Finer Wine Kit FWK Petite Sarah

[wineview]

Just wondering if it is normal to go from 3.38 to 3.64 after fermentation? This is just the first one that I’ve every seen change that much.

Your wine will be soft on the pallet

 

[winemaker81]

Just wondering if it is normal to go from 3.38 to 3.64 after fermentation? This is just the first one that I’ve every seen change that much.

Wine will surprise you. I suggest you let it bulk age at least 3 months, then taste it. You'll discover it's fine, a happy discovery!

 

[silverbullet07]

Wine will surprise you. I suggest you let it bulk age at least 3 months, then taste it. You'll discover it's fine, a happy discovery!

Oh yes. I’m going to let clear and then bulk age on Hungarian toasted oak for 6 months.

 

[silverbullet07]

It was a nice little sample.

 

[wineview]

Oh yes. I’m going to let clear and then bulk age on Hungarian toasted oak for 6 months.

Six months. Careful unless you really like heavy oak.

 

[wineview]

It was a nice little sample.

Looks pretty.

 

[silverbullet07]

Six months. Careful unless you really like heavy oak.

I’m only adding 1.5 oz cubes. It will be used up in three.

 

[winemaker81]

Oh yes. I’m going to let clear and then bulk age on Hungarian toasted oak for 6 months.

I aged 14 gallons of a lighter red on 6 oz for 3+ months, and it turned out a bit too harsh. The wine was good with the addition of 1 oz glycerin per gallon, but without it was very harsh. I chalk this up to too much oak for a lighter wine -- not the duration.

The following year I used 5 oz for 15 gallons of a heavy red for 12 months, and the oak is a seasoning, not a flavoring. Everyone who tastes it is happy.

Currently I have a triple batch of FWK Forte Super Tuscan in 1 barrel and a mix of FWK Forte Syrah, Petite Sirah, & Merlot in the other, both with the 4.5 total oz of oak included in the kits. They've been in barrel since February and both are great!

The "weight" of the wine makes a huge difference in the amount of oak it can happily accept. The 1.5 oz included in the FWK kits is a good amount for me.

My wine stix experiment indicates that oak products are consumed at roughly 3 months. Leaving the cubes in for 6 months should not make a negative impact.

 

[wineview]

I’m only adding 1.5 oz cubes. It will be used up in three.

Oh. That should be fine. If you put two spirals in, that could be heavy.

 

[Brant]

I received my Petite Sirah kits this morning.

I recently bottled the Forte PS and I'm very happy with how it turned out. It's only 10 months young but tastes fantastic. It should continue to improve. I think you will be happy. Btw, it only started to taste decent around 7 months. Prior to that I was a little worried it was going to suck.

if I'm able, I'm going to try and retain at least 5 bottles and open 1 each year to see how it ages. We consume quite a bit of wine around the holidays so I think it will be fun to make it an annual tradition to open bottles and do some blind tastings.

 

[wineview]

I routinely put two bottles of every batch on the side. Then try them five years later.

 

[silverbullet07]

I bottled my Forte Petite Sirah last week. Started Aug 3,2022 and bottled May 25, 2023. Close to 10 months. Wine tasted good. Still has a little tartness. I wonder how long in the bottle it may take to smooth out?

 

[ratflinger]

One thing I've noticed about the PS - a cup of raisins in the fermenter does wonders, at least for me. With that addition the PS is my favorite.

 

[wineview]

One thing I've noticed about the PS - a cup of raisins in the fermenter does wonders, at least for me. With that addition the PS is my favorite.

Do you add the raisins at the start of primary? Do you use grape skins too?

 

[winemaker81]

One thing I've noticed about the PS - a cup of raisins in the fermenter does wonders, at least for me. With that addition the PS is my favorite.

Going back a couple of decades, premium kits included a packet of dried elderberries to give the wine more color and body. Once I thought about it, I realize that raisins or a dark fruit such as Elderberry will give the wine that oomph that a juice just can't do.

A good experiment is to make 2 identical kits -- add a skin pack to one and a cup of raisins (or Zante currants) to the other, to see the outcome.

 

[ratflinger]

Do you add the raisins at the start of primary? Do you use grape skins too?

Yes to both

 

[Ericphotoart]

My PS went from 1.100 to 1.000 in 5 days. Unfortunately my bucket has no lid so I decided to rack it to 6 gallon carboy. I removed all skins and most of the oak chips so I'm afraid that 5 days was not enough to extract all flavor. I think that I will need to keep cubes much longer now.

 

[winemaker81]

My PS went from 1.100 to 1.000 in 5 days. Unfortunately my bucket has no lid so I decided to rack it to 6 gallon carboy. I removed all skins and most of the oak chips so I'm afraid that 5 days was not enough to extract all flavor. I think that I will need to keep cubes much longer now.

Fermentation oak is not about flavor -- it's about sacrificial tannin and color retention. You are not going to get much, if any, oak flavor from the chips. I explained my understanding in this post:

https://wine.bkfazekas.com/fermentation-vs-aging-oak/

 

[jgmann67]

My PS went from 1.100 to 1.000 in 5 days. Unfortunately my bucket has no lid so I decided to rack it to 6 gallon carboy. I removed all skins and most of the oak chips so I'm afraid that 5 days was not enough to extract all flavor. I think that I will need to keep cubes much longer now.

IMO - your wine would have been fine for an extra few days in the bucket just to get the extra little bit of skin contact. I know the directions say snap the lid at 1.000, but the wine is so loaded with co2, your danger is really low.

Cubes give all they have after three months (maybe less but I do 3 mo minimum). I usually drop an extra French medium or medium plus toast spiral in with the cubes in the finish too. Same thing - in three months, they’ve given up all the got.

 

[Ericphotoart]

Thanks. I was not sure what to do and you are right, I could have waited a few more days and followed the next step but it’s done already. Just another question. Do cubes expand a lot or nit at all while in carboy? I don’t want to fish fir them later and break the carboy to remove them.