On May 19, 4:01 pm, Dee Dee > wrote:

> Is it only dry wines that would be acidic or tannic; or would sweet
> wines have these characteristics as well?

A very good example of a sweet wine that can be very tannic is young
vintage port. It can take many years for a vintage port to mature, a
large amount of sediment to form, and for tannins to reduce enough in
the liquid part of the wine. Much of the tannin apparently ends up in
the sediment after some rather complex and slow chemical reactions.

A very good example of a very sweet wine that also can be very acid is
a Riesling Eiswein made in some of the colder regions of Germany such
as the Saar. It can have much of the acid attack of biting into the
flesh of a lemon, yet can also be extremely sweet. Think of making
lemonade with very much sugar, but from undiluted lemon juice for a
crude comparison.

On 19 May 2007 22:33:06 -0700, cwdjrxyz > wrote:

>On May 19, 4:01 pm, Dee Dee > wrote:
>
>> Is it only dry wines that would be acidic or tannic; or would sweet
>> wines have these characteristics as well?
>
>A very good example of a sweet wine that can be very tannic is young
>vintage port. It can take many years for a vintage port to mature, a
>large amount of sediment to form, and for tannins to reduce enough in
>the liquid part of the wine. Much of the tannin apparently ends up in
>the sediment after some rather complex and slow chemical reactions.

But port is pretty much the only common example. After that you
struggle to find good quality sweet red wines. There are a few others
made in the Port style, and Recioto della Valpolicella, and that is
about it.

>A very good example of a very sweet wine that also can be very acid is
>a Riesling Eiswein made in some of the colder regions of Germany such
>as the Saar. It can have much of the acid attack of biting into the
>flesh of a lemon, yet can also be extremely sweet. Think of making
>lemonade with very much sugar, but from undiluted lemon juice for a
>crude comparison.

That's an extreme example, but in fact all good sweet wines have high
acidity.

--
Steve Slatcher
http://pobox.com/~steve.slatcher