# How would a dry to semi dry peach wine taste?



## olusteebus (May 28, 2012)

I like a fairly dry wine, Chardonnay is my favorite at this time. A good Sauvingnon blanc is good to me. I have enjoyed dry Riesling. 

Given that, how would you suggest I make a peach wine. I don't mind it if is say, semi dry.

Your opinion is greatly appreciated

Buster


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## Deezil (May 28, 2012)

You'll want a little sweetness, just to bring the fruity flavors out but it wont necessarily taste sweet. Just enough to bring it into balance, with the alcohol & acidity.
Bench trials 

I'd do a peach wine with no water. Or maybe just enough to invert the sugar 
Quarter & destone the fruit, then freeze it for like a week. Take it out of the freezer, let it thaw out, mash it up really good & hit it with pectic enzyme when its "soupy", but not room temp yet. Let the pectic enzyme work until its room temp. 

Peach is pretty pulpy so you might have to strain your sample to take SG / acidity tests. Probably have to raise the acidity a little (.60 - .70% TA), aim for a SG around 1.080. 

Golden raisins (1-2lbs per 5gal) or bananas (2-3lbs per lbs, like 1 bunch or less) will add some body to the wine. I've also favored honey lately but thats another story 
If you use raisins, theres a good bit of sugar in there - just dont "space it"

Cote de blanc yeast if you got it, i used 1116 as well, both good yeasts for whites. Keep the temp in the 60-65F area if ya can, for a cooler ferment to retain more of those fruity smells.

What'd i miss?...


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## Runningwolf (May 28, 2012)

Buster my response to you is I just made a peach wine I over sweetened a month ago and it's just too darn sweet. So what am I saying? I would start it out at about 1.002 and see how you like it and go from there. Only do about half a bottle so you have enough to taste but yet enough to take a hydrometer reading.


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## olusteebus (May 28, 2012)

Deezil, 

I am reading your wine log before I do it. I do plan on having little water like you suggest. I am not clear on how much bananas to use. How many pounds of bananas to say, a 5 gallon carboy? I may have another question on measuring acidity. I am going to have to search to see how I will do that as I am just starting out. 

Can I put all the fruit, including bananas in a straining bag while the peptic is doing it's thing and maybe drain it before pitching the yeast.

Runningwolf, I will do as you say, bench testing, starting at 1.002. I will initially make 6 gallons and test with about a half gallon over time.

Should I back sweeten with peach juice and sugar?

thanks for the quick reply.

Gonna do it in two or three weeks.

Buster


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## Midwest Vintner (May 29, 2012)

You will want all the fruit in there when you pitch the yeast. The straining is to get accurate SG measurements from a sample more than anything. 

Back sweetening with peach juice or sugar or both should work fine. IMO, if you have enough fruit to start with, you don't need to add more juice later unless you want more of a fruit juice taste. That is up to you. If you want it dry, you might want to keep the alcohol down (starting sg of 1.080 as suggested) and get the pH to a 3.5-3.7 range. If you get the pH over 3.6, drink it within a year or two or add more sulphites to protect it.

Making a peach dry is VERY hard to do. Making a peach semi-dry isn't easy and a semi-sweet or sweet peach is hard enough. Peach is just not forgiving, nor easy to make smooth. It is a wine that tends to like 1.005+ final SG to get the peach flavor to "pop." I have made this wine many times and it hasn't always been good. lol. We don't tend to like a sweet wine though either.


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## tonyandkory (May 29, 2012)

I totally agree with Midwest Vinter. granted we have only done one peach wine but we did a nectarine one also. 
the nectarine wine we tossed ...( I think we messed up sanitation )_ Peach was a monster before bottling, just didn't taste right .998 FG 16% abv.
too tart and ever yeasty smelling... after a year in the bottle it is quite good though.


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## olusteebus (May 29, 2012)

What then do you recommend as a fruit wine that is good dry (besides chardonnay grapes or any grapes actually)?

Thanks


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## SpoiledRotten (May 29, 2012)

I backsweeten my peach to 1.010 and it's perfect for the wife and I.


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## Deezil (May 29, 2012)

olusteebus said:


> What then do you recommend as a fruit wine that is good dry (besides chardonnay grapes or any grapes actually)?
> 
> Thanks



Caneberries.. Blackberries, raspberries. Blackberry-cherry is my favorite fruit wine


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## Midwest Vintner (May 30, 2012)

Deezil said:


> Caneberries.. Blackberries, raspberries. Blackberry-cherry is my favorite fruit wine




Yep. Most of the darker berries and such make better dry wines. Elderberry could be added to that list, IMO. Dry non-grape wines that are "whites" so to speak, are harder to make. You might be able to do a dry pear or pineapple, but it would have to be very low abv (think 9% and a starting sg of ~1.075) and it wouldn't be easy to make that way. It can be done. Our pear is barely a semi-sweet and is very good that way, but we are trying to stay away from 1.020+ final SG wines. I sweeten to taste, but the times I've checked the SG, it has been mostly lower than 1.015 final, so making fruit wines that aren't really that sweet is very possible. It is just very hard to get them to taste right under 1.005, IMO. I really haven't made them that low, typically, either. Might be good if they had 2+ years to age. They don't usually last that long unless I put them somewhere to hide them. lol.


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## Calvus (Jun 2, 2012)

My peach right now is bone dry except for a bit of sugar that the fpac added. I had planned on sweetening it just a little but have liked it so far as is. I think it finished in the neighborhood of .992. It has a lot of peach on the nose and is very upfront in the wine too. It is really aging well as we go. I added just a little sweetness to a small taste and wasnt sure if I liked it as much. So food for thought. My recipe below:

30lbs Z-Lady peaches 
Sugar to 1.091
3 ½ gal water
5 tsp pectic enzyme
12 tsp acid blend to .55 TA
4 tsp yeast nutrient
1 tsp yeast energizer
1 ¼ tsp tannin
¼ tsp K meta 

09-23-11
Mixed ingredients in primary

09-24-11
Pitched Cote des Blancs yeast starter

09-27-11
Racked into 5gal and 1gal carboy at SG 1.000

10-20-11
Racked into 5 gal secondary, added Kmeta and Ksorbate, and added extracted juice (fpac) from 6lbs frozen peaches

12-02-11
Racked, topped with pear wine from below batch. Added ¼ Kmeta 

3-17-12
Racked, added ¼ tsp Kmeta


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## Midwest Vintner (Jun 4, 2012)

The recipe looks good, but I would start with a little lower SG to keep the abv down. More like 1.080-1.085 to start. Getting over 1.090 means 12% or higher abv and a little more bite. I think making it dry or semi-dry is very possible, just not easy. Also, some people don't mind a little tartness or higher abv, so it's also about personal style and taste. The f-pac is probably why the wine is less tart, lower abv and might be the best way to sweeten it up and mellow the wine a bit. Cotes de blancs is a good choice for yeast too.


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## Midwest Vintner (Jun 4, 2012)

SpoiledRotten said:


> I backsweeten my peach to 1.010 and it's perfect for the wife and I.



Yeah, this is about where I would sweeten peach too also. The lower end of the semi-sweet range, IMO. It seems to me, certain fruits "pop" more when you add a little sweetness.


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