Glossary · Fermentation
Chaptalisation
Also written sugaring, sugar addition. Each is a name for the same thing, which is why none of them has an entry of its own.
Definition
Adding sugar to juice before fermentation to raise the eventual alcohol. It increases strength without changing acid or tannin, so a heavily chaptalised cider can taste thin for its strength.
- Subject
- Fermentation
- Also written
- sugaring, sugar addition
In more detail
Rules differ sharply by jurisdiction and by product category: French AOC cider does not permit it, some national cider definitions do, and exceeding a strength limit can move the product into a different tax class. Where it is used well it is used modestly, to bring a weak season’s juice up to a workable strength.
Where this is covered properly
The glossary defines; these pages explain. Each is described in its own words.
Related terms
Terms that belong to the same part of the subject, or that this one is routinely confused with.
Chemistry
Potential alcohol
The alcoholic strength a juice would reach if all its fermentable sugar were converted, estimated from the starting gravity.
Chemistry
Specific gravity
The density of a liquid relative to water at the same temperature. In cider it is the routine measure of dissolved sugar before fermentation and of progress during it.
Cider
Apple wine
Cider fermented to a strength closer to table wine, usually 9% ABV or more, generally by adding sugar to the juice before fermentation.
Law and labelling
Made-wine
A United Kingdom excise category for fermented alcoholic drinks that are neither beer, cider, perry nor wine of fresh grapes. A cider that fails the juice-content or strength tests is taxed as made-wine.
Cider
Cyser
Apple juice fermented with a substantial addition of honey, sitting between cider and mead. The honey raises the starting gravity and contributes its own aromatics.
Where to go next
- Cider glossary — The whole vocabulary, by subject and A–Z.
- Comparisons — Terms that are only really clear when set against the thing they are not.
- Search — Finds terms by their aliases and by their spellings in other languages.
Sources
What this page rests on. Where a source is marked as registered rather than read, CiderHQ is recording that the body is authoritative on the subject without claiming to have worked through the document itself. See our evidence policy for what each state means.
Institut national de l’origine et de la qualité (INAO)
INAO · regulator · passage verified 2026-08-24
The Cidre Pays d’Auge cahier des charges was read in full on 2026-08-24, in the version homologated by arrêté of 17 January 2026 and published in the Journal officiel on 21 January. That qualification is not decoration. A revision adopted by the Comité national on 10 September 2025 is currently under the procédure nationale d’opposition, is clearly marked as not prejudging the final text, and specifies carbonation differently from the text in force — as grams of CO2 per litre rather than as a minimum pressure in bar. A summary citing the draft would have put a figure on the page that no producer is held to. CiderHQ records the operative text and says which one it is.
The New Cider Maker’s Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for Craft Producers
Claude Jolicoeur, Chelsea Green Publishing, 2013. ISBN 9781603584739 · reference work · bibliographic record verified, not opened 2026-08-25
Bibliographic record verified on 2026-08-25 against the Open Library union catalogue: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2013, ISBN 9781603584739, one edition recorded. That establishes the citation points at a real book in a stated edition, which is what a citation needs and is all it establishes. No copy was opened and nothing is quoted from it. The book itself is in print and not digitised in any open collection; where CiderHQ needs a figure from this territory it uses an accessible research source instead and says so.
Alcoholic Products Technical Guide, section 2 — alcoholic products (formerly Excise Notice 162)
HM Revenue & Customs · regulator · passage verified 2026-08-24
What may be called cider or perry for UK duty purposes. The substantive text now lives in section 2 of the Alcoholic Products Technical Guide rather than in the notice itself, and the passages below were read there. The widely repeated "35% juice" figure checks out — but note two things the figure alone hides: it is a tax threshold rather than a quality standard, and concentrate and dilution both count towards it.