Xylitol

The xylitol home page says its a carbohydrate. So I suppose it might ferment ?

If you want to sweeten with a non-caloric sweetener in the bottle, I would recommend Splenda. Another option is to sweeten it at the time of consumption. I have had good results adding nutrasweet to the bottle just before pouring. Of course, you could do this with whatever your sweetener of choice might be.

Morning, I have considered Splenda but was concerned about the filler in it causing the wine to be cloudy. While I don't mind sweetening my wine in the glass, I just think it would be better (especially for friends and family) if these wines were already sweetened. But I am in no rush at this point and will see what else I can discover before I start my "experiment". Sure wish Splenda came as a liquid!!! Time to bug them again. JAM

JoAnn,

Search the archives, as recently Jack K and I had a discussion about the status of his tests with these new sugar substitutes. To summarize, its too early to tell regarding the long term stability of the wines when using these. I believe Jacks tests are just now at 6 months. So we'll have to wait a few years for a better idea.

Now short term.... I have sweetened prior to serving using splenda and have found no problems.

I was considering splenda some time ago. I contacted the splenda people and they did not recommend it. It is made from sugar and can revert to fermentable sugar if left in the wine long enough. If you do use it, be sure to stabilize the wine as if you were using sugar.

If you are not comfortable with sweetening the wine in the glass for friends (I understand that and agree) then you might sweeten it in a carafe and then serve it that way.

Ray

My understanding is that it is sugar with an attached molecule. When ingested in passes through the body before it separates so it is not digested. But, given time, it will separate and in wine it would then ferment.

Ray

JoAnn,

Instead of experimenting with the wine and maybe ruining it, try putting a teaspoon of xylitol into a half-cup of warm water. Stir and add some yeast, then check to see if it's fermenting a few hours later.

Paul

It won't ferment in that short of time. But sitting for some months in a bottle with an acidic environment will free up the sugar and it will begin to ferment.