Recent content by Snafflebit

Finishing tannins are often used by commercial wineries to tweak wine for early drinkability. So, you can imagine most users will want to know how soon they can get their plonk out the door. Time will improve wine and I would use this guide as the absolute earliest bottling date.

I note that Quertanin Sweet is the sweetest finishing tannin followed by FT Rouge and Tannin Estate. You cannot go wrong with any of them.

I used bentonite once to clarify, but I rarely need to do anything but wait. Interesting results you have.

I have had a small battle with bitterness in my wines also. As you have pointed out in your wine, the bitterness of my wines also changed. I did not notice it in the beginning, then later the bitterness appeared. I considered using egg whites or PVPP but I was busy and did not get to it. The...

Let’s just say that farmers never retire. They are usually found dead slumped over their tractor seat!

In the interest of wine science, we opened another bottle of my 2022 BDX 🍷. I put it in a decanter and tasted it over 3 hours to note the change. I found that the biggest change to flavor and nose happened after 1 hour and the wine continued to improve after 3 hours. Fruity notes decreased and...

One tip about the chromatography, if you don’t see any markings develop on the paper after letting it dry, heat the paper with a hair dryer.

The TA (total acid), which in the case of grape wine is mostly tartaric acid, probably did drop a little. If tartrates drop out, then total acid will decrease. My tongue is telling me there is a lot of acid in this wine, especially considering the pH is 3.80 Regarding the increase in pH, there...

I bottled my experimental 2024 Zinfandel today. I made one gallon with medium toast oak chips in the primary. It is a small batch and I think it will be better protected in bottles. There was a half bottle of leftovers and I am letting it open while tasting it. Interesting that the finished...

This reminds me of a conversation with, I think @Rice_Guy about tannins in a green banana versus a ripe banana. The same tannins are present in both bananas but they are masked by the sweetness of the ripe banana and able to taste in the green one.

I am very critical of my wines. And yes, after the third day, this wine tasted nothing like it did on the first day. Here is the detail that surprises me. I would expect a harsh, overly tannic wine to become smoother after some aeration. But, the opposite effect seemed to happen here. I find it...

Update on the 2022 Bordeaux blend I created when clearing out carboys for 2024 winemaking--I made an interesting discovery. "Give it time" is always good advice that I rarely follow. The sulfite taste and aroma are gone from the freshly bottled wine. This 2022 wine is young tasting, by which I...

:try I had a cherimoya (custard apple) for the first time last year and it is delicious. Hopefully the wine is as good.

How did I survive before the internet? Good info

@KaptKanga This sounds like a very interesting experiment. I do not know much about cashew fruit but I started reading. In English the fruit is called a cashew apple, in Spanish it is called marañón and is very perishable, so we will never see it in the market. And, there are some liquors made...