Brazilian legislation does not establish limits for the total dry extract of wines, but it establishes maximum values for the ratio between weight alcohol and reduced dry extract. Until 1985 the total dry extract was determined by weighting the dry residue (direct method), which caused several problems for the Brazilian legislation mainly for red table wines. From 1986, the total dry extract was measured by indirect method, and the legislation was modifica by increasing the parameters of the ratio between weight alcohol and reduced dry extract. This allowed that the majority of wines were in agreement with the legislation. This work had the objective to compare these two methods for dry vinifera wines, dry and sweet current wines; red, white and rose. Results showed that the indirect method originated significant higher volves (21 g/l in average) for the total dry extract. However, the effect was not significant for sweet wines. Based on the values observed for total dry extract in wines using the offïcial method, there is no justification for the current maximum limits been used for the weight alcohol and reduced dry extract ratio.
chemical composition; enology; wine analyses
