French Alsace wines are labeled with the wine’s sweetness level. Until 2021, the appellation regulations only regulate the labeling of two very sweet wines, Vendange Tardive (sweet wine made from late harvested grapes) and Selection de Grains Nobles (sweet wine made from fruit infested with noble rot bacteria and hand selected), while The sweetness label is not required for the other grades.
But in 2021, the Alsace appellation issued a regulation on the labeling of sweetness, which requires that starting with the 2021 vintage, all Alsace wines, with the exception of late-picked dessert wines and grains-by-grains selections of sweet white rot, be labeled with a sweetness level to allow consumers to choose their favorite wines. It is also required that advertising and promotional materials, invoices and containers for wines from the appellation also indicate the sweetness of the wine. The terms for sweetness levels that can appear on Alsace wine labels:Dry (Sec): less than or equal to 4 g/L of sugar;Demi-sec: between 4 and 12 g/L of sugar;
Semi-sec: between 4 and 12 g/L of sugar;
Semi-sweet (Moelleux): sugar content between 12-45g/L;Semi-sweet (Moelleux): sugar content between 12-45g/L;
Sweet (Doux): more than 45g/L of sugar.Warm reminder: Stay tuned to LuFuture.com app for the latest market updates.
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