You may have seen Pearson’s Square (or Pearson Square)
mentioned in books on winemaking, but few sources actually
say what it’s for. This article shows examples and explains
how to use it.
Pearson’s Square handily solves the problem of how to mix
two solutions of known percentages without having to solve
sets of simultaneous equations. If you love algebra, you just
keep on solving those simultaneous equations. Pearson’s
Square is for the rest of us and it’s just as accurate. You can
do it on the back of an envelope.
Some practical applications for using Pearson’s Square are:
• Adding sugar syrup to increase the Potential Alcohol of a
must
• Sweetening a dry wine with sugar syrup
• Fortifying a wine by adding brandy or neutral grain
spirits to make Port
• Adjusting the Titratable Acidity of two wines by
blending.
• When blending two wines (for taste) you can find out the
alcohol content of the blend. You can probably figure
out how to back into this solution. It’s not covered in this
article.