Double solids red

[Earldw]

This may be crazy, but has anyone ever added the pomace from a white wine to a red wine batch?

I will be crushing 200 pounds or so of muscadines this weekend and starting two batches of wine: a white and a red. I was wondering what would happen if I added the leftover pomace from the white back to the must for the red, effectively doubling the solids.

 

[ChuckD]

I was wondering what would happen if I added the leftover pomace from the white back to the must for the red,

A muscadine rose?

 

[Earldw]

A muscadine rose?

Is that what you get? since I’m using a red, almost black muscadine, I would think the red would be that much darker having double skins and seeds. The white I made last year with the red fruit started pink but ended a golden amber.

 

[VinesnBines]

I know of doing the opposite, red pomace in white juice or red pomace in another red.

 

[salcoco]

it will be rose to red anywhere in this range. some benefit will be attained from possible sugar in white pomace

 

[ChuckD]

it’s worth a try… I don’t think it would hurt anything other than to reduce the muscadine flavor a little. I should note that I have never made nor even tasted muscadine wine so take that for what it is worth!

 

[Earldw]

I find the answers interesting if not confusing. To be clear, the same grape is used for both white and red wine: a dark purple/black muscadine called ‘Ison”. For white I crush, press then ferment leaving unfermented pomace. For the red, using the same grape, it’s crush ferment then press. Wouldn’t adding the red skins from the white wine pomace make the red wine redder and more muscadine taste?

 

[ChuckD]

Ahhhhh. That’s different. I was thinking your white was a white grape variety. So you would just be upping the amount of muscadine skins in your muscadine red! Increased color? Increased tannin? I’ll leave it to those familiar with that variety.

 

[Earldw]

Ahhhhh. That’s different. I was thinking your white was a white grape variety. So you would just be upping the amount of muscadine skins in your muscadine red! Increased color? Increased tannin? I’ll leave it to those familiar with that variety.

Exactly! I’m probably follow a different philosophy than many members. Instead of deciding what kind of wine I am going to make then buying the grapes to make it, I have an good supply of a particular grape that I want to make the best wine from!

 

[winemanden]

Would that be called Muscadine Ripasso ?

 

[Hazelemere]

This may be crazy, but has anyone ever added the pomace from a white wine to a red wine batch?

I will be crushing 200 pounds or so of muscadines this weekend and starting two batches of wine: a white and a red. I was wondering what would happen if I added the leftover pomace from the white back to the must for the red, effectively doubling the solids.

If you mean adding unfermented muscadine skins into the red wine ferment you'll get the muscadine smell in the red wine. The other option is to add sulphite and pectic enzyme to the muscadine skins in a primary fermenter. Soak them for 2 days while punching them down on day one and then repressing them on day 2. This gives you ~50% more highly aromatic wine than a single pressing. You can even blend the 2 white wines i.e. first and 2nd run.

 

[Earldw]

Would that be called Muscadine Ripasso ?

Almost sorta not really maybe? My thoughts were to crush enough grapes for two batches, collect the free-run juice for the white wine, then ferment the remaining juice and pulp for red wine. There would be no delay in time.

 

[wood1954]

I think I’m going to do the same as you with my Marquette, press enough grapes to make 6 gallons of rose, then add the skins back into the rest of the crop. The French have a name for this but I can’t spell it right.

 

[Earldw]

I think I’m going to do the same as you with my Marquette, press enough grapes to make 6 gallons of rose, then add the skins back into the rest of the crop. The French have a name for this but I can’t spell it right.

Well if your in, then I’m in! I only wanted 5 gallons of white anyway, so I can try this now and make a more conventional batch of red next time, which at my current rate of harvest, will be next week.

 

[winemaker81]

This may be crazy, but has anyone ever added the pomace from a white wine to a red wine batch?

What you're doing is saignée, a French term that means "to bleed". The grapes are crushed and an amount of juice is drawn off to make a white/blush wine, while the remaining pulp has a higher level of solids vs. juice, which provides more robustness.

Go for it!