Crossword Genius

Failure around description of wine (4-3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

demi-sec

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'wine' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'failure around description' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'around' could be 'c' (abbreviation for 'circa') and 'c' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'demise' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

'of' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for demi-sec that I've seen before include "(Of wine) medium dry" , "Medium-sweet" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.