Favorite apple wine styles?

[GreginND]

Oh, so I processed 160 pounds of nice tart Haralson apples today. Chopped course and pressed I got 5 gallons of juice with pH 3.21 and SG 1.050. I added sugar to 1.090. The pressed apples were still very chunky so I ran them through my juicer to give me another 7 or so gallons with the same numbers. Since it has more very fine pulp, I'll ferment these separately. I have added pectinase and will add yeast tomorrow. I am using 71B. I may blend them together later depending on how they turn out.

Apple wine is one that I have always been a little disappointed in - especially when using added water. So I definitely do not want to add an water. I've made it with pure juice only once and it was ok. I'm wondering what you folks think is the best style for apple wine. I expect a lot of diverse opinions and I'm interested in hearing them.

Do you oak it? What sweetness level in the end is your taste? Any other modifications or styles you like with apple?

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

One of your reasons for dissapointment might be you are using just one kind of apple. The determined cidermakers usually ferment a blend, only a few apples they say, like Kingston Black, have everything needed to be used as a single variety. We are just getting into cider more seriously this year and pressed a mix of our own apples, including some wicked crabs. Most people expect a sweet applely wine, a more refined approach is to turn it into a dry apple wine, we tasted a bunch of those at a local cidery that specializes in European and old AMerican style ciders. We are doing them all as cysers, I think this will give them a bit more body in the end and we will yes sweeten to just off dry at the end so you can taste the honey a little. I think we might split the batches in half, and do MLF on half and keep half with their higher crisp acid levels. The cidery had a nice oaked dry apple cider, very smooth, and they even had a cloudy Scrumpy, interesting but we liked the aged in an oak barrel better.

WVMJ

 

[Deezil]

Apples + Pears + Honey + more than 1 yeast + Go-Ferm & Fermaid-O + Opti-White/Booster Blanc/FT Blanc Soft + MLF + multiple years spent aging..

Haven't tried oak yet.. I'll be experimenting with caramelizing (Bochet'ing) the honey in this years batch & skipping MLF / going with only 1 yeast - 71B..

 

[Julie]

I add cinnamon, cloves and ginger and when I backsweeten I add brown sugar. You are right, no water and the other thing I noticed is aging, at 18 months the wine is very good.

 

[GreginND]

Thanks everyone. WMVJ, yes a blend is usually better but you work with what you can get!

 

[Arne]

Throw a couple spoonfuls of vanilla extract in too. It kinda smooths it out. Don't really taste it but it does change it a bit. Think I used 3 tsp in 5 gal. Arne.

 

[bakervinyard]

I'm starting with a cider blend, no water. I added white sugar, brown sugar and some molasses. OG 1.095. Going to add oak chips in secondary. Will see what happens. Bakervinyard

 

[Zog]

I've been making wine from cider for several years and I'm still tweaking the recipe. My favorite is to add sugar to bring the it up to 1.09 or even 1.1. Ferment it to dry and stabilize it. I re-sweeten it with concentrated cider to about the level of semi dry riesling, about 1.003. My goal is to preserve as much natural apple flavor as possible, so I don't add any apple pie spices... if you want a spiced wine, you can add spice to taste after you make a nice fruity wine.

I tried a dry oaked version once and it was pretty good, although to my palate the oak masked the fruit flavor.

I just started a batch today with cider from organic apples. Starting sg was 1.06!

 

[dralarms]

I have made it a few times with golden delicious. Couldnt get them this year so im doing an Arkansas black. The apples have a nice crisp flavor. I expect a very jice final product

 

[the_rayway]

I added carmalized sugar and vanilla beans to one of mine - super yummy, like a caramel apple.