Reply to: Are cheap wines really made from grapes?

[d000hg]

Did a bit of digging, and it seems the practice of adding sugar to the must up front is called "chaptalization".

And adding sugar at the end is called "back sweetening". Apparently it is usually more trouble than it is worth, because if one isn't careful it restarts fermentation!

They add a lot of chemical stabilisers and fermentation inhibitors to wine for this reason (among others), also to most beer that is force-carbonated. Back sweetening is pretty common in some products, cider being a good example - the natural state of cider is to be very dry and very strong.

[d000hg]

Poor wines in casseroles = poor casseroles. Always use the finest ingredients in any food.

OwlHoot - so far as I know, there are no sweetened wines in the way you imagine.

People call it cooking wine for a reason

What about Buckfast, isn't that sweetened?

[Eirikur]

You can pick up a decent wine in Germany for £3, all local. I've never drunk a good wine in the UK.

I studied for a year in Germany and used to go to "Weinfetes" that wine growers organised at their estates, you paid 5DEM at entry, they gave you a one litre glass (which you were allowed to keep and take home) and filled it up for 1DEM a go. Problem was how to get home, no one was in any state to drive and taxis wouldn't take you in fear you would vomit in the car from door to door

[DoctorStrangelove]

And if you run out of sugar, then diethylene glycol will stand in at a pinch.

As it did back in those dear dead days beyond recall.

[NotAllThere]

Interesting. So buy a bottle of cheap wine, add sugar and it may turn out well...

[OwlHoot]

Poor wines in casseroles = poor casseroles. Always use the finest ingredients in any food.

OwlHoot - so far as I know, there are no sweetened wines in the way you imagine.

Did a bit of digging, and it seems the practice of adding sugar to the must up front is called "chaptalization".

And adding sugar at the end is called "back sweetening". Apparently it is usually more trouble than it is worth, because if one isn't careful it restarts fermentation!

[NotAllThere]

Poor wines in casseroles = poor casseroles. Always use the finest ingredients in any food.

OwlHoot - so far as I know, there are no sweetened wines in the way you imagine.

[OwlHoot]

My lower limit is around £8, although I'll use cheaper ones in casseroles.

What's wrong with casseroles?

[OwlHoot]

When sugar is added, it's added to the grape must. This just makes the final product more alcoholic.

It's hard to find data, but I understand that four pints of 5% alcohol beer has fewer calories than half a pint of 40% whisky.

Sure, I'm not worried about sugar added at the start of the process, if this is mostly converted to alcohol during fermentation.

But I do have a major problem if so much is deliberately added that there will be significant excess sugar left over in the final product or, worse still, adding sugar at the end, with the aim in both cases being to convert sour gut rot into something superficially more palatable!

[NotAllThere]

My big worry is added sugar, because I really don't want to think I am drinking alcoholic equivalent of coca cola!

When sugar is added, it's added to the grape must. This just makes the final product more alcoholic.

It's hard to find data, but I understand that four pints of 5% alcohol beer has fewer calories than half a pint of 40% whisky.

[LondonManc]

You can pick up a decent wine in Germany for £3, all local. I've never drunk a good wine in the UK.

Camel Valley white wine. Excellent stuff from Cornwall. Their sparkling white is fantastic with a nice fruit de mer platter when you're down that part of the world too.

[Gibbon]

Try the Sainsburys TTTD one. Currently on Special at £6

That's about it's true worth!

[Gibbon]

My lower limit is around £8, although I'll use cheaper ones in casseroles.

[Gibbon]

This - I've tried St Emilion several times at various price levels and never liked it.

A man who doesn't like St Emilion Grand Cru, doesn't have a taste for life!

[NigelJK]

My fave red is Primitivo from Puglia,

Try the Sainsburys TTTD one. Currently on Special at £6