Back Sweetening question

[Lamarkeiko]

I am ready to bottle my first batch of wine. Last fall I started a batch of wild grape wine from grapes I picked near my home. The wine has been ageing in a 3 gal. & 1 gal carboy. I have racked three times since last November, and the SG has measured at 0.992 each time I racked. I bottled the 1 gal. carboy and left it dry. I believe this wine tasted fairly well as dry, but I want to do the 3 gal carboy as semi-sweert. Not too long ago I bottled a gallon of hard cider, and used Xylitol as a sweetner as recommended by the recipe. This turned out very well. I have not read anywhere about using Xylitol for back sweetening grape wine. Can I use this with good results, or is sugar or something else a better recommended sweetener? Thanks for any help.

Lamar

 

[GreginND]

You could use xylitol but I find that sugar tastes better. Just make sure that if you sweeten it with fermentable sugar that you also add potassium sorbate to inhibit yeast reproduction and keep your sulfite levels up.

 

[richmke]

I'm not a fan of artificial sweeteners. Since there is alcohol in the drink, there is little benefit to keeping the calories/sugars down.