(PJ) - As many of us know, our tastes change over time. Some of this is related to experience, some to aging and some to sheer boredom. Even though I have a "sweet tooth" when it comes to desserts, over time I have become less enamored by sugar in food and drink.

My wife and I have noted that we now have a very low tolerance for sugar in wine, be it red or white. I am excluding from this discussion sweet dessert wines (yum!), which are, by design, a sweet finish meant for the end of the meal.

All too often, inexpensive white wines have a touch of sweetness that I find extremely off-putting. What many consumers don't realize is that a number of red wines also have a surprisingly high amount of sugar as well, particularly those priced less than $10.

Why is this? A dirty secret of wine-making is that a small amount of sugar in wine is often not perceived as such by many consumers. Winemakers also found that putting sugar into certain wines can mask some technical shortcomings of a wine and make it marketable.

Sugar in wine tends to soften the product on the taste profile, give it more body and thus make it more approachable. Sugar can mask otherwise bitter tannins that result from any number of sources — grape skins, stems, seeds and fermentation barrels. Lastly, more sugar can modify high acid levels.

The reverse is true, as well. High acidity can cover for high levels of sugar. Because Champagne — a high acid product — has sugar added to dry wine (a process called dosage), generally speaking, it has more sugar than still white wine.