Black Pepper

[winemanden]

Aging

Cowboy, here's another little tip for you.
After aging, when you get round to bottling, try and bottle 2 or 3 half bottles. That way, when you're tempted to open a bottle to try, you can try a half instead and not drink your wine too soon. It's a bit of a downer when come to get a bottle of your good stuff and you realise you've drunk most of it just by seeing how it's progressing.
Regards, Winemanden.

 

[Polarhug]

I've been musing on adding Pink Peppercorns to a white like Chardonnay. Pink pepper is not related to black pepper. It is not even a peppercorn. Pink pepper is native to Brazil. The aroma is aromatic compared to black peppers but the taste of this berry is sweet and mild and only slightly peppery. I wonder if it would slightly color the wine?

 

[the_rayway]

One of my favourite family recipes is steak with strawberries and pink peppercorns. MMMMmmm!

 

[Polarhug]

I started a small 1 cup cracked pink peppercorn infusion with vodka last night. Giving it a week to see how it tastes!

*EDIT* 2 days later the infusion is already pink, very sweet and slightly peppery with a nice floral aroma. I think I'm going to go for this project!! I just need to find a white base that these spicy pink note would compliment? Pinot blanc or Gewurtraminer?

 

[ScottWolfertz]

Has anyone tried or any thoughts on adding black pepper essential oil to 5 gallons of Grenache Syrah?

 

[TCPT18]

I did a Shiraz and a carmenere with 1 tablespoon in with my oak and it was plenty of background flavor in a five gallon carboy. It is really nice now about 15 months out.

 

[roger80465]

I've done this on a syrah and a couple tempranillos. Works well. Like with oak, the flavor fades in time so wait until the flavor is too much, then remove the peppercorns. In a year or so it will fade to perfect.

 

[BlueStimulator]

Sounds yummy, may have to try when I get more experience

 

[DaveMcC]

Hey, was just following up threads and discussions about peppercorns. Any further thoughts, some 8 years further along? Thoughts on dumping a standard supermarket spice bottle of mixed color peppercorns into at 24 gallon barrel of Tempranillo must, currently fermenting. My main concern would be the addition of capsicum oils (the "heat" in pepper) vs. the flavoring of the peppercorns. I wonder if you could soak out the peppercorns first, rinse and repeat a few times, and then add to the must.

 

[joeswine]

Interesting.

 

[DaveMcC]

Or maybe soaking peppercorns in vodka to remove the capsicum oils, then adding to the must. That might allow the other pepper organic compounds to macerate while reducing the bite of the pepper. Just a thought.

I also would like to try using a half spiral of "Spanish cedar" (actually a type of mahogany), used in beer brewing, to add some spice. Of course, this is heresy and out of code for commercial wineries, but us garagistes have greater latitude. I used a Spanish cedar spiral in some Malbec, half a stick in 6 gallon carboy. It was a bit much, mellowed now a year later but still very present. Lesson was a little bit of that goes a long way. Calculating a try of half spiral stick to the 14 gallons of wine in the secondary after MLF.

 

[Rembee]

I do add whole crushed peppercorns (red, green and black) to my muscadine and blueberry wine. I lightly crush them up in a paper towel, just until they split open. I then add 1 tsp per gallon. I add it to the secondary bulk aging stage when I add my oak cubes. It does give the wine a peppery bite. Over the years I have experimented with a tsp up to a tbsp. We like it at the 1 tsp amount per gallon. I leave them in the wine up to 3 months (to the taste I'm looking for) and then rack off of them.

 

[DaveMcC]

Those are some good observations. Thanks.

 

[winemaker81]

I leave them in the wine up to 3 months (to the taste I'm looking for) and then rack off of them.

Have you tried putting the peppercorns in a hops bag? That will allow you to pull it out instead of racking.

 

[Rice_Guy]

on the company recipe there was black, white and red. The white has been soaked in water and gives a fast taste with fast decline from the taste buds, similar to your end note. Red gives a slower response and grabs the tast buds so the effect builds with time. Black is in between.
I am a big fan of going to the bench and breaking a 3 liter Bota box down with several levels of ingredient, NOT dumping a jar in. The test lab standard is age a wet sample a week to extract the flavors you are going to get, then evaluate. ,,,,, patience have a good idea what your ideal answer is before you start.
Our grocery store goal is an early hint of pepper with enough long flavor notes (red pepper) that the food becomes memorable.

Hey, was just following up threads and discussions about peppercorns. Any further thoughts, some 8 years further along? Thoughts on dumping a standard supermarket spice bottle of mixed color peppercorns into at 24 gallon barrel of Tempranillo must, currently fermenting. My main concern would be the addition of capsicum oils (the "heat" in pepper) vs. the flavoring of the peppercorns. I wonder if you could soak out the peppercorns first, rinse and repeat a few times, and then add to the must.

 

[Rembee]

Have you tried putting the peppercorns in a hops bag? That will allow you to pull it out instead of racking.

No I have not tried using a hops bag. I do have empty tea bags that I could try next time. Normally I just leave the peppercorns in until I'm ready to rack off of the oak cubes. That is usually my second and finial rack in secondary until bottling time.

 

[Sailor323]

Just an observation--green, black and white peppercorns do not contain capsaicin, they contain piperine which is soluble in alcohol. Red peppercorns are not available in dried form. Another plant (common pink peppercorns from the Brazillian pepper tree) is often confused with red pepper; this is the one found in the supermarket. Common pink peppercorns are not related to the other peppercorns and do not contain piperine. I don't know if any of this makes any difference in winemaking, it's just a bit of trivia that I find interesting.

 

[thesedonahouse]

I did a search, but found nothing. Has anyone tried adding cracked black pepper to wine. Any reason you couldn't? It would add a peppery flavor I am thinking

I did a search, but found nothing. Has anyone tried adding cracked black pepper to wine. Any reason you couldn't? It would add a peppery flavor I am thinking

I actually will occasionally add black cracked peppercorn to my wine & LOVE it! Winemakers spend a lot of energy on perfecting their flavors & notes, so they probably won’t encourage this. But I like the taste & do it now & again.

 

[Arne]

I actually will occasionally add black cracked peppercorn to my wine & LOVE it! Winemakers spend a lot of energy on perfecting their flavors & notes, so they probably won’t encourage this. But I like the taste & do it now & again.

Howdy and welcome to the forum. Arne.

 

[winemaker81]

@thesedonahouse, welcome to WMT!

You'd be surprised at what folks do with their wine. This is a very diverse group.