# Is red grape juice a substitute for red wine?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-red-grape-juice-a-substitute-for-red-wine/205208>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 2, 2003, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-red-grape-juice-a-substitute-for-red-wine/205208 "2003-10-02T21:06:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-red-grape-juice-a-substitute-for-red-wine/205208/22 "2003-10-03T22:40:49Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Cliffy \*  
> \*\*Note also that commercially-packaged grape juice will typically have a hell of a lot of added sugar, unlike wine. Even juices not fortified with sugar will have a lot more of it than wine, as the fermentation process converts sugar into alcohol and most red wines have no or almost no sugar left.  
> –Cliffy \*\*

Actually decent grapes have TONS of sugars all by themselves, especially wine grapes.

Its also usually the whites that you ferment out dry, a dry red is kinda…ugh…maybe its just me but it sounds like a horrible idea.

Then again I make Mead so I may be biased.

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**Author:** ![The\_Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Griffin)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-red-grape-juice-a-substitute-for-red-wine/205208/23 "2003-10-03T22:47:02Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by drachillix \*  
> \*\*Actually decent grapes have TONS of sugars all by themselves, especially wine grapes.
> 
> \*\*

Yes that’s because the sugar gets converted to alcohol by the yeast and the more sugar the grapes have the stronger the wine will be. Doesnt mean wines are gonna be really sweet.

I prefer dry red wines, cabernet sauvignon is actually my favourite, but I still prefer not to drink.

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**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\
**Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-red-grape-juice-a-substitute-for-red-wine/205208/24 "2003-10-04T04:30:13Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by drachillix \*  
> \*\*Uh by taking the"good stuff" out and replacing it with water you get a more diluted product, which will make for a rather poor juice.
> 
> My BIL works for a food processing plant that does alot of juice work and we have discussed many of the things about how its made, he never mentioned any steps like this? Do you have a cite for this? \*\*

Grape juice, like I said, is a poor juice to begin with. But, it has a lot of sugar, which comes in handy for the application I described. The final step in the process is usually evaporation, which concentrates the sugar solution somewhat.

Dow sells systems for juice ion exchange. [Read what they have to say about their handy ion exchange resins](http://www.dow.com/liquidseps/pc/special/ionex/grape.htm).

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**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\
**Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-red-grape-juice-a-substitute-for-red-wine/205208/25 "2003-10-04T04:36:02Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Max Torque \*  
> Dow sells systems for juice ion exchange. [Read what they have to say about their handy ion exchange resins](http://www.dow.com/liquidseps/pc/special/ionex/grape.htm). \*\*

I stand corrected.

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