On Sat, 18 Sep 2004, Martin wrote:

The Germans help their wine by adding sugar in a wet year.

All wine makers do. In France it is called chaptalisation.

I thought in some countries including Germany the use of sugar in
anything except plonk is banned?

No. The law in France, and I suspect in other countries too, is that, in
a bad year, winemakers are allowed to add just enough sugar to bring the
sugar level up to what it would normally be, so that the alcohol content
as defined in the Appellation can remain the same.

Doesn't mean, though, that the wine won't be thinner as regards flavour,
just that the alcohol content will be the same as normal.

David

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