How Much Slower Does Bulk Aging Happen?

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I bulk aged 1 year 14 carboys of Country wine before bottling. Now the wine has been bottled for 1 year. I can't tell that the bulk aging mellowed most of the wines at all. The Peach seems to be still as "Green" as if I never bulk aged it at all. It is still sharp on the tongue. Only the Raz-a-Rita & Tripletail (blueberry-plum-meyer lemon) wines seem to have benefited from the bulk aging. Since I'm sitting on 250#'s of fruit for this Fall's fermentation season I'm feeling just bottle when ready and skip the extra step to simplify the whole process. Thoughts?
 
First thought is how much tannin? Tannin gives a flavor which transitions from bitter to astringent to none. If you have young tannin it will soften as it polymerizes. Another trait is that astringent acts as a multiplier for acid flavor so age definitely improves harsh / overly acidic notes. Polyphenol pigments as black raspberry color will also polymerize. In this case going from flavorless to astringent to flavorless.

Second thought; Peach, plum, red raspberry don’t have significant tannin. In this case your dominant reactions are going to be oxygen reacting with alcohol producing acetaldehyde and reacting with fruity flavor compounds producing larger non-aromatic compounds. Acetaldehyde starts as apple like which is rather pleasing. BUT as the concentration increases above 100ppm it starts going harsh, a dried apricot sharpness and at higher levels a burn in the back of the throat swallowing so you lose with extended aging.

On my part I like tannin in all non-tannic fruit. ex chestnut or crabapple or Blanc-Soft. It improves oxidation resistance which helps preserve fruity notes and delays acetaldehyde development. , , , When a non tannic wine is clear it is ready for sweetening trials and bottling. I would also say if you are using an astringent flavor tannin do sweetening and bottle. , , , , Bitter tannins can improve with age so in that situation carboy aging is useful. , , , Oxygen enters through corks at about 5mg per year which is higher than large tanks get. (micro-oxidation chemistry)

Third thought is that in year long increments alcohol combines with acids creating esthers. This results in decreased measured titratable acidity which creates smoother acidity notes. This is not oxygen dependent, it would happen if in a large carboy or a 750 bottle, so it doesn’t matter how you age your wine.
 
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Although some folks believe all wines needs a specific bulk aging time, I disagree. All wines are different so using a single plan doesn't make sense.

I bulk age all wines ~3 months, bottling no sooner than the 4 month mark. This gives the wine time to go through the initial part of aging as a single unit (which reduces incidents of bottle variation) and helps ensure the wine is clear.

Beyond that? Aging depends on the wine. The following is guidelines, not hard-n-fast rules.
  • Light whites and light fruits? Bottle at 4 to 6 months.
  • Light reds, heavy whites, and heavy fruits? Bottle at 5 to 7 months.
  • Heavy reds? Bottle at 12+ months.
Note -- My older posts may state slightly different ranges, as my opinion may vary depending on my typing before or after that first cup of coffee of the day.

Why the different ranges?

Body, ABV, acid, tannin, and sugar affect a wine's lifespan. Wines higher in a combination of these need more aging. Generally speaking, wines lower in these elements are drinkable sooner.

A Vidal I made from juice is very drinkable at 5 months. The same grapes, fermented on the skins, needs several more months of aging.
 
Y'all are my Heroes. Thank you for the detailed responses. Not much tannin in the wines at all because I do not like the taste. All heavy on fruit, my place is covered in fruit trees, fig trees, & now 400' for muscadines. My first wines were way better just racking till clear and bottling. No back sweetening was needed at all. Alcohol was way up so this last 235 bottles of varying fruit wines I cut back the sugar alcohol still up and I had to use wine conditioner in most of it to sweeten. Take the peach, you can't taste the fruit till is was sweetened quite a bit. I will take the advice to heart on this years wines. The drought last year made everything produce heavily this year.

If I can ask, a direction to the mildest tannin would be helpful.

Brian I pinned your site for later reading. Front page looks cool.
 
Brian I pinned your site for later reading. Front page looks cool.
Thanks! You may find the Whitepapers page the most useful, link in the left sidebar.

I add 1/4 tsp powdered tannin per gallon to all fruit wines. It does not produce an oak flavor; rather it provides a bit more body and backbone to the wine.
 
I'm in them now, a Wine Maker's Bible you've written. The Fixing Fruit Wine page is just what I was telling my wife this morning. Till 2 years ago I just made a recipe. Then retiring I got too smart for my own britches and screwed that very successful way of making drinking wine mostly for myself, up. I have drank Bourbon or Tequila, mostly 101, my entire adult life and developed a allergy to something in it so now it makes my joints swell. Strong homemade wine does not do it and I can drink more of it at one sitting. Your Fixing Fruit Wine page reinforces putting enough sugar in to start with. Fantastic Effort on Your Part, very respectable Sir!
 
I'm in them now, a Wine Maker's Bible you've written. The Fixing Fruit Wine page is just what I was telling my wife this morning. Till 2 years ago I just made a recipe. Then retiring I got too smart for my own britches and screwed that very successful way of making drinking wine mostly for myself, up. I have drank Bourbon or Tequila, mostly 101, my entire adult life and developed a allergy to something in it so now it makes my joints swell. Strong homemade wine does not do it and I can drink more of it at one sitting. Your Fixing Fruit Wine page reinforces putting enough sugar in to start with. Fantastic Effort on Your Part, very respectable Sir!
I've loved bourbon for years, but about 7 years ago I developed a problem with it -- one shot would give me a headache, 5 minutes after taking the first sip. Bourbon is aged in new oak, so I assume it was something about the histamines from the oak. I switched to rye, Irish, and Scotch, and had no problems. In the last year I discovered I can drink bourbon with no problems, so I have NO idea what the source really is.

Mother Nature is messing with us.
 

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