Yes, chaptalization involves adding sugar during the winemaking process. No, chaptalization does not make wine sweeter. The reason: when and why the sugar is being added. It may seem contradictory at first, but it’s one of the basics for wineries and winemakers. Fermentation is when yeast turns sugar into alcohol. In chaptalization, sugar is added before fermentation strictly to give yeast more on which to feed, which drives up the alcohol by volume (ABV) but does not increase the sweetness of the wine; after fermentation, the sugar is gone. Let’s get into specifics.
What Chaptalization Is (and What it Isn’t)
So, what is chaptalization in wine making? Chaptalization is the process of increasing the alcohol by volume (ABV) of wine. Where it gets confused with adding sweetness is understandable: to increase the ABV of wine, beet or cane sugar is added to unfermented grape juice to be used as extra fuel for yeast. When the yeast feeds on the additional sugar, the ABV goes up, and the sweetness of the added sugar dissipates. In fact, during chaptalization, almost all added sugar is consumed by the yeast during fermentation, which is why the final product has a higher ABV but is not sweeter.
With chaptalization, you can think of it this way: the sugar is not being added to the wine; the sugar is being fed to the yeast.
What Actually Makes Wine Sweet: Residual Sugar Explained
Residual sugar is the natural grape sugar (glucose and fructose) left behind at the end of fermentation and is the primary source of sweetness in wine.
In chaptalization, sugar is added before fermentation, meaning the yeast consumes all the sugar. Residual sugar is the sugar that remains after fermentation. It’s this residual sugar that generates the actual sweetness of wine and can be manipulated by winemakers to balance flavors and create specific types of wine.
Yeast will consume sugar until the yeast dies or is removed, at which point whatever sugar is left is the residual sugar. Winemakers can control the removal of yeast and thus the amount of residual sugar in a number of ways.
Winemaking Techniques that Create Sweetness Without Chaptalization
There are several methods winemakers can increase the sweetness of wine, all of which focus on residual sugar. These techniques range from how and when the grapes are harvested, through drying and freezing, to using different methods of fermentation.
- Late-harvest grapes sit on the vine for 1-2 months after the normal harvest. Sometimes referred to as extended hang time, this allows the grapes to dehydrate, which concentrates the natural sugars and acids of the grapes. The higher concentration of natural sugars results in higher potential ABV and residual sugar, which brings up the sweetness of the wine.
- Drying grapes achieves a similar effect as late-harvesting grapes, dehydrating and withering the grapes to increase the concentration of the natural sugars, which, much like extended hang time, leads to the coveted residual sugar.
- Freezing grapes removes moisture in a different way: by harvesting and pressing the grapes while frozen. Leaving grapes on the vine until the first freeze forces the grapes to be pressed while frozen, which leaves the water in the grapes while the natural sugary grape juice flows out. This is how ice wine (or eiswein) is made.
Fermentation methods can be modified to ensure more residual sugar is left behind, usually by killing or removing yeast before all the sugar has been consumed. Cold shocking, which drops the temperature below 41° F (5° C), kills or stalls the yeast, ending fermentation. Fortification (adding spirits during fermentation) also kills the yeast. Filtration uses filters to get rid of the yeast, which also ceases fermentation.
Find Wholesale Sugar at Bremer Ingredients for Wine Chaptalization
If you’re looking for the bulk sugar you need to increase the ABV (but not the sweetness) of your wine through chaptalization, we invite you to contact us today to talk about how our immensely dedicated customer-service team can help you get what you need when you need it.