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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Jean-Antoine Chaptal

It was only when I started taking the UC Davis Online Course that I became familiar with the term "chaptalization" which means adding sugar to grape must in order to increase the alcohol content in the resulting wine. But, in my total ignorance, it is only now when I'm reading Hugh Johnson's, Vintage: The Story of Wine (yes, still reading it, it is taking me awhile), where I came across Jean-Antoine Chaptal (June 4, 1756 – July 30, 1832) a French chemist who was the Minister of the Interior for Napoleon. Chaptal wrote a book called Traité sur La Vigne. At one time, Traité sur La Vigne, was to be found in every chateau's library where winegrowing was practiced. 1 When we use the word chaptalization, it recalls the impact that Chaptal had in France and winemaking.
In cross checking this with James M. Gabler's Wine into Words, Chaptal's work is indeed listed there, but very briefly. A little more research on the Internet gives much more information regarding Chaptal. I learned that he is one of 72 people whose name is inscribed on the Eiffel tower. 2
This is really weird and funny. My husband is much more of an Internet guru/surfer than I am and has been telling me about a U.S. ex-pat named Ray Walker who lives in Burgundy and is making wine. While I was looking up Chaptal, I stumbled upon this link: Jean-Antoine Chaptal, and it is Ray Walker's site. Clearly, surfer-hubby was here before me. Ray Walker has some interesting photos from pages in Chaptal's book on this link.

1. Hugh Johnson Vintage: The Story of Wine 1989 Edition
2. Wikipedia Information on Jean-Antoine Chaptal

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