A description of the flavour of a wine in the context of a wine evaluation or wine talk. The term tends to be used negatively and pejoratively as "(unpleasantly) light, but also obtrusively sweet", "softly sentimental and slipping into kitsch", as well as a synonym for artificial (artificial), overloaded, fake and unnatural.
In the context of describing a food or drink, it means "slightly sweet". The term tends to be used pejoratively when referring to wine. However, in contrast to medium sweet (semi-sweet) or sweet, it is not relevant under wine law. It is not uncommon for so-called Coca-Cola wines (mainstream wines) to be characterised by a sweet or fruity taste. Similarly pejorative terms are tasty, jammy and drop-like.
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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