One of the six officially recognised taste sensations (besides bitter, fatty, salty, sour, umami) that is perceived at the tip of the tongue. The sweet taste of a wine is perceived primarily on the basis of residual sugar; this is the amount of unfermented sugar in g/l. With a sparkling wine, the taste perception for "sweet" is different, as the carbonic acid reduces the sweetness quite significantly. However, the subjective taste perception for sweetness depends on many factors. Among other things, on the ratio of the various ingredients to each other. Therefore, the taste impression does not have to be identical to the actual analysis values. The opposite of sweet, in terms of taste, is acid. However, this does not apply in the chemical sense, because in this respect alkaline is the opposite of sour.
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For my many years of work as an editor with a wine and culinary focus, I always like to inform myself about special questions at Wine lexicon. Spontaneous reading and following links often leads to exciting discoveries in the wide world of wine.
Dr. Christa Hanten
Fachjournalistin, Lektorin und Verkosterin, Wien