Red dry smoky wine

[Ludi2shoes]

Hello every one. This is my first post. Every year I make Christmas wine tailored to who I give it to. This year I got a request for a Red Dry and Smokey. Red and Dry no problem. But the Smokey has me a little stumped. Always heard and read use PEAT MOSS for smoky flavor. But I am getting a lot of flack from a different wine group. Most are saying to use heavy charred oak. Even had some say use liquid smoke. I have never had a SMOKEY WINE and have no ideas as to go about it. Whatever I do I need to start soon. Any ideas would be great. Been thinking about throwing a couple cigarette butts in it. LOL Any smoky flavor wine drinkers out their?

 

[seth8530]

Syrah with heavy toast oak... Done!

 

[Boatboy24]

Yep, what Seth said.

Welcome to WMT!

 

[Bergmann]

What Seth said, I prefer Hungarian Oak over American, or French when using heavily toasted, it seem a bit more robust.

 

[JohnT]

Just to rephrase what others have said here, generally a smoky characteristic in wine comes from the level of toasting that was performed on the barrel the wine was aged in.

A heavy dark toast will impart flavors such as smoke, coffee, or chocolate.

For a 5 gallon batch, you want to use about 4 oz of dark toasted Hungarian oak. I highly recommend cubes or beans.

Check/taste the wine after 4 weeks of aging, and extend to up to 8 weeks if need be.

 

[Ludi2shoes]

Thanks guys, at least now I have a game plan. Thanks again!

 

[Julie]

Hi Ludi2shoes, I can't add anything different that what others have said so I am just going to welcome you to winemakingtalk.

 

[heatherd]

Welcome to the forum. Let us know how your red dry smoky wine turns out. You could also add a bit of liquid smoke, maybe?

 

[Ludi2shoes]

Thanks for the welcome!

 

[Turock]

I'm also thinking about a good Cab.

As far as smoky---well, that's a relative term when it comes to wine. I agree that this means a good level of toasted oak. You should use staves for this process as they are toasted exactly like a barrel is toasted. You can leave them on a wine for a good long time--many months in order to get the oak level where you want it. Consider something like the oak has "plus" in its name. We did a Cab with French Toast Plus staves and it came out so excellent.

 

[RCGoodin]

Liquid Smoke

Welcome to the forum. Let us know how your red dry smoky wine turns out. You could also add a bit of liquid smoke, maybe?

Would liquid smoke enhance a Chardonnay, or other white wines?

 

[cintipam]

This past fall I bought a calfornian juice bucket of Chateau neuf de Pap. It was excellent quality, and smoky is the only way I can describe the flavor. This is straight out of the bucket even before any additives or even fermentation. In fact this one is turning out so smoky I will prob use it as a blender to add smoky to my other reds to increase variety of available reds on hand.

Pam in cinti

 

[heatherd]

Would liquid smoke enhance a Chardonnay, or other white wines?

Probably not, I suspect that would overwhelm a white wine. But you could use oak or tannins on them with good effect depending on the style.

 

[seth8530]

I would avoid adding liquid smoke to any of my wines. Just use oak, its easy.