Hi Caroline. In a word: no. Sugar in grapes is converted into alcohol by yeast, generally leaving less than a trace in the wine itself. The idea that wine contains a lot of sugar is a falsehood that’s nonetheless gotten some traction of late. I’m not sure why. The one exception to my “no” is dessert wine which is intended to be sweet. There are four main different ways that sweet wine can be made—the simplest of which is to stop the fermentation before all of the sugar in the grapes is converted to alcohol. If you happen to have a copy of The Wine Bible, I described the ways sweet wine can be made in detail there.

—Karen