🍷 Partially fermented grape must

Partially fermented grape must is a special category of wine under European Union rules. It is grape juice in which fermentation has begun but is not yet finished. It is not yet wine, but no longer ordinary juice. There is one requirement: the alcohol content must be above 1 percent but less than three fifths of what would result if all the sugar were fermented. While fermentation goes on, yeast turns sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. So the drink is cloudy, sweet and slightly fizzy. Different countries have their own names for such drinks. In Germany and Austria it is Federweisser, in Slovakia and Czechia burčiak. They are sold in autumn, at harvest time, and drunk at once. They cannot be kept long: fermentation continues and the strength rises. The category also lists the grape must from which such a drink is made. Although the taste is sweet, there is alcohol in it, so it should be consumed with care.