In article >,
Dana Myers > wrote:
>>> Though adding sugar isn't legal in CA, adding concentrated grape
>>> juice is. Afterall, what's wine but fermented grape juice? Look
>>> for the blue plastic barrels outside winery production facilities...
>>
>> Interesting. I never noticed that in any of the wineries I have
>> visited, but then, I don't visit the big commercial operations
>> (why should I when I can buy their wine more cheaply at Costco?).
>
>It's not just the big commercial operations; small producers
>might do it, too. The goal isn't always to increase alcohol;
>the concentrate also adds color (at least one Wine Spectator
>"Wine of the Year" in recent history from a very small
>producer was rumored to have done exactly this).

I wonder if the difference can be tasted? For two reasons:

1. Wine is made from raw grapes, whereas concentrated grape juice is
(as far as I know) made from heated grape juice, which effectively
pasteurizes it and changes the flavor. Sort of like the difference
between fresh-squeezed orange juice and frozen concentrated orange
juice; the latter has been cooked, and tastes that way.

2. Concentrated grape juice (at least the frozen kind you buy in the
grocery store) is made from Concord grapes, which have a decidedly
different flavor than most wine varietals.

Maybe the concentrate is used only in blended wines? I can't see a
winemaker using it for varietal wines.

-A