dry, adjective often applied to wines, usually to describe those in which there is no perceptible sweetness. Such wines may have as many as 10 g/l residual sugar, or even more in wines with particularly high acidity (which tends to counterbalance sweetness). In this sense, virtually all red wines are dry, while white, rosé, sparkling, and fortified wines can vary considerably between bone dry, dry, medium dry, medium sweet, and sweet.
Some wines, particularly reds, are said to have a ‘dry finish’ if they are especially astringent.
