Stevia is a natural sweetner made from the leaf of a shrub in the sunfower family native to Paraguay. Although there is some contraversy over the use of Stevia as a food additive in the United States, many countries have been using Stevia as a sweetner for years. My research into Stevia shows Japan as the pioneer in the Stevia Industry.So how does this apply to wine. Well, many winemakers like to condition or sweeten their wine after fermentation. Normally, this is done by adding treated sugar or wine conditioner. The reason for the treating is to prevent further bottle fermentation which results in sediment and possible cork popping. The later being a frequent occurance in my wine cellar as I refuse to use sulfites of any kind.
So back to Stevia and winemaking. Aside from being up to 300 times as sweet as sugar, Stevia is heat stable, pH stable, and non-fermentable. Yes you read right, Stevia will not ferment. For that reason, Stevia is an excellent way to sweeten or condition your wine post fermentation. For those into completely natural winemaking, you could also use Honey or even Agave Nectar for the fermentation of your wine.
Although I'm sure this post will have those traditional grape only wine makers shaking in their boots, I feel there is nothing wrong with a little experimentation. In fact, many award winning wines use Stevia as a final conditioner. In my experiment I plan to use less fermentable sugars and ferment my wine to complete dry. From there, I will let the wine settle, rack and filter accordingly before I add the Stevia to taste. I know this is far from traditional, but it is worth a try and chemical free. I think I will even buy some Stevia Plants or seeds to keep total control on the ingredients in my chemical free Stevia sweetened Wine and Mead.
Here are some Stevia related links. If you purchase from the links here, I get paid a small portion. This helps pay for my playing around with wine and ends up getting more stuff posted on this blog.
