Is it allowed to "sugar" wine at all - that is, to add sugar in any form? Well - this question is not so easy to answer and there are probably very few topics in wine making that are so often misunderstood. One must not imagine under any circumstances masked winemakers who sneak into their wine cellar at night and in the fog and illegally empty sugar sacks into the tanks and barrels.
A possible sugaring depends on the type of wine, the wine quality level, the stage of vinification and the type of sugar(dry sugar, wet sugar, grape must, RTK = rectified concentrated grape must). Climate/weather conditions of the wine-growing region concerned and the country-specific wine legislation must also be taken into account. For it is not irrelevant whether the wine comes from the cool north with often less sugar content or from the hot south with often abundant sugar but often less acidity in the berries.
The colloquially used, but rather negatively connotated and misleading terms "sugaring" or "sugaring" are understood to mean the addition of sugar in various forms at different stages of winemaking. However, there must be a distinction between the two terms regulated by EU regulations Enrich (added to grapes, grape must or wine to increase their alcoholic strength) and Sweetening (addition to the finished wine to increase the sugar content). Depending on the amount of residual sugar in the wine, the taste designations range from dry to sweet (see a list under sugar content).
Complete lists of the numerous vinification measures or cellar techniques, as well as the various types of wine, sparkling wine and distillate regulated by wine law are included under the heading "Vinification". Comprehensive information on wine law can be found under the keyword wine law.