Oenology - Sweet and Fortified wines

5 important questions on Oenology - Sweet and Fortified wines

What is a sweet wine?

  • Is a wine that has a high level of sugar
  • Aged after the fermentation in an oak cask
  • 9% of alcohol for lightest sweet wines

What is a fortified wine?

  • Is a wine that can vary from sweet to dry
  • Aged after the fermentation in an oak cask
  • 16% of alcohol

How can the level of sugar vary in one liter?

  • < 4 gr = dry wine
  • 4 > < 18 gr = off dry
  • 18 > < 45 gr = sweet
  • 45 > < 200 gr = very sweet
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What is the main difference between a sweet wine and a fortified wine?

For the fortified wine a distilled alcohol, often Brandy, is added during the fermentation process.

What are the type of fortified wines?

It depends at what stage of the fermentation is the brandy, or the neutral alcohol, added:
  • If the alcohol is added at the beginning of the fermentation, the yeast is killed, so the residual sugar is higher as is the alcohol content (E.g. Porto wine - Portugal, Muscat de Rivesaltes - France)
  • If the alcohol is aded at the end of the fermentation process, when the sugar is already been transformed by the yeast, the wine is fortified but dry (E.g. Madeira - Portuguese Island)

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