Sparkling Wine - Sweetness explained

To make a sparkling wine is one of the most complex processes in the whole of winemaking. Producers have so many decisions to make during the process that can greatly affect the wine style. One of these choices is the sweetness level of the end product. Decoding the sweetness levels in sparkling wines can be hard: brut nature, extra brut, brut, extra seco, seco, semi-sec, dolce. What does this all mean, in a world where dry doesn’t mean the dryest, and it actually means one of the sweetest, if not, the sweetest variety?! 

For the example of this post, I’ll concentrate on Champagne terms as it’s the most complex (with 7 styles, whereas Prosecco has 3). For context, a litre of coke has 39g of sugar:

Brut Nature: up to 3g of residual sugar per litre

Extra Brut: up to 6g of residual sugar per litre

Brut: up to 12g of residual sugar per litre (This is the same for Brut Prosecco)

Extra Dry: 12 - 17g of residual sugar per litre (This is the same for Extra Dry Prosecco)

Dry: 17 - 32g of residual sugar per litre (This is the same for Dry Prosecco)

Demi-Sec: 32 - 50g of residual sugar per litre

Doux: 50+g of residual sugar per litre

So a dry prosecco, is actually the sweetest variety. Makes sense right?

How do I know which one to buy?

“I like a light, dry and lean style sparkling wine, that’s lower in calories and has lots of citrus fruit and a sharp acidity”

Try: Brut Nature, Extra Brut or Brut

“I like the same as above, but a few more floral characteristics to it, which give it a bit more decadance”

Try: Extra Dry

“I like an easy to drink, sweeter and more perfumed sparkling wine that I can keep drinking long into the night”

Try: Dry, Demi-sec or Doux

“I like an aged, nutty and creamy sparkling wine that makes me feel like I’m a Hollywood star with every sip”

Try: Vintage Champagne

I hope that helps in your next quest to buy sparkling wine! Alternatively book a private sparkling tasting with Olive & The Vine for you and your friends and try them all.