Wine Processing Table

I have been wondering about whether I need to add more sugar to my Pinot Grigio to make it more robust; that is to say higher alcohol content. I want my wine to burn a bit and be a little astringent.

This table is lifted in whole cloth from beekmanwine.com . The original source is truthinwine.com .

Beekman rages about how the measured alcohol content is actually lower than the government standard, and that the additive levels are too high. I would want to know more about how the tests were run before I would say that. I am certain that the large mega-wineries know their wine content to the hundreth place, and that there is no bureaucrat there that wants to go to jail or wreck the reputation of the company by watering down the wine.

	Alcohol	Alcohol	Sugar	Sulfites	Polyphenols	Catechins	Resveratrol
	Actual %	Labeled	%	ppm.	mg/gram	mg/175g	mg/liter
RED WINES TESTED
Yellow Tail Merlot	11.1	13.5	0.5	103	3.26	102.4	2.00
Rosemount Shiraz	10.9	14	0.2	104	3.22	84.7	2.01
Columbia Crest Merlot/Cab	10.8	13	0	99	3.20	93.6	0.60
Clos du Bois Merlot	10.8	13	0	140	3.24	93.1	2.28
Blackstone Merlot	10.7	13	0.4	152	3.05	116.9	1.11
Beringer Founders Cab	10.5	13.3	0	198	3.62	83.6	0.39
BV Coastal Cab	10.5	13	0	122	3.40	69.5	0.43
Rodney Strong Cabernet	10.5	13.8	0	140	3.76	77.3	1.19
Concha y Toro Merlot	10.3	13	0.4	231	2.77	78.4	5.95

	Alcohol	Alcohol	Sugar	Sulfites	Polyphenols	Catechins	Resveratrol
	Actual %	Labeled	%	ppm.	mg/gram	mg/175g	mg/liter
WHITE WINES TESTED
Woodbridge Chardonnay	11.2	13.5	0	224	0.41	58.3	0.14
Fetzer Chard	11.1	13.5	0.4	184	0.39	39.8	0.11
Kendall Jackson VR Chard	11.0	13.5	0.6	201	0.48	26.4	0.22
Ch. St. Michelle Chard	10.8	13	0.1	208	0.40	39.5	0.09
Lindemans Bin 65 Chard	10.7	13.5	0.3	241	0.52	58.9	0.34
Vendange Chard	10.7	13	0.6	215	0.39	34.6	0.29
Corbett Canyon Chard	10.7	13	0.6	174	0.36	27.9	0.09
Glen Ellen Chard	10.6	13	0.5	154	0.30	27.9	0.09
E & J Gallo Chard	10.6	13.5	0.7	153	0.27	15.4	0.09
Duboueuf Francais Blanc	10.4	12	0	287	0.47	28.5	0.29
Sutter Home Chard	10.0	13	0.9	205	0.42	36.1	0.09
Bella Serra Pinot Grigio	9.7	12	0.3	308	0.34	13.5	1.66
Bolla Soave	9.7	12	0.2	199	0.30	9.8	0.16
Cavit Pinot Grigio	9.6	12	0.4	276	0.35	14.4	0.09
Almaden Mt. Chablis	9.4	11.5	0.8	233	0.33	7.3	0.09
Franzia Chablis (5L box)	8.8	11	1.1	212	0.35	10.2	0.09
Livingston Cellars Chablis	8.4	10.5	1.1	240	0.33	10.7	0.09
Carlo Rossi Chablis	8.2	10.5	1.6	172	0.32	15.2	0.09

My Pinot Grigio should turn out at about 9.5% which is almost on top of the Pinot Grigio in the table. This does not include any alcohol that is already in the grape juice, which must be measurable. Based on this I will probably leave it alone.

Having said that I would have expected Pinot Grigio at 11-12%. I am a little tempted to add some apple juice concentrate for some fruity flavor and a little extra uumph.