Packlab Bulk Aging PakLab kits

[rhattin]

Made several levels of PackLab kits over the last 3 years and have come to the conclusion that bulk aging in carboys for these wines is a waste of time and effort!. Discussed this with the PL wine maker today and he agreed. Apparently, they have adjusted the kits, specifically the reds so that they are immediately drinkable. In fact carboy aging probably degrades them. Oak barrel aging for 6 months is OK and helps a lot. The last Amarone, Onyx V, I made was particularly thin, and sour after 1 year in bulk aging carboy. To try and save it, I have added sweetner conditioning ( includes sorbate) - about 250 ml for 23 l, and glycerin - about 200 ml for 23 l. I am going to let it effuse for 2 months in carboy before I bottle. Anybody know of any other tricks I can use at this late stage of vintnering?
Ric

 

[Dugger]

When I made these kits many years ago, I would bottle after 4 weeks and they would be gone within 3 months. I misplaced a couple of bottles of a merlot once and found them a year later and they were surprisingly much better - that was my first "aged" wine. I am surprised that your amarone did not improve in that year - perhaps it was not degassed enough and that made it taste sour. For these kits I would think 2-3 months bulk aging would be plenty and then bottle age for a while.
Strange that the rep said they are made to be drinkable immediately - sounds like marketing talk!
Try decanting or degassing some of your amarone and see if that makes a difference.

 

[TonyP]

rhattin, I agree with the essence of what you say, but not the specifics. By that I mean aging for 3 years probably did more harm than good, but that result would have been the same - probably worse - if you had bottle aged over that time. It's the overaging (I made that up.) of the wine that caused your issues, not the carboy.

Wines develop over time and reach a peak at some point, after which the wine begins to loose the positive characteristics we prefer. Each wine has its own timetable. Beaujolais Nouveau, for example, is drinkable a few weeks after fermentation, while many of the bolder reds take years to develop.

The other point to consider is aging conditions, primarily temperature. Wine ages 8 times faster at 73F than at 55F. Thus, if your wine bulk aged at 73F for 3 years, it would be like aging for 24 years at 55F. When wine makers talk about aging time, they assume we're doing it under ideal conditions, roughly 55F.

In terms of recovery, I agree with your thoughts on adding glycerin, but be careful about the sweetener. Keep in mind that glycerin tends to sweeten wine a little.

 

[rhattin]

Thanks for the input. Interesting you mention degassing, because I noticed that I was getting a lot of foam when I was initially trying to bottle,much more than usual. I have subsequently vacuumed degassed the carboy again after adding the conditioiner and glycerin.
Didn't makemyself clear on the length of time I bulk aged it - it was only a year and the temp was constant at 58 deg, in my bulk aging cellar.
I am aware of the discussion of bottle aging vs bulk aging and have no hard opinion on that other than bottle age whites for sure and bulk age the heavy reds. Can't figure out the physics so I am stumped.
The other thing I noticed was the lack of any sediment after the 1 yr bulk aging in carboy. I would have expected a lot more, but I only got a dusting on the bottom of the carboy. It was firm.
Ric

 

[Dugger]

I don't think these kits have a lot of solids to start with so there would be little to drop out during the aging. That's a big difference I found when I started making the better kits - I tended to bottle too soon, even after filtering, and would get sediment in the bottles, which seldom, if ever, happened with the smaller kits.