Sweet White Wines · Fruity + Aromatic

Sweet White Wines—What is the Meaning of “Semi-Sweet”?

In this category you will mainly find sweet white wines. In addition, we also offer semi-sweet white wines which are a little less sweet in taste.

Sweet white wines show a clearly pronounced natural sweetness and are often enjoyed as pure pleasure wines.

Semi-sweet white wines have slightly less residual sugar and taste fruity and well balanced.

For your information: semi-sweet wines contain up to 45 g/l residual sugar; sweet wines are above that.

If you would like to choose more specifically, you can find all lieblich wines and all sweet wines here.

How Do Semi-Sweet and Sweet White Wines Taste?

Sweet white wines have a pronounced, natural sweetness from the grapes, which enhances their flavour. They taste full-bodied and very fruity. Despite all the “dry!” calls from self-appointed connoisseurs, these wines are rather popular.

Depending on the grape variety, flavours range from apple, pear and citrus fruits to peach, apricot, mango and lychee. Floral, herbal, peppery or muscat-like notes can also appear. Colour varies from pale greenish yellow to deep golden yellow.

Highly Aromatic, Fruity or Spicy Sweet White Wines

Many of our sweet white wines are made from highly aromatic grape varieties. Their intense flavours stand out particularly clearly in a sweet style and shape the character of the wines.

Riesling holds a special place, with its elegant, racy fruit supported and highlighted by only moderate sweetness.

Details on each style can be found in the individual wine descriptions.

Fruity, Easy-Drinking Enjoyment with Sweet White Wines

Enjoying Semi-Sweet and Sweet White Wines

You can enjoy something to eat with sweet white wines, but you don’t have to. They are excellent “stand-alone” pleasure wines. Enjoy them simply for the pure enjoyment of their flavour—of course, some savoury nibbles, cheese or nuts go very well with them.

Served well chilled, these easy-drinking whites make brilliant party and summer wines; they brighten up a TV night and many other occasions. Whether on your own or with company, they tend to keep wine lovers happily lingering at the table.

A large, generously shaped wine glass allows the white wine to unfold its aromatics so that your nose can sense the flavours before the first sip.

Sweet White Wines—Underrated Partners with Food

Sweet and semi-sweet white wines pair well with many dishes, especially meats such as veal or pork, poultry, fish and seafood. Vegetarian cuisine, pasta, Asian dishes, as well as cheese, ham or a simple cold supper can also be combined very well with them.

Serving Temperature

Served well chilled, semi-sweet and sweet white wines taste especially fresh and aromatic. The ideal serving temperature depends on your personal preference—so it’s worth experimenting.

Which Grape Varieties are Used to Make Sweet White Wines?

In principle, all white wine grape varieties can be vinified in styles with or without any sweetness. A white wine’s residual sugar does not depend on the grape variety, but on whether fermentation runs to completion and how the wine is finished and bottled.

Classic and Rare Grape Varieties for Sweet White Wines

Besides classic varieties such as Riesling and Gewürztraminer—a genuine rarity—we cultivate several less common varieties that add variety to white wine enjoyment and offer multifaceted flavour experiences.

The grape varieties used for semi-sweet and sweet white wines include:

• Bacchus, very aromatic bouquet
• Gewuerztraminer, intensely spicy and aromatic
• Huxel, very fruity
• Sauvignon Blanc, herbal and spicy flavours
• Scheu’s grape, especially grapey and fruity

Quality ff Sweet White Wines

Our sweet white wines are German quality wines or German quality wines with special distinction. They are produced with the same care as our dry white wines—from selecting healthy, ripe grapes to bottling.

• Gentle pressing with low pressure
• Fermenting clean, crystal-clear filtered must
• Slow, temperature-controlled fermentation
• Extended lees ageing to develop aromatics

Verified Quality

The quality of a white wine is completely independent of its sweetness. Whether dry or sweet:

• Only flawless wines with varietal-typical aromatics are bottled.
• After the required analysis, the Chamber of Agriculture carries out the official tasting and approval.
• The designation “German quality wine” or “German quality wine with special distinction” may only be used for these sweet white wines after passing the official quality test.

How Does Sweetness in White Wine Develop?

To be absolutely clear: no, sweet white wines contain no added sugar. Their sweetness comes exclusively from the grapes’ natural sugars.

In the cellar there are two ways to make sweet white wines:

1. Stopping fermentation: Fermentation is halted once the wine has reached the desired sweetness. This is done through cooling and filtration.
2. Sweet reserve: before fermentation, part of the fresh must is chilled and stored in a pressure tank so it cannot ferment. This unfermented must is added back to the fully fermented wine shortly before bottling.

At Weingut Fuchs, we prefer working with sweet reserve because it allows longer lees ageing. It also makes enables us to set the level of sweetness much more precisely than by stopping fermentation.