Is tannin needed for fruit wine?

[ringmany]

Hi everyone,

I've made around 6 batches of fruit wine in the past, specifically 'Danger Daves Dragon Blood Wine'. I've always used tannin in the recipe, but I'm currently out of tannin and won't be able to get some more for at least a week and it's already been fermenting for around 5 days (The shop I was planning to buy from was sold out).

The wine contains blueberry, blackberry, raspberry and lemon juice. Do you think tannin would be essential for this fruit wine, or do you think it won't make a lot of difference, or could potentially make it even better?
Cheers

 

[Ohio Bob]

Essential? Depends on your taste. It’s probably not too late to add it over the next few weeks/months. Just have to bulk age it to let it work it’s magic.

 

[Rice_Guy]

you are basically asking what is the purpose of tannin. Tannin adds long flavor notes (astringent and or bitter) and helps scavenge oxygen (antioxidant).

The wine contains blueberry, blackberry, raspberry and lemon juice.
Do you think tannin would be essential for this fruit wine, or do you think it won't make a lot of difference, or could potentially make it even better?

The recipe contains blackberry which has polyphenol pigments which are in the same chemical family as tannins. A guess on my part is that blackberry will contribute astringent/ slightly bitter flavors with time, so it is behaving like a tannin would.

This is where opinion pops in. Do you want long memorable flavor notes? Do you feel you need oxidation protection? ,,, For me, the current style is that I add 1 to 2% crab apple (astringent not bitter flavor varieties) to a lot of my wines like Briana white grape or rhubarb. A benefit is that the wines survive oxidation better and at a low level there are long notes which tasters can’t really name. Now if the guess is correct blackberry has pigments that will act like tannin and scavenge oxygen. ,,,,

OPINION (ie I haven’t made this wine); I would add a low level tannin as blanc soft by the time you are racking to a carboy. The primary is reductive (low oxygen) so it really doesn’t matter for a few weeks. Looking at some of the WMT posts like “BITTER” last week they seem to be fixing the unwanted tannin flavor by adding a finishing tannin. ,,,, If you add a highly flavored tannin like grape tannin you may be putting in a double dose of high flavor polyphenols.

 

[hounddawg]

made nothing but fruit wines (country wines) and a few melomels and meads a few year back, i still have my 10 year old bag of tannins , but as @Rice_Guy stated crabapple is the only way i go,
Dawg

 

[hounddawg]

Hi everyone,

I've made around 6 batches of fruit wine in the past, specifically 'Danger Daves Dragon Blood Wine'. I've always used tannin in the recipe, but I'm currently out of tannin and won't be able to get some more for at least a week and it's already been fermenting for around 5 days (The shop I was planning to buy from was sold out).

The wine contains blueberry, blackberry, raspberry and lemon juice. Do you think tannin would be essential for this fruit wine, or do you think it won't make a lot of difference, or could potentially make it even better?
Cheers

nope i wouldn't,,, IMHO
Dawg

 

[Hazelemere]

I never add tannin to berry and wild cherry or russet apple wines The seeds on berries and the skins on russets give you all the tannin that you need even at low alcohol.

 

[joeswine]

Hazele

I never add tannin to berry and wild cherry or russet apple wines The seeds on berries and the skins on russets give you all the tannin that you need even at low alcohol.

your correct the seeds provide the tannins .
However in the blackberries and such a touch of tannins doesn’t hurt , it’s all subjective isn’t it?

 

[joeswine]

Ok

made nothing but fruit wines (country wines) and a few melomels and meads a few year back, i still have my 10 year old bag of tannins , but as @Rice_Guy stated crabapple is the only way i go,
Dawg

your style wine is spot on my friend

 

[Fencepost]

@ringmany I'm like you and use tannins in my Danger Dave. You could just brew a couple of tea bags in a cup to hot water, cool it down and add. I know some folks on the forum use regular black tea for the purpose of tannins. Btw, I even had one batch of DD's tasted by the good folks at Total Wine and they said it was" the best homemade wine they ever had". (my thought was that they must not try much homemade wine... LOL.)

 

[Noontime]

100% depends on the fruit and the style of wine you're making (and personal taste of course). Darker fruits like blackberries and blueberries can certainly use some tannin if you're making a bigger dense wine (fruits that are similar to vinifera red wines). Anything you think you might want to add oak to (which add natural tannins) are good candidates. But if the wine is lighter and brighter, then tannin would detract from that in my opinion. Bright or light fruity wines like mango or strawberry for instance. And I would not want any of the seed tannin in my wine since they are usually harsh and astringent.

 

[Raptor99]

I use tannin/oak in two different ways.
1. A small amount of powdered tannin in the primary. This is "sacrificial tannin" as an anti-oxidant and to helps to bind color and flavor: Using Tannins: Purposes, sources, and use in winemaking - WineMakerMag.com
2. For some wines, I add a small amount of oak chips in the secondary to add character and complexity.

Mostly I use oak on darker wines like blueberry and elderberry. But chardonnay is usually oaked, so sometimes oak/tannin works for lighter wines as well. I like pear wine with some oak, but I don't add it to peach wine.

 

[joeswine]

We should have a sparkling wine thread on this site .
It would be very cool.
What say you ???

 

[stickman]

I think some of the older country wine recipes call for a "small" amount of tannin to help with clarification. Tannin acts as a protein fining agent, so adding a small amount during primary fermentation should drop out with protein, and shouldn't affect flavor as long as the addition isn't excessive.