# Food coloring? Need help!



## Jkarowski12 (Jun 12, 2016)

hey guys, sorry to bother yall with what could be a dumb question, but i need some help! I was tasked with making 2 batches of wine for my friends wedding reception. They wanted me to make a them a sweet blush and a red wine. I made both wines using wine experts juice kits. I made the blush and it tastes great. I just did the final racking step of the red wine and it looks exactly like the blush. It taste nice and dry though. It just is not as dark as I was wanting it to be. Is there anything that I can do to darken the wine without compromising the whole batch? I've considered either blending it with a couple bottles of outside dark red wine or possibly adding some kind of coloring agent. 
Have any of yall done this before? I would just experiment and try half and half and see which one turns out best but this wine is for my friends wedding and i would not have time to do another batch if it does not turn out that good.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and thank you for your suggestions!


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## Julie (Jun 12, 2016)

Welcome to WineMakingTalk. And no question is dumb. I think I would add a couple bottles of a deep red wine. I never added food coloring so I really can't comment on that.


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## Runningwolf (Jun 13, 2016)

Do not add food coloring. As Julie said blend in a few other bottles or use grape skin extract.


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## FTC Wines (Jun 13, 2016)

I added red Food coloring once to my strawberry skeeter pee, a DISASTER! As others said use a dark red wine. On the bright side it will add a few bottles for the wedding. Roy


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## salcoco (Jun 13, 2016)

dried grape skins available at your local supply store will render the wine darker. do some bench trials first to reach the level you desire. grape skins will dissolve in the wine.


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## wineforfun (Jun 13, 2016)

I have to first ask, why change the color? If it tastes well, I would be hesitant to mess with it.
What type of wine is it? Did the kit have skins included?


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## heatherd (Jun 13, 2016)

Jkarowski12 said:


> hey guys, sorry to bother yall with what could be a dumb question, but i need some help! I was tasked with making 2 batches of wine for my friends wedding reception. They wanted me to make a them a sweet blush and a red wine. I made both wines using wine experts juice kits. I made the blush and it tastes great. I just did the final racking step of the red wine and it looks exactly like the blush. It taste nice and dry though. It just is not as dark as I was wanting it to be. Is there anything that I can do to darken the wine without compromising the whole batch? I've considered either blending it with a couple bottles of outside dark red wine or possibly adding some kind of coloring agent.
> Have any of yall done this before? I would just experiment and try half and half and see which one turns out best but this wine is for my friends wedding and i would not have time to do another batch if it does not turn out that good.
> Thanks for taking the time to read this and thank you for your suggestions!



What kind of wine is the red? I think I would get a commercial wine of the same varietal and mix them together to see if that helps.

Another thing you can do is rehydrate dried elderberries (soak them in water) and add that to your wine. They make an inky red water. You'll be adding the flavor of the elderberries, though, which may or may not be what you want. I have had added them to wine before and liked the flavor.

I would not add food coloring.


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## Rocky (Jun 14, 2016)

You state that the red wine is "nice and dry though." Is it more dry than you would like it to be? *Disclaimer here:* I like to experiment so I would get a good quality pure grape juice and make a reduction (i.e. simmer out most of the water) and add this to the wine. This would certainly give you more color and it would sweeten the wine somewhat. As always, I recommend bench trials before going all out.


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## Noontime (Jun 14, 2016)

There are products specifically designed for this like Mega Purple and Ultra Red, but I don't know if they are available for sale to consumers or what possible negative affects they may have. Just throwing it out there. 

As Wineforfun said, you're probably better off not messing with it if it tastes good. Everyone is there for the wedding and not the wine; if it tastes good I doubt anyone is going to say "the wedding was wonderful, but the wine looked a little thin"  That being said, I do understand you wanting to provide the best wine possible.


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## ffemt128 (Jun 17, 2016)

Runningwolf said:


> Do not add food coloring. As Julie said blend in a few other bottles or use grape skin extract.


 

As Dan suggested, I would go with a grape skin extract, PIWINE.COM carries them.


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## Turock (Jun 20, 2016)

I agree with Dan,too. Grape skin extract does a great job for color and it has no flavor.


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## Spikedlemon (Jun 20, 2016)

Here's what I was thinking when I read food coloring in wine:

http://time.com/4373428/blue-wine/


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