mosel, 📍 Nahe, 📍 Rheingau, 📜 Uhlen Blaufüsser Lay
Romania: 📍 Cotnari, 📍 Pietroasa, 📍 Murfatlar, 📜 Bohotin
Austria: 📍 Neusiedlersee, 📍 Burgenland, 📜 Ruster Ausbruch
Malta: 📍 Malta (island), 📍 Gozo
Slovakia: 📜 Tokaj wine region (Slovakia), 📜 Tokaj wine of the Slovak region
Slovenia: 📍 Styrian Slovenia
Czechia: 📜 Novosedly straw wine
Croatia: 📜 Momjan Muscat
Cyprus: 📍 Commandaria
Hungary: 📍 Tokaj
Made from grapes
🍇 Riesling, 🍇 Welschriesling, 🍇 Pedro Ximénez, 🍇 Hárslevelű, 🍇 Zierfandler, 🍇 Bouvier, 🍇 Zéta, 🍇 Huxelrebe, 🍇 Traminer, 🍇 Vignoles, 🍇 Moscato di Terracina, 🍇 Falanghina, 🍇 Albana, 🍇 Sagrantino, 🍇 Raboso, 🍇 Ortega, 🍇 Siegerrebe, 🍇 Gros Manseng, 🍇 Nosiola, 🍇 Rotgipfler, 🍇 Ondenc, 🍇 Mantonico Bianco, 🍇 Goldburger, 🍇 Verdea, 🍇 La Crescent, 🍇 St. Pepin, 🍇 Klarnica, 🍇 Jubiläumsrebe, 🍇 Ezerfürtű, 🍇 Manzoni Moscato, 🍇 Ucelut, 🍇 Catawba
Similar and different
🍷 Medium-sweet wine, 🍷 Late harvest wine, 🍷 Ice wine, 🍷 Residual sugar, 🍷 Süß, 🍷 Dolce, 🍷 Dessert wine, 🍷 Vino dulce natural
Wine and milk
🧀 Roquefort

Frequently asked questions

How much sugar is in sweet wine?

Under EU rules a still wine is called sweet above 45 grams of sugar per litre. Some dessert wines contain far more.

How is sweet wine made?

By late harvest, noble rot, drying the grapes, or stopping fermentation by adding spirit.

What do you serve sweet wine with?

Desserts, fruit, blue cheese and pâté. It is often drunk in a small glass instead of dessert.

Similar

🍷 White wine · 🍷 Fortified wine · 🍷 Still wine · 🍷 Sparkling wine · 🍷 Red wine · 🍷 Rosé

⚠️ Wine contains alcohol: adults only, drink in moderation. Wine usually contains sulphites; egg white or milk proteins are sometimes used for fining — important for allergies and for vegans.

Sources

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