cold hardy thoughts

[BenK]

Figured I would open a thread for a thought I had after reading a comment here about petite pearl, its small berry size and tannin extraction.

With our reds low tannins are a common issue. Has anyone here tried removing some of the juice from the must early producing a rose and leaving the remaining juice to sit on the skins longer? What would the effect on the finished wine be? The variety I have in mind is Marquette.

 

[StevenD55]

I sort of went that route with some success, at lest in my opinion with other varieties.

I limited the skin contact on the first batch and fermented that. I didn’t press anything though. Then I fermented the remaining skins and such in a second batch adding sugar and water to obtain a reasonable SG. When that nearly finished I pressed it off the skins and bulk aged.

I would not call it a rose’ though. There was still a lot of color. I didn’t check final acidity because I found the results after some oaking to be pretty nice.

This year I’m trying it with Frontenac. It’s bulk aging now. At last taste test I think I’m going to like it. The juice batch has plenty of color.

I read an article on recommendations I found somewhere. I’ll have to see if I can find it when I get on my computer.

 

[VillaVino]

Hello,
I’ve tried that with my Marquette and Sabrevois. I produced so/so results. I won’t be doing that again though and will be just making the wine as normal. I pick, destem/crush, ferment for a week or so, punching down twice a day, bladder press mixing first runs with the rest in either my stainless fermentor, demijohns or carboys as needed. I bought some test equipment last year and it has completely changed my approach and now I can give bottles of wine to friends and family with confidence.

 

[BenK]

villavino, any experience with tannin additions on those varieties?

 

[VillaVino]

BenK, I have based on the recommendation of the local winery owner and I like the results. I'll have to check my notes on how much per 5 gals but I'm sure its just what the container says. Good Luck. We'll be testing the cold hardiness tonight and tomorrow. Forecast -35F. That's not the wind chill.