low Sg in red wine kits....aroma

Hi.... I too have noticed low SG in red wine kits.....as alcohol vapor would carry with it aroma, would it not follow that if you jacked up the Sg a bit then one might get a tad more nose from a kit wine that already suffers in this regard?.....last month I added enough sugar to put a Grand Cru (Hearty Red Zin) up to 12.5-13%....i do notice a lot of lees though....perhaps a bit more than normal.....i expect i'll lose 2-3 bottles from the looks of it.....andy j.

What was the kit? Was it a good quality kit or a cheapo kit? A good quality kit should have enough SG to yield 12.5 to 13.5% alcohol in a red wine kit. Sugar is not going to add to the nose of a wine. That comes from the fruit. The only thing that will materially effect SG is sugar and alcohol. My guess is that the reason the SG was low is that there was too little fruit and too much water in the kit, hence too little nose. Extra sugar would just give it more of an alcohol kick if it is fermented out or make it sweeter which would perhaps bring out some fruit flavors if it is not.

Ray