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Sugar is the devil for all dieters, which is not surprising and with good cause. In addition to disrupting insulin levels, aggravating health conditions, and contributing to restless nights, sugar's empty calories also contribute to the gain of extra pounds. So, it makes sense that a wine enthusiast who decides to watch their sugar intake would want to know which wines have the lowest levels of residual sugar.
Wine is produced by fermenting the natural sugar found in grapes to produce alcohol. Simply put, the wine will have more residual sugar and taste sweeter on the palate if the fermentation is stopped well before all of the sugar is turned into alcohol.
Numerous wines with elevated levels of sugar include sweet dessert wines, late harvest wines, fortified wines, and numerous regional Rieslings with reduced alcohol content (under 11% alcohol by volume).
Here's what you need to know.
• Although they are frequently served as desserts and are undoubtedly known to be sweet treats, late-harvest wines can contain up to 20% or more residual sugar and up to 200 grams of sugar per litre.
• Although fortified wines (such as Port, Sherry, and Marsala) can contain as much as 15% residual sugar (or 150 grams of sugar per litre), they often fall between 5% and 7%.
• Choose extra-dry, brut, or extra-brut sparkling wine or Champagne when it comes to sparkling wines. With extra brut being the driest wine and having the lowest sugar content, residual sugar levels will range from 0.6 to 2.0 percent sugar per litre (or 6 to 20 grams of sugar per litre of wine).
• These wines fall between dry and sweet wines in terms of sugar content. These wines often contain residual sugar levels between 1 and 3 percent (or 10 and 30 grams of sugar per litre). As a result, semi- or off-dry wines have a slightly sweeter flavour.
• Dry red wines and dry white wines both often have residual sugar levels between 0.1 and 0.3 percent per litre (or 1 to 3 grams of sugar per litre of wine)
