10/03/05 Monday question - Chaptalization

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran and today we are answering questions from our email. Recently a listener wrote to ask, "Not long ago we attended a wine tasting and the instructor used a term that I was not familiar with. He said the red burgundy was most likely out of balance due to chaptalization. What does that mean?" The term chaptalization refers to a wine making process that was created by the Frenchman J.A. Chaptal. Chaptal was trying to remedy the situation that many grape growers encounter in northern climates when the grapes fail to reach the sugar levels necessary to make good wine. The lower temperatures and lack of sunshine prohibit the level of sugars necessary to ferment and reach the desired levels of alcohol. When the term chaptalization is used, it refers to Chaptal's method of adding sugar at the time of fermentation to boost the alcohol levels. The reference to the fact that the red burgundy that you tasted was out of balance due to chaptalization I can only guess was because very often wines from Burgundy are chaptalized and they may exhibit this in a sort of sweet and tart characteristic that may have been unbecoming in the wine that you tasted. Chaptalization is not a legal practice in some wine regions of the world but wine makers will find creative ways of boosting the sugar in a wine to compensate for the lack of natural sugar. Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot net and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.