I learned a new skill today!

I was just talking to a friend here who mentioned that he makes "moonshine"... I will not put the name bc apparently this is illegal. However, I never stopped to consider how fermented alcoholic beverages were made. After combining this with what I have learned from B at OSU about wine-making, I think I know how to create improved, sweeter wine. Do I drink wine? No, not really, although it is really good for the heart and I have often considered having a glass of red once and a while for the benefits of all the heart-healthy antioxidants... but one thing I do like to do is: make stuff and sell it. Because making money via creative enterprise is fun!

So here's my idea. After discussing with my friend, I discovered that to make non-gritty wine you would mash grapes into a cheese cloth. Then you would let a mixture of water and grape juice sit in a nice barrel with your cheesecloth of grape skin floating in there, and every day you turn the cheesecloth as you add sugar. Now, that brings to mind a few questions for me:

How does the sugar dissolve? I am assuming part of the fermentation process allows it to dissolve. In OR they don't use sugar, just very very concentrated grape juice. Which brings me to my next point-- I think this can be done naturally.

The sugar content of dried fruits and over ripe fruits is markedly higher than the sugar content in "straight off the vine fruits." I would guess this is because the drupe is preparing to be released from the plant and needs to best emphasize its means of survival by being eaten by an animal and scarified or just having lots of accessible glucose for the cotelydon to grow. In any case, why not just skip that step and work from raisins? There is obviously such thing as "prune juice"-- I would think raisins, perhaps processed in a food processor, could be "juiced" with other raisins floating within a cheesecloth. Starting with a more concentrated liquid would probably work well. I will maybe experiment with this-- it would be curious to see if it actually increased the sweetness of the process... if it works, who knows, a new consumer product? :)