Chaptalization, Is It Cheating?
What does the winemaker do when the juice needs more body or alcohol? One way to correct this problem is to add sugar to the must just before fermentation. This practice is called chaptalization, which is common in France and Germany, but not in California. Instead, California winemakers add grape concentrate. The purists mock the practice of chaptalization and refer to it as cheating.
What is Chaptalization
When natural grape sugars are not high enough to produce reasonable alcohol levels, chaptalization is utilized to attain the necessary sugar levels. Chaptalization is practiced when grapes do not fully ripen. This most commonly happens in cool weather regions like France or because of poor growing seasons. Moreover, if the year has had an insufficient number of sunny days to achieve mature grape ripening or when there has been an excess of rain. When used properly, chaptalization allows the production of full, rich wines with sufficient alcohol levels to give them balance.
Is it Important
Ask any experienced winemaker about factors that can come into play to make each year's harvest. Some years, the fruit will be fully ripe, bursting with flavor while other years the fruit seems like it takes forever to ripen, and the harvestable quantity diminished. Low-alcohol wines are prone to wine disorders and to infections by organisms that would otherwise be discouraged by adequate alcohol content.
You may agree that we should just let Mother Nature take its course with the grapes. However, winemakers feel that when the grapes are not ripe enough, they need a little help, and chaptalization is how they enhance the wine.
Contributor: WineDefintions Staff Writer