Guest guest Posted November 6, 2009 Report Share Posted November 6, 2009 This question comes up once in awhile but I can't find the answer in any archives. Which countries are not allowed to add sugar to wine (and is the issue any sugar or just sugar added after fermentation)? Mara once wrote that wine is OK from California, Italy, Portugal, Australia, and " one other country. " Does anyone remember the complete list of legal countries? And I'm not sure how to draw the line between " sweet " and " dry " wines, since sweet wines from legal countries also are not allowed. Debbie T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 6, 2009 Report Share Posted November 6, 2009 Hi Debbie, This is what I save in my computer regarding wine discusion on this group. From what I remember was Tom, the specialist in wines posts: When wine grapes are picked, their sugar content is in the 20 to 25% range. That is VERY sweet. During harvest, everything is sticky from the sugar. The juice is so sweet that you wouldn't want to drink very much of it. Yet that juice is SCD legal because all of the sugar is simple sugar. The fermentation process turns sugar into alcohol at the rate of 2 to 1. If the fermentation goes to completion, you have no sugar left and a dry wine. If the grapes started out at 22% sugar, you'd have 11% alcohol if all of the sugar was converted to alcohol. It is possible to stop the fermentation early so as to leave residual sugar. In the above case, stopping the fermentation at 2% residual sugar would leave a somewhat sweet wine with 10% alcohol. That wine would be SCD legal. The high price sweet white wines are from grapes picked later with much higher sugar content. The German Spätlese designation is an example. Starting with so much extra sugar, they can be made with a higher level of residual sugar. Again, these would be SCD legal. The problem comes because sugar can be added if the grape sugars weren't high enough at harvest. The added sugar (sucrose) wouldn't be SCD legal. But that wouldn't be a problem if the wine is fermented until it is dry. With no sugar left, we don't really care what kind of sugar was in the juice. But if it is stopped early to make a non-dry wine, then some of that residual sugar would be sucrose. There is a misconception that sweet wines are made by adding sugar to dry wines. While it would be possible to do that, I don't think that is common. Instead, the fermentation is stopped early as I described above. The practice of adding sugar is called chaptalization. It is illegal in some places such as California, Italy, Spain, and Australia. Even where legal, it is less likely to be done in warm climates and more likely in cool climates. The safe choice is dry wines. Since they have no residual sugar, you know they are safe. But sweet wines can be SCD legal. But it is harder to know for sure which ones are legal. Choosing a wine from California, Italy, Spain, or Australia would be safe. For other wines, you can contact the winery and ask.. The government regulations require very strict recordkeeping of everything added to the wine. You can't really know about a wine just by name. Different regions and different winemakers produce according to custom and personal preference. For example, the riesling grape is typically made into a dry wine in the Alsace region of France, but a non-dry wine in Germany. A local winery here makes 2 different Rieslings, one dry and one fairly sweet. Both are legal. And both are quite good. I've been growing wine grapes commercially since the mid-70s and have made wine myself in the past. Tom " RamonaUC since 2006SCD May 2007 2009/11/6 debbietenenbaum This question comes up once in awhile but I can't find the answer in any archives. Which countries are not allowed to add sugar to wine (and is the issue any sugar or just sugar added after fermentation)? Mara once wrote that wine is OK from California, Italy, Portugal, Australia, and " one other country. " Does anyone remember the complete list of legal countries? And I'm not sure how to draw the line between " sweet " and " dry " wines, since sweet wines from legal countries also are not allowed. Debbie T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 8, 2009 Report Share Posted November 8, 2009 Thanks very much for re-posting this! It's a great explanation. Debbie T > > Hi Debbie, > > This is what I save in my computer regarding wine discusion on this group. > From what I remember was Tom, the specialist in wines posts: > > > When wine grapes are picked, their sugar content is in the 20 to 25% range. > > That is VERY sweet. During harvest, everything is sticky from the sugar. The > > juice is so sweet that you wouldn't want to drink very much of it. Yet that > > juice is SCD legal because all of the sugar is simple sugar. > > > > The fermentation process turns sugar into alcohol at the rate of 2 to 1. If > > the fermentation goes to completion, you have no sugar left and a dry wine. > > If the grapes started out at 22% sugar, you'd have 11% alcohol if all of the > > sugar was converted to alcohol. > > > > It is possible to stop the fermentation early so as to leave residual sugar. > > In the above case, stopping the fermentation at 2% residual sugar would > > leave a somewhat sweet wine with 10% alcohol. That wine would be SCD legal. > > > > The high price sweet white wines are from grapes picked later with much > > higher sugar content. The German Spätlese designation is an example. > > Starting with so much extra sugar, they can be made with a higher level of > > residual sugar. Again, these would be SCD legal. > > > > The problem comes because sugar can be added if the grape sugars weren't > > high enough at harvest. The added sugar (sucrose) wouldn't be SCD legal. But > > that wouldn't be a problem if the wine is fermented until it is dry. With no > > sugar left, we don't really care what kind of sugar was in the juice. But if > > it is stopped early to make a non-dry wine, then some of that residual sugar > > would be sucrose. > > > > There is a misconception that sweet wines are made by adding sugar to dry > > wines. While it would be possible to do that, I don't think that is common. > > Instead, the fermentation is stopped early as I described above. > > > > The practice of adding sugar is called chaptalization. It is illegal in some > > places such as California, Italy, Spain, and Australia. Even where legal, it > > is less likely to be done in warm climates and more likely in cool climates. > > > > The safe choice is dry wines. Since they have no residual sugar, you know > > they are safe. But sweet wines can be SCD legal. But it is harder to know > > for sure which ones are legal. Choosing a wine from California, Italy, > > Spain, or Australia would be safe. For other wines, you can contact the > > winery and ask.. The government regulations require very strict > recordkeeping > > of everything added to the wine. > > > > You can't really know about a wine just by name. Different regions and > > different winemakers produce according to custom and personal preference. > > > > For example, the riesling grape is typically made into a dry wine in the > > Alsace region of France, but a non-dry wine in Germany. A local winery here > > makes 2 different Rieslings, one dry and one fairly sweet. Both are legal. > > And both are quite good. > > > > I've been growing wine grapes commercially since the mid-70s and have made > > wine myself in the past. > > > > Tom " > > Ramona > UC since 2006 > SCD May 2007 > > 2009/11/6 debbietenenbaum > > > > > > > This question comes up once in awhile but I can't find the answer in any > > archives. Which countries are not allowed to add sugar to wine (and is the > > issue any sugar or just sugar added after fermentation)? Mara once wrote > > that wine is OK from California, Italy, Portugal, Australia, and " one other > > country. " Does anyone remember the complete list of legal countries? And I'm > > not sure how to draw the line between " sweet " and " dry " wines, since sweet > > wines from legal countries also are not allowed. > > > > Debbie T > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 8, 2009 Report Share Posted November 8, 2009 Now that you are armed with the " why " part of the puzzle, here is something to help you find the right product. I copied out of an earlier posting- I'm not sure who submitted it, so I can't give out the necessary kudos, but it is great info!!!..... -Joanna This website has a large database of wines: http://www.nbliquor.com/prod-search.asp If you put the name of your wine in you can see if it is listed and if the sugar content is " 00 " which would indicate that it is very dry and suitable for SCD. Also if you want you can enter sugar content of " 00 " and a type of wine (for example Austrailian Red Table wines) and get a list of wines to look for at your local liquor store. > > Thanks very much for re-posting this! It's a great explanation. > > Debbie T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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