Do light sweet red wines exist?

WINE TALK
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Hi everyone,

Sometimes I’m in the mood for a little sweetness in my wine, especially at the end of a meal, but not anything heavy or with lots of sugar. Kabinett and Spatlese Rieslings hit the spot nicely for whites. Less sweet styles of Madeira work nicely as well. I’m sure there’s lots more.

Are there red wine styles like this? Port can be lovely, but is heavy and typically very sweet- not something I’m in the mood for all the time. Same with Banyuls and other sweet French red wines. I know there’s cheap plonk with plenty of RS, but that’s not what I’m looking.

So, do these styles exist? If not, why not? Seems like it could be nice.

Thanks,
Noah

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Some lambruscos might fit the bill (there’s a big range of styles and quality).

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Have you ever had Brachetto d’acqui?

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Freisa, it’s delicious.

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Also Barolo Chinato if you’re happy having things other than grapes in your drink.

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I’ve had I think only one Chinato - so limited sample size - but its fortification would not lead me to categorize it as light.

Not saying all would agree with me.

And Megan’s Brachetto suggestion is a good one.

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Domaine Christophe Marin Maury

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I think Lambrusco is a good rec.

Another one (thought not fully red) would be off dry rosé, like Rosé d’Anjou from the Loire. Light and refreshing with some light to medium sweetness depending on bottle.

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One of my favorite wines is Renardat-Fache Cerdon, an off dry lightly sparking rosé wine from Bugey made from Gamay and Poulsard. It’s in a similar vein to Brachetto d’Acqui which Megan Joy recommended, though the Brachetto is red rather rosé.

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I guess you’re right - it’s definitely a sipping digestif, not a chuggable thirst-quencher that’s for sure, although the one I have had didn’t feel as heavy as, say, port to me.

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Good call. First thing I thought of was Bugey Cerdon.

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Brachetto d’aqui, like Megan suggested, was my immediate thought.

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Thirding Brachetto, and there’s a semisweet red wine style from western Georgia called Khvanchkara that also fits the bill. Very darkly colored, but naturally has some sugar in it and the flavors are much more on the red fruit side of the spectrum.

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That makes sense!

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As a person living in a country where a big portion of consumers drink lightly sweet red wines, I fined many of these examples quite weird, if OP wasn’t looking for “anything heavy or with lots of sugar”.

For example even if Brachettos are light in body, many people don’t realize they most of them are not slightly sweet or semisweet - they are fully sweet. Most of the examples I’ve tasted have come in 80-150 g/l RS; that’s not semisweet, that’s full on dessert wine. Furthermore, I wouldn’t call them “red wines” - they are red sparkling wines.

Ditto for Bugey Cerdon, although they are typically less sweet, something like 50-80 g/l. However, I wouldn’t call them red wines, either. Sparkling rosé wine is closer. Love them, though. Fantastic wines.

Barolo Chinato is a ridiculous suggestion. It’s basically sweet red Vermouth that is only based on tannic Barolo. Can’t imagine having it with any kind of food that would call for a light, slightly sweet red. It might be lighter than Vintage Port, but beyond that it can be quite hard to find anything “lighter”. Still love these wines, but I’d say they definitely do not fit the bill.

Freisas used to be made in an off-dry, slightly sparkling style, but I’ve had quite a many Freisas in my life and I can’t remember tasting a single contemporary Freisa that wasn’t bone dry. Finding a sweeter Freisa can be quite a task today.

Off-dry red Lambrusco is much closer to what one might look, but that’s still sparkling wine, not still red. However, I think they are lovely wines and a great suggestion if one doesn’t mind bubbles.

I think Khvanchkara is by far the only suggestion that actually fits the bill. Georgian semisweet reds tend to clock in at 25-40 g/l, are something like 10-12% ABV, typically have high acidity plus a little bit of tannic structure to offset some of that sweetness and are very light on their feet. They might feel a bit weird if you are not used to sweetness in reds, but they actually feel like the rare type of still red wines in which a good dose of RS feels natural, not gimmicky - or a way to just mask faults and make a cheap, low-quality red wine taste drinkable to an unsavvy consumers.

Khvanvhkara is probably the most common style of wine one might see, but definitely not the only one. Semi-sweet Georgian styles include also appellations like Kindzmarauli, Ojaleshi, Akhasheni, Pirosmani and Alazani.

And in addition to these, there are of course those “appassimento” wines and others like that from Italy that are so popular around here in the Nordics. These are simple, often relatively light red wines where the flavor and richness comes mainly from the 8-25 g/l of residual sugar. You don’t have to have any quality grapes to make these - just leave enough residual sugar and people will lap it all up. I can’t understand why anyone would touch these monstrosities, but I’m in the minority, since these are top sellers in the Finnish and Swedish wine market! Anyways, these can be categorized under “cheap plonk with plenty of RS”, so these can be easily disregarded!

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In my defence, the OP was looking for things to drink “at the end of a meal” (i.e. as a digestif) not with food. But yes Barolo Chinato qualifies largely on the grounds that it’s not as heavy as port.

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But it is still very sweet - many version typically even sweeter than typical Port.

I do love Barolo Chinatos myself, and I think they are an excellent choice for digestif, but if somebody is looking for something closer to a typical Kabinett-level sweetness, a fortified wine clocking in at full-on dessert-level sweetness IMO doesn’t really fit the bill at all, based on the parameters given by the OP.

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In the southwest of Germany, trollinger (aka sciava and vernatsch in northeast Italy) is sometimes made in a halbtrocken (off dry) style. Those can work with cured meats. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in the U.S., though.

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Indeed.

You see them very rarely even in Germany outside Württemberg, though!

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Brachetto the safest suggestion, as it’s fairly consistent in style. If you like the style of Moscato d’Asti, but are looking for something similar that is red, then Brachetto d’Acqui (or Birbet from Roero) is it. For me it’s a super pick-me-up in aperitivo hour, the sweetness, fizz, and acidity are a great help if energy is flagging. With food? Probably too sweet for me, but I’m sure it can work with some food and it does have bubbles and acidity, which always helps.

Plenty of commercial reds that are lighter in alc and also semi-sweet (because although most outside of wine hobbyists) claim to like dry reds, in reality they enjoy some residual sweetness). More difficult to recommend on, as it’s outside of my preferred drinking.

Also worth considering whether Rosés would hit the spot for you (or perhaps even better Chiarettos and other similar light reds). That should open up a lot more options, whilst still avoiding the more commercial / manipulated end of the market.

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