Grape guide
Red wine sweetness chart
Almost every red wine is dry. Of the 13 reds below, Barbera, Merlot, Nebbiolo and Sangiovese are the driest, and Concord is the only one with a touch of sweetness. For a properly sweet red, look for port.
Barello is a home cellar and bar app that tells you what to open tonight, what to keep, and what you can mix from what you have. It's free. It tells you when each wine you keep is at its best, and what to eat with the bottle you open.
Driest to sweetest
- Bone dry
- Barbera
- Merlot
- Nebbiolo
- Sangiovese
- Dry
- Gamay
- Pinot Noir
- Grenache
- Tempranillo
- Zinfandel
- Cabernet Sauvignon
- Malbec
- Shiraz
- Off-dry
- Concord
Each scored out of 5. Sweetness is how much sugar is left in the wine. Body is how heavy it feels.
These describe each grape in general. A particular bottle can be drier or sweeter, depending on where it was grown and how it was made.
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Join freeQuestions people ask
Which red wine is the sweetest?
Concord is the sweetest of these 13. It's off-dry, which means it has just a touch of sweetness. For a properly sweet red, look for port.
Is Merlot sweet?
No. Merlot is bone dry, with almost no sugar left in it. The cherry and plum you taste are fruit flavours, not sugar.
What's the driest red wine?
Barbera, Merlot, Nebbiolo and Sangiovese are bone dry. Every other red here is dry, apart from Concord.
Sweetness and body scores are Wine Folly's.
What each red tastes like and when to drink it: types of red wine. How cold to serve them: red wine serving temperature.