Chaptalization

As chaptalisation is called one after the French chemist Jean -Antoine Chaptal (1756-1832) named keller technical measure to increase the final alcohol content of wine by adding sugar to grape juice or must before or during fermentation.

This is also known as dry sugaring measure was originally intended to raise the quality of weak vintages in order to ensure the economic survival of the affected wineries. Be applied, it may by all European wine regions, there are laid down by the EU maximum permissible quantities that depend on the location of the vineyard. A maximum of between two and four percent alcohol by volume obtained by chaptalisation - depending on the growing zone of the EU, in the wine-growing region is located.

However, the national viticulture legislation in some Member States regulate the chaptalisation stricter than the EU does. In Germany only wines to the stage " quality wine " this measure may be subjected in quality wines, so for example cabinet or late harvest, the chaptalisation is not allowed.

In the wine-growing countries outside Europe chaptalisation is usually not allowed ( there usually more sunlight is available in the section ), but there especially the acidification is permitted and common. The acidification is a method to give the wine more acid. That's in Europe again, not necessary, or even prohibited in chaptalisierten wines.

Developed was the chaptalisation to compensate vintage variations, and in the 19th century, the winemaker talked like the " sun out of the bag ". In Germany, another method was around the middle of the 19th century by the Trier chemist Ludwig Gall under the name Naßzuckerung introduced after one after the other had in the vineyards on the Moselle many wineries as a result of several bad harvests viticulture give up. In this process of the wine, the sugar was added dissolved in water in order to dilute this treatment step, the acid. In Rhineland-Palatinate, this process was allowed until 30 June 1979.

The addition of sugar, grape must, grape concentrate or rectified concentrated grape must ( RTK) is referred to by the collective term enrichment or improvement.

All German wine-growing areas, with the exception of Baden, are part of the European wine-growing zone A and allowed to max. 24 grams of alcohol (equivalent to about 60 g of sugar ) per liter of must accumulate. The wine region of Baden is located in wine-growing zone B. There may only max. 20 grams of alcohol per liter of must be enriched.

  • Oenology
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