Sugars in wine as chaptalization solely in order to boost the alcohol content – chaptalization does not increase the "sweetness" of a wine. Glucose, along with fructose, is one of the primary sugars found in wine grapes. In wine, glucose tastes less sweet than fructose. It is a six-carbon sugar molecule derived from the breakdown of sucrose. At the beginning of the ripening stage there is usually more glucose than fructose present in the grape (as much as five times more) but the rapid development of fructose shifts the ratio to where at harvest there are generally equal amounts. Grapes that are over
Wine in China "materia medica" compiled in the late Han, states that grapes could be used to produce wine. In the Three Kingdoms era (220–280 AD), Wei emperor Cao Pi noted that grape wine "is sweeter than the wine made [from cereals] using ferments and sprouted grain. One recovers from it more easily when one has taken too much." Grapes continued to be grown in the following centuries, notably in the northwestern region of Gansu, but were not used to produce wine on a large scale. Wine thus remained an exotic product known by few people. Not until the Tang dynasty (618–907) did