Juice Buckets and Grapes experament...where did I go wrong?

Boatboy24 · Jan 2, 2014

shoe:

Any updates? I'm wondering if these have cleared up for you at all. My Carmenere using the same tecnique has been in the barrel for 16 weeks now. I'll taste it this weekend to see if I want to let it go a little longer. At last taste, it had a somewhat gamey, almost bell pepper taste/smell, but it was not as much as a few months prior.

Pumpkinman · Jan 2, 2014

I fermented 4 juice buckets adding approx. 9 lbs of fresh crushed Sangiovese grapes, these buckets not only smell great, they don't taste bad either, but they are still very young. I think that the only difference is that the Sangiovese grapes that I got were spectacular, these were hands down the best grapes that I've tasted, the Sangiovese wine that I'm currently aging made from these same grapes is outstanding, I cannot wait until it ages a few years.
Jim, did you add tannins to try to correct that?

Boatboy24 · Jan 2, 2014

Pumpkinman said:
Jim, did you add tannins to try to correct that?

Both the Carm and Malbec got about 8g of Tannin FT Rouge prior to pitching the yeast.

Pumpkinman · Jan 2, 2014

Jim,
Now would be a great time to add a cellaring or finishing tannin to add body, unless a lot of astringency is coming through.

shoebiedoo · Jan 2, 2014

I ended up Pitching it all. the older it got the worse it tasted

To put it bluntly! It WAS *@#^@ HORRIBLE :pee

. I don't know if the caught a bug or what the heck happened. I started to worry about a bacteria growth and played the side of caution. got rid of the wine, Sanitized EVERYTHING. So far I have not duplicated that flavor so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm still going with the Too many stems theory though.

you remember the song.. "No stems nor seeds that you don't need..."

Boatboy24 · Jan 2, 2014

Pumpkinman said:
Jim,
Now would be a great time to add a cellaring or finishing tannin to add body, unless a lot of astringency is coming through.

Thanks Tom. I figured I'd need to give it some Tancor Grand Cru, as I do with most red kits. I'll know for sure soon.

Shoe: that stinks, but better safe than sorry, right?