Wine improvement

Formerly used term (also improvement of the vintage, improvement of the vintage in order to increase alcohol) for ; see there.

Term for the addition of sugar in various and only authorised forms to fresh grapes, grape must, partially fermented grape must, young wine (not yet fully fermented) and wine. The terms alcohol increase, improvement, chaptalisation or vintage improvement are also used for this. 17 to 19 grams of sugar per litre of wine increases the alcohol content by approx. 1% vol. However, the process has nothing to do with sweetening a wine (increasing the residual sugar) or spriting (adding alcohol to the finished wine). The aim is to increase the natural alcohol content in the wine by fermenting the additional sugar.

Maximum limits

The EU wine market organisation (CMO), which came into force in August 2009, has resulted in amended guidelines. The maximum limits vary depending on the...

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Roman Horvath MW
Domäne Wachau (Wachau)

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Wine improvement

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Maximum limits

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