Is this too much headspace?

[Morgan]

This is about 3 liters of blackberry wine from frozen fruit. It's been sulfited and has been sitting like this for 2 months. I kind of forgot about it while I was busy with other stuff... Initially i thought that all the CO2 it put off would protect it. Now that I think about it, I'm worried it's gonna oxidize if I leave it like that for much longer. I don't have any more blackberry to top it off with... I was think just dump a commercial Shiraz in there. Any alternate suggestions? Should I just leave it, or bottle it? It smells and tastes fine, although a smidge astringent at this point. Thanks!

 

[offdagrid]

yes to much head space, top it up with your Shiraz

 

[Pumpkinman]

agreed, too much.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Yes I also agre, my suggestion is find a different size bottle or add marbles (santized) or top off with a similiar wine

 

[spaniel]

If under heavy fermentation in a secondary, I'd get it up to the bottom of the neck so that if it still foams some it does not push it through your airlock. Once fermentation has ceased, top off to an inch or two from the stopper.

 

[BigMac]

Hi Morgan;
You might have caught it in the nick of time.
I would rack it to get it off the lees.
Check the SO2 and top it up.
Either rack it to a 1/2 gal & a 750 bottle or top it off as you suggest into a one gal.
If it was me, I would add about a 1/4iz of oak cubes, Fr/Med.

Cheers!

Jim

 

[TedLarsen]

I do not agree with topping this off with another wine (although a Shiraz would probably blend nicely with the blackberries). With as much headspace as this has, you would very much change the character of the wine, and you made blackberry wine for a reason.

As suggested, I would top off -- either with marbles (although, admittedly, that would take a lot of marbles!)....or purge the oxygen with CO2 or (preferably) nitrogen. That will also work, and will be much easier racking. When I've used the marble trick from time to time, you lose a fair amount of wine in between the marbles, because it can be tricky to get to.