Niagara wine.

[Nono]

Hi there. I have a question I hope someone can help with. I juiced all my Niagara grapes last year with a steam juicer. I then canned it for later wine making. The juice was a cloudy pale pink. Like pastel. ..
Made the wine this spring and turned a light rose?? Kmeta after fermentation. Let sit a month then racked again and degraded no new k meta and wine seams darker still???
Maybe oxidized??? usually make wine with fresh grapes and its always so good. This tastes slightly bitter but will probably age out but the color is wrong#!

 

[vacuumpumpman]

When you canned - did you follow the normal canning operation ?

Bringing it to a boil and sterilizing everything ??

 

[Mismost]

Niagara! Sorry....I thought you said Viagara, my bad.

Never done a grape wine...but, I suspect it may be like pectin set? Cooking/heating helps set the pectin in fruit...just a guess. Next time I would try adding Pectic Enzyme 24 hours before pitching the yeast....they (could be three old guys in a trailer park) say it helps break it down. I have used it in plum wines and it does seem to help. Just my thoughts....and remember, I thought we were talking about Viagara!!

 

[Nono]

Did add pectin enzyme. And I sterilized jars and lids when I canned but didn't process. Just let it seal from hot juice.

 

[stickman]

Here is a clip from Winemaker Mag that explains your pinking issue.

White wines (and sometimes rosés) may be fined at the juice stage for a couple of reasons. Some varieties, notably Sauvignon Blanc, are subject to a condition called "pinking" where the colorless-to-pale-straw juice takes on a pink or bronze hue. The phenomenon can occur at several stages of wine production, beginning with must. It is caused by slight oxidation of certain colorless precursor compounds in white wine grapes. The starting compounds are not visible, but upon exposure to air they transform into their pink oxidized counterparts.

Since the color formed by "pinking" can persist into the finished wine and harm market acceptance, commercial winemakers with this problem will usually address it in the juice stage to avoid further problems. Any white juice and some pink juices may also be subject to rapid oxidation and browning. Of course, your first line of defense here is to be sure you sulfite the must at the crush. Nonetheless, when pressed, the white juice may appear brown and pink juice may appear amber. Both pinking and browning can be fined out with polyvinylpolypyrrolidone (PVPP). For treating white wine to prevent browning, a simple midrange dose can probably be applied without much complication. For improving the color in a pink juice, however, a trial is almost essential. A low but effective dose will brighten the color and remove browning, but too much can strip out the anthocyanins themselves that are responsible for the reddish hue. Do a trial on a small portion before you treat the whole batch! As described later in the chemical activity section, PVPP may also act to reduce bitterness in some juices or wines.

 

[Nono]

Oh. Thank you. That is very interesting. I am bummed that it is oxidized especially since I did use sulphate but not until after the canning. This year I most definitely will not be steam juicing. I have never had this problem before. Thanks again for your response it's much appreciated!

 

[Turock]

Just ferment the grapes. Niagara is such a good white wine and it pains me how you tortured those grapes for nothing.

We like to ferment them on the skins and the pulp----don't press them and use the juice only. You lose a lot of flavor that way. Niagara grapes should not be treated like a wine grape. They should be fermented as if they're a fruit. And pick them while they're green. Flavor loss goes up big time when they ripen to yellow.

 

[Nono]

I only steam juiced them because I had just had sergery and wasn't able to do much. No freezer space. Have made wine from them for the last 5 years and always amazing! One of my faves. Just never had it go pink. Gotta be the juicing.