This is the act of adding sugar to wine. This is generally not done to make the
wine sweeter; instead the sugar is added for the
yeast to turn to
alcohol. This is necessary for
wines grown in cool areas where the
grapes do not have a long enough growing season to accumulate a lot of
sugar.
Chapitalization allows the yeast more sugar to turn to alcohol, allowing low-sugared but flavorful grapes to be turned into wine with a high enough alcohol rating to please consumers.
Chapitalization is not allowed in some areas. Generally it is illegal in areas where it is never necessary, such as southern France. People here claim that it decreases the quality of the wine, but of course people living in the cooler areas disagree.