What is Dry White Wine

We all know that there are basically two types of wine known as red wine and white wine. Both red and white wine are made from grapes of a particular region, which is then fermented and aged. Most wines that are expensive or vintage are savored with appetizers, main course and even desserts. A good wine from a certain year of grapes from a particular region become quite well-known and coveted due to their unique taste and aroma. However, there is a category of wine that is used exclusively for cooking and is known as table wine or cooking wine. Such wines need not be very expensive wines with complex aroma or flavor since this will be lost in the cooking process.

What Does Dry White Wine Mean

If you have ever attempted to cook gourmet food at home, you must have come across recipes that ask you to add dry white wine while deglazing a pan or making dishes like risotto and shrimp scampi. So what is dry white wine and how is it different from plain white wine? Dry white wine is a kind of white wine made from grapes that has been fermented long enough so that all the natural sugar in it is eliminated. This makes the alcohol content in the wine quite higher than in general white wine and also the taste is not as sweet. This type of dry white wine does not taste same as white wine since the sweetness and depth of flavor is not there. Dry white wine is ideal for cooking since it does not contain any sugar. Sugar in the wine when added to a recipe and cooked, will caramelize with heat from the pan or oven, causing the dish to change color as well as taste.

We all know that when sugar caramelizes, it leaves a dark golden color along with a more intense sweet flavor. The white wine which contains a high amount of sugar, will also caramelize in the same way and the residual alcohol will cook off. This will give the dish an intense sweetness and a slightly golden brown color, which will change the flavor of the dish. Some dishes say a creamy risotto will be ruined in this way. So one needs to use dry white wine for cooking, only when the recipe calls for it. Some popular dry white wine varieties are Sauvignon Blanc, German Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio. The most famous dry white wines come from France and Germany.

Using Dry White Wine for Cooking

Dry white wine is used in different ways in cooking. Sometimes it is used as a marinade for meat and poultry, as a flavoring liquid for cooking sauces and for deglazing a pan. When dry white wine is used for deglazing a pan and for making a sauce, it is important that you let the alcohol in it evaporate and cook completely before adding other ingredients. Otherwise your dish will have a dominant flavor and aroma of alcohol which will ruin the dish. For making sauces and reductions, the dry wine should be reduced slowly over medium heat. If you do this on too high a flame, the pan and the wine will catch fire due to the high alcohol content in the wine.

Now that you know how dry white wine is used, you can cook your favorite seafood dinner by using it. If you are looking for a substitute for dry white wine, then dry white vermouth is a good bet. Always use a good quality dry white wine and experiment with different dry white wine types for cooking to enhance the flavor of the dish.