Other Ways of Categorizing Wine. Table wine, also known as light wine, is classified as such because it contains less than 14 percent alcohol and no effervescence. These are the wines that people drink most of the time.
Dessert
wines contain more than 14 percent alcohol,
which is attained by adding alcohol during fermentation. These wines are
oftentimes sweet, but there are exceptions. In Europe, these wines are
officially known as LIQUEUR WINES.
You will also hear these wines referred to as FORTIFIED
because most are fortified with additional alcohol.
Sparkling wines are wines that contain bubbles, which are produced as a natural byproduct of fermentation and are bottled with the wine. CHAMPAGNE is a type of sparkling wine, named for the region in France from which it comes. There are strict naming restrictions that allow the use of word Champagne in only certain situations.
Alcohol content can be expressed in percentages or in degrees, for example
12.5 percent or 12.5 degrees. By law, wines produced or distributed in
the US are required to state the alcohol content on the wine label. They
do not, however, have to be specific and may say something like, "Alcohol
by Volume 11 to 14 percent".