I have red that I bottled in 2003 and it turned out very dry. A little too dry for me, so I sweeten it at the table.
The last half dozen times that I've cracked a bottle I have experimented with using Karo Corn Syrup instead of sugar (since it's already disolved).
I think I like it better than normal sugar. Seems to mellow the wine acids along with sweetening it... my impression is that the end result is smoother than with just sugar. I see it contains two kinds of corn syrup, salt, and vanilla. The mellowing effect may be due to the samll amout of salt... using a salt water dip really helps make an acidy Pineapple more enjoyable.
Does anyone else out there use Corn Syrup? I like it's effect enough that I'm contemplating using it to re-sweeten before bottling, but the presence of salt and vanilla seems a bit scary since I don't know whether this will end up doing something way funky to the wine over the long haul.
What about the difference between sucrose & fructose? Corn is fructose, right?
What about these other ingredients?