What “dry” means in wine
It’s about sugar. That puckery feeling is something else.
When people say they like dry wine, they often mean one of a few different things. Only one of them is dryness.
Dry means not sweet
In wine, dry means there’s little or no sugar left after fermentation. Yeast eats the sugar in the grape juice and turns it into alcohol. When it eats nearly all of it, the wine is dry.
That drying feeling is tannin
Tannin comes from grape skins, seeds and oak barrels. It grabs onto proteins in your saliva, which is why a young red can leave your gums feeling like you’ve had strong black tea. A wine can be completely dry and have almost no tannin. Most whites are like that.
Sharpness is acidity
Acidity makes your mouth water. High-acid wines taste crisp, and low-acid wines taste soft. Acid also hides sugar, which is why a good Riesling with some sweetness in it can still taste dry.
Fruity isn’t sweet
Smells of ripe strawberry or peach can trick your brain into tasting sugar that isn’t there. Plenty of very fruity wines are bone dry. So next time a wine tastes “too sweet”, check the label. It might just be fruity.