How to bottle my Cab

[sdelli]

So even though I believe the answer is obvious... let me throw it out there and see..

I have 2016 Napa Cab in the following.
30 gal American barrel
10 Gal American barrel
8 gal American barrel
15 gal French barrel

All the first three barrels taste great!
But, the 15 gal French barrel that I now retired has an off smell and taste. Not real bad.. But not clean like the others.

So... what doI do when bottle time comes?

Mix all of the together?
Bottle the 15 gal by itself?
Mix some Merlot with the 15 gal to try to clean it up?

I added some Reduless a few months ago but did not make a difference. Think it is just a barrel gone bad and done.

 

[Boatboy24]

Bench trial with the Merlot might be worth a shot. But were it my wine, I'd not be inclined to add 38 gallons of good wine to 15 gallons of questionable wine - especially if I wasn't 100% certain of the issue with the questionable wine.

I assume your SO2 is at proper levels, based on pH. These are all from the same batch of grapes? If so, I think you're right to retire that barrel.

 

[stickman]

I agree with Jim, I wouldn't blend unless bench trials proved it to be beneficial.

 

[NorCal]

I would not compromise the 48 gallons, to save the 15 gallons. Rather, I'd keep the French Barrel separate and work on it. The "barrel" doesn't go bad. It may go neutral, but it shouldn't make your wine bad. Something else is going on an hopefully it can be remedied. Have your tried a trial with copper sulfate, to see if it cleans it up?

 

[sdelli]

I agree... Is it too late to try copper sulfate? The wine is a year old...

 

[Stressbaby]

Noblesse might be worth trying: http://www.apps.fst.vt.edu/extension/enology/downloads/Delteil_Noblesse_guidelines_dec_2010.pdf

 

[sdelli]

I use this all the time but only in an active fermentation. I believe it is designed for use in must. Has anyone ever used it in finished wine?

 

[JohnT]

I would be shy when blending a good wine with a not so good wine. More often than not, you will end up with all of your wine being not so good. I would feel free to blend the good wines (via a bench trial) and let the not so good wine stand alone.

 

[sdelli]

Well I did a bench trial test with copper sulfate. Ended up adding .2ppm couple days ago. Added 15ml of 1% to a 5 gal carboy diluted in distilled water. Will tack in a couple days and taste. Not sure why that barrel did that to my wine when the other 3 are great....

 

[NorCal]

Well I did a bench trial test with copper sulfate. Ended up adding .2ppm couple days ago. Added 15ml of 1% to a 5 gal carboy diluted in distilled water. Will tack in a couple days and taste. Not sure why that barrel did that to my wine when the other 3 are great....

Did some 2017 from grapes barrel tasting with the family yesterday. Chardonnay, Cab Franc, Tempranillo, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon. All were nice, except the carboy of Petit Verdot. It had a faint hint of H2S.

Today I splash racked it a few times and hit it with some SO2. The good thing it is only 5 gallons, that I have for blending with the other wines. I have no explanation why this carboy was off and the other 140 or so gallons were clean.

Funny, I used the pressing of the Petit Verdot as the starter (yeast and mlf) for the 10 gallons of Cab Franc. It finished cleanly and has no hint of H2S.

 

[Johnd]

Did some 2017 from grapes barrel tasting with the family yesterday. Chardonnay, Cab Franc, Tempranillo, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon. All were nice, except the carboy of Petit Verdot. It had a faint hint of H2S.

Today I splash racked it a few times and hit it with some SO2. The good thing it is only 5 gallons, that I have for blending with the other wines. I have no explanation why this carboy was off and the other 140 or so gallons were clean.

Funny, I used the pressing of the Petit Verdot as the starter (yeast and mlf) for the 10 gallons of Cab Franc. It finished cleanly and has no hint of H2S.

Weren’t you using the Avante yeast that produces no H2S, or was that a different yeast?

 

[Stressbaby]

Weren’t you using the Avante yeast that produces no H2S, or was that a different yeast?

I was going to post this very question...Renaissance yeast IIRC...

 

[sdelli]

No. I did one bin with D254 and two bins with D21. Then blended at the press.
I truly believe it is not the wine. All the other barrels are great. It was a bad barrel that probably had sketchy wine in it before and I should not of continued to use it.
I only have 3 carboys to fool with on this. I added copper sulfate to one of them a few days ago and going to rack today. So far it made a huge difference. I will taste today and then do the other two if all looks good.

 

[Stressbaby]

No. I did one bin with D254 and two bins with D21. Then blended at the press.
I truly believe it is not the wine. All the other barrels are great. It was a bad barrel that probably had sketchy wine in it before and I should not of continued to use it.
I only have 3 carboys to fool with on this. I added copper sulfate to one of them a few days ago and going to rack today. So far it made a huge difference. I will taste today and then do the other two if all looks good.

I think we were replying to @NorCal

 

[sdelli]

Tasted the treated carboy tonight. It is clean! The copper sulfate cleaned it up very nicely. Tonight I added 3 grams of Tannin Complex to the carboy and button it up. Now treating the other two.

 

[NorCal]

I was going to post this very question...Renaissance yeast IIRC...

Good memory on the Renessance yeast. The mild H2S popped up weeks post ferment. @sdelli, great to hear. Did you do bench trials to figure out the minimum amount and rack afterwards.

 

[sdelli]

Yes. Did a strong bench first to see if it would work and it did.... Then 1ppm just didn’t taste like enough so I went to 2. Racked it 3 days later.