Types of Dry White Wine

Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio are just a couple types of dry white wine.

Learn the best shape glass for white wine.

How White Wine Becomes Dry

White wines become dry when sugars from the juice are converted to alcohol during the fermentation process. In some cases a wine is medium-dry when small amounts of residual sugars (RS) remain but not enough to push it over the edge into that sweet wine territory. There are also various degrees of "dryness" with certain varietals falling into the dry, medium-dry or medium-sweet to sweet categories. Wines in the "sweetness" category have been excluded in order to focus on the dry and medium-dry whites.

A Dry Personality

Sweetness and fruity are two terms oft affixed to white wine. Fruity does not necessarily describe the wine's level of sweetness but rather its fruit characteristics. An example of fruitiness would be the lime and grapefruit citrus or gooseberry flavors in a French Sancerre Sauvignon Blanc or the stone-fruit apricot and peach of a Pinot Blanc.

These fruity-natured whites are not sweet but rather balanced with bracing acidity that gives the wine its dryness. For some wines residual sugar is left to rein in the wine's tartness or to accentuate its fruit. As a general rule of thumb, you won't notice sweetness until a wine's residual sugar goes beyond 3%. Sweet wines range from about 5% to a whopping 30% RS. However, acidity helps suppress the cloying sweetness factor so don't be surprised when a wine with 20% RS tastes balanced or a wine with 8% RS is overwhelmingly sticky sweet. This is just one of those mind games that wine can play with your palate.

An example of how this sweetness and acid relationship works is lemonade. Without sugar, lemonade will pucker your mouth but it becomes balanced and refreshing with just the right amount of sugar. Acid is a critical agent to bring out the wine's best traits and put life into it.

Dry Whites and Food

Dry and medium-dry whites, with their crisp and energizing acidity, make them a natural complement to many foods. Sip a lemony-melon Sauvignon Blanc with shellfish or hook a dry Alsatian Riesling up with some slightly spicy Thai food and the light bulb will click on.

Don't forget that Champagne is also a type of dry white wine and a fun and spritzy companion to a host of seafood, fowl and cheese dishes. Note that Champagne uses several categories to describe the level of sweetness and this can get tricky. Remembering them is like remembering poker hands, just make sure you know what hand you are betting on.

• Extra Brut is the driest Champagne with less than .6% RS factor, practically nothing.
• One step up the sweetness scale is Brut with less than 1.5% and it is still considered dry.
• Extra Sec with 1.2% to 2% is considered medium-dry.
• Sec, which nudges into the sweet territory with 1.7% to 3.5% RS.
• Demi-Sec with 3.3% to 5% RS.
• Doux with 5%+...but those just encourage cavities.

Dry Whites

The following are some types of dry white wine for your consideration.

The Dry Ones

• Sauvignon Blanc

This crispy clean citrusy wine carries the banner for dry whites. It evokes tautness with a medium body that appeals with juicy fruit, herbal tones, mineral bits and bright acidity. It's broadly found worldwide but sparkles in France's Loire Valley and Bordeaux (where it's usually blended with Sémillon), New Zealand's Marlborough, Austria, South Africa, Washington and in most of California's wine regions.

• Albariño

This wine comes from Spain's northeastern Galicia. This area is noted for its seafood and their Albariño is a perfect match with its citrus and stone-fruit aromas and flavors combined with rejuvenating acidity and freshness. It's called Alvarinho in Portugal.

• Chardonnay

The best Chardonnays are the French Burgundy versions from Côte d'Or and Chablis. Here, they resonate with citrus and apple fruit together with flint and acidity. The Old World style goes lighter on the use of oak and maloactic fermentation that emboldens the New World style with oaky and vanilla flavors that distort the varietals true colors.

• Muscadet

From Loire Valley in the western part close to the Atlantic. It's a tangy sharp, light-bodied wine that is dry and goes exceptional with seafood.

The Medium-Dry Ones

• Pinot Blanc

This wine is prominent in Alsace, Germany, Austria and Italy. It is a dry to medium-dry white that compares to Chardonnay but is less complex.

• Pinot Grigio

The Italian version is here, there and everywhere. It's also known as Pinot Gris outside of Italy. Usually these are simple, light and crisp white wines that do not invoke serious contemplation but go well with similar simple foods. The best ones are from Alsace but Oregon Pinot Gris can also display a bit of drama.

• Viognier

This varietal is a principal white in the Condrieu region in the Northern Rhône. It is aromatic with citrus. It's gaining popularity among many winegrowers in California, especially those producing Rhône-style wines.

• Grüner Veltliner

This medium-dry white is Austria's speciality. It's dry and light with peaches and floral tones, spice and has a peppery finish. Wunderbar!

• Chenin Blanc

A good example are the Vouvray Demi-Sec wines from the Loire Valley, dry with aromatics.

• Gewürtztraminer

This is a well-traveled varietal found worldwide. However, it's noted mostly for its wines in Germany, Alsace, California, Oregon, New Zealand and other cooler clime places. Gewürtztraminers have a golden tinted liquid that is aromatic, shows lychee fruit flavors and spices. This white can also be found in late harvest wines that will hit the sweet button. Stick with the dry Alsace version or the German trocken (bone-dry) or halbtrocken (medium-dry) versions.

• Riesling

Okay, throw out your ideas of Blue Nun and think German and Alsace Rieslings. Riesling is one of the noble grapes that is light to medium-bodied with rich extracted stone-fruit, zinging acidity suffused with an air of delicacy. Rieslings range from dry to various sweetness levels. Avoid the German Trockenbeerenauslese (TB) unless you want to go sweet. Fine dry Rieslings can also be found in the New World wine regions as well.

Final Note

There's an old expression, "Keep your powder dry," which refers to your musket's gunpowder. Same goes for your white wine, keep it dry.

• Types of Fruity Red Wine
• How to Make Sangria
• Basic Wine Information
• Definitions Of Wine Types
• Is Red Wine Good For You

• Dry Red Wine Types
• Red Wine Calories
• Wine Calories
• Best Red Wine Under $15
• Wine Serving Temperatures

• Types of Red Wine
• Australian Dry Red Wine
• Main Page
• Category:Types of Wine
• Dry Red Wine Types