Thanks Mike. I won't give up, I'm a persistent little bugger.
Jay, I'm still learning but I'll tell you what I know. The sweetness is determined by the amount of sugar in the wine after fermentation is done. That amount of sugar can be controlled or affected in 3 ways.
1. Load up with extra sugar to start with, then the yeast ferments the sugar until the alcohol level is toxic to the yeast and kills it. This one is a bit of a crap shoot because some yeast won't tolerate over 12% ABV but others will keep going to 18% ABV. The yeast that tolerates more alcohol will then give you a drier wine.
2. Start with extra sugar, then watch the fermentation proceed until the sugar drops to exactly where you want it based on the specific gravity, then kill the yeast to stabilize the wine.
3. Ferment it dry, meaning ferment all the sugar, then kill the yeast to stabilize the wine, then add sugar back to the desired sweetness.
#3 is done most often because it is the most controlled method from what I know. You can precisely control the ABV by controlling how much sugar you start with; you can ust sit and watch it ferment to dry; and you can precisely control the sweetness by adjusting the amount of sugar you add back.