...as in dry wine, not sweet. Is there a synonym

yes, here are some: sweetness of wine

-joe (sec) friday

Ay! Ouch! Tsuwm! From under the Pont Neuf in Paris the foreigners here ( even though in rags sharing their rouge sec )
are a little bit touched, confused and almost insulted that you simply annex foreing language words as synonyms.

Is sec synonym to dry, and are asciutto, trocken, droog and brut synonyms? Are you not not giving a link to simple translations? I'm shocked out of my peaceful summersleep.
and my good cut down on endeavors'plan

I'm not sure , but it seems fishy to me.

Admittedly, this is a question which, in other threads, about other words, I might very well be asked myself, but... what's wrong with "dry" ?

Nothing, unless you like your wine "sweet".

I understand Dale's question as:"Why do we call unsweet wine "dry" and do we do not call sweet wine "wet".
It is a bit strange, come to think it. "Dry" for a liquid.

And why don't we call unsweet wine "sour"?
Because dry wine can be sour, but then it is bad wine.
To me dry is fine.

doesn't dry refer to the astringineity of the wine?

tsu, thank you for the link. Bran, Hydra, I was writing the following post for Realbeer.com and wanted to avoid using "dry" twice in succession

Available at Costco (at least ours, Victorville, CA), “Brewer’s Box,” six each of four Pyramid brews from Seattle, Portland, or Berkeley

Curve Ball–Seasonal kölsch-style ale. Tasty though somewhat tame, the more discriminating devotee might detect the “slight herbal notes,” calling it instead subtle. Also it’s a bit dry for my taste. Although I find a little sweetness crucial to overall satisfaction, many if not most Americans lean to sec, trocken, secco, asciutto, tør, ξηρός, seco, kuiva, droog or torrt and so you should try it and report back

Hefe Wezen ale–I don’t like many brews of this style where I find the wheat fraction intrusive. In this one, however, it’s subtle and I like it

Apricot Weizen ale–Smells and tastes of--guess what--Apricots. The purist may not like flavored brews, but I’m working on it

Thunderhead IPA–A fine brew typical of its genre

astringent:
1. Sour or bitter in taste.
2. Tending to draw together or constrict soft organic tissue; "astringent cosmetic lotions"

Still thinking about the "why" of "dry" for non sweet wine. it might be this: (but may be no news to anyone)

Dry: used as in absence of...

From Merriam Webster:
l4 obsolete : involving no bloodshed or drowning <I would fain die a dry death -- Shakespeare>
5 a : marked by the absence of alcoholic beverages <a dry party> b : prohibiting the manufacture or distribution of alcoholic beverages <a dry county>
6 : served or eaten without butter or margarine <dry toast>
7 a : lacking sweetness : SEC <dry champagne> b : having all or most sugar fermented to alcohol <a dry wine> <dry beer>

Bran: Thank you for that. Note in passing that by exercising an interesting form of denial, lovers of the brew seldom refer to a beer as "sweet." That just simply isn't a macho term, as everybody knows how virile and masculine are those who prefer theirs dry

...though "light" is apparently ok

I thought dry wines tend to be less thirst quenching, leaving your mouth feeling dryer after drinking them than sweet wines do.

like I said. astringent.

Zed: That's a good guess. Myself, I find the dry beer less satisfying although I can't testify to a feeling of actual dryness