What is a Dry White Wine?
The world of wine offers much to learn. One of the most common questions we receive is *you guessed it* ….
What is a Dry White Wine?
A ‘dry’ style of wine (in the very broad descriptive language of wine) refers to the lack of sweetness present when consuming the wine. A wine get’s its ‘sweet’ characters from the presence of residual sugar from the grapes during the fermentation stage. During this stage, if the winemaker seeks a dry wine, the fermenation time is left longer so the yeast are able to eat almost all of the residual sugars (process of coverting grape juice to alcohol). No residual sugar = no sweetness and hence a ‘dry’ wine. However, dry white wines can still be ‘fruity’ (commonly confused with being ‘sweet’) and this is more so showing the fruit flavours/aromas typical of the variety e.g. Modern Australian Chardonnay can display white nectarine notes, but is not considered sweet.
The Characteristics of a Dry White Wine
There are very few drinks that can be cracked on a blue sky day that are as refreshing as a crisp dry white wine. Some familar dry white wine varieties are; Semillon, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, and Riesling. Typically speaking, dry white wines often possess characteristics of citrus, lemongrass, green apple, minerals, herbs, and pear.
The Crown Jewel of the Hunter Valley
It would be remiss to detail what a dry white wine is without mentioning Hunter Valley Semillon. Originally, from the Bordeaux region of France, Semillon is typically either blended with Sauvignon Blanc or made as a sweet wine style using the fungus botrytis (or noble rot). However, in the Australia (particularly the Hunter Valley) Semillon has a long and very unqiue history as a dry age-worthy style. We are arguably the only wine region in the world that successfully produces a straight 100% variety of Semillon in a dry style. Hence why it is nicknamed ‘the crown jewel’ of the Hunter Valley. The ‘age-worthyness’ of Hunter Valley Semillon is another defining factor that makes the wine so special, as over time the wine transitions from a young fresh crisp style to a more beeswaxy, oily, rich style (6-10+ years on).
