Rose just not so good, what would you do?

[NorCal]

Hey Norcal,

I wonder if MLF might soften the acidity and also provide a buttery quality?

Good idea. It did some level of spontaneous mlf, as it was bubbling on its own for a month. Not sure how far along it got.

 

[Boatboy24]

My knee jerk reaction, like others is to bench trial with a little sugar. I've found that often, you don't even know it's there, but it does smooth things out. A little sugar also brings out the flavors in fruit wines, so you might get some help in that area as well. I like a nice, crisp Rose so for me, not playing with the acidity would be my preferred path. I do like the idea of possibly trying MLF too, though your pH may not allow for that, if your wine is already too acidic. There's also always the possibility of reducing acid w/ potassium bicarb and cold stabilization.

So I guess my course(s) of action would be to first bench test with a little sugar. If that doesn't help (and pH allows for it), try MLF. Finally, an acid reduction. If still not there, you might then be in range to try MLF. But I can't imagine it getting to that point.

 

[ibglowin]

Did I miss the numbers for pH and TA?

 

[NorCal]

pH between 3.3 - 3.4, no TA numbers. Wine was cold stabilized for a week in a refrigerator, which did result in some fallout.

 

[ibglowin]

You always read the spec sheets on Rose' wine and how they were harvested early for "peak acid" levels so kinda at a loss here except for the 17 Brix. Perhaps the grapes were just too far underripe and are the root cause for it being just not very good at the moment. Most Rose' are in the 13%ABV range and I think 17 Brix comes out to ~9%ABV .

 

[cmason1957]

I didn't think of this earlier, but I wonder if increasing the alcohol content a bit might help? Alcohol has a perceived sweetness to it as I recall and maybe at the ~9%ABV, it just doesn't add enough to be what your brain expects it to be. The 3.3-3.4 PH (maybe a little lower after the cold stabilization) seems to be about in the sweet spot for a Rose.

 

[Snafflebit]

I have "saved" wines like this with blending, if that's an option. Adding a small amount of an excessively fruity wine can turn something weedy and unripe into something palatable (hot tub wine). I have used catawba for this purpose and muscat -they are both a bit much on their own, but they can really pick up an herbaceous or otherwise dreary wine.

Are you in California? I have a lot of muscat -perhaps we can do a trade at some point?

-Aaron

Orange Muscat sounds like a good blender. Backsweetening the rosé might not be enough


(BTW, I need to type accents often so I have Windows set up with US English and International English keyboards and toggle between the two)

 

[NorCal]

While I would not blend the red wine I make with other commercial wine, I am up for any additions to doctor this Rose back to health.

Maybe I will pick up a bottle of some different sweet barefoot wines (pink moscato, peach fruitscato) on the way home from work today. It will be a nice weekend project to see how much blending it would take to bring my Rose around. Hopefully not much. I'd rather cut my losses and dump 10 gallons than spend the $ and end up with 20 gallons of wine I don't like.

 

[Snafflebit]

Mmmm, I will take a half-caf peach fruscitino frosé. Hold the whip

 

[NorCal]

They only had the Barefoot pink moscato, decided to buy a 1.5 liter, with the buy 6 discount is $6.99 each. The Mrs. and I did our testing after dinner and a few glasses of wine, so we may want to repeat just to makes sure.
I broke out the graduated cylinder and our mini tasting glasses and poured a few different Rose to Pink Moscato ratios.

1:0 confirmed undrinkable
2:1 too sweet
4:1 Ok
6:1 weakness showing
5:1 best this donkey will be

Choices at this point:
1. dump it
2. buy $40 of commercial wine, $80 of bottles/corks/labels and have 60 bottles of wine at $2 incremental cost to give away (few years?)

I had another thought. I’m assuming the whole corona thing will be at the point where we can safely get together with family this summer. We have family groups of 20+ from each side of the family over our house during the year and I suspect that will resume in 2021. Having this semi-sweet Rose would be a defensive move so that I can serve the less discriminating wine drinkers the Rose and not my Viognier and reds.

 

[Snafflebit]

Having a sweeter wine around can be a crowd pleaser. I poured in a tasting room and I was surprised at the general skew in tastes towards sweeter wine. Perhaps even experiment with making it sparkling.

 

[VinesnBines]

Do you have any family or friends to be a Guinea Pig/tester? If you could prepare a couple bottle and have the folks in your circle try it out, then you will know what they think.

Have you given up on letting it age?

 

[Boatboy24]

Perhaps even experiment with making it sparkling.

There's a good idea. A sweetened, sparkling rose is perfect for warm summer days and/or as an appetizer wine. Some prosciutto, salami, aged cheese and a bit of bubbly.

 

[Snafflebit]

If the wine you made is weird tasting or hard to go back for another glass, I say give up. Or put it back in a cool place and revisit it in 3 years. No need to waste time and money on bad wine.

 

[mainshipfred]

They only had the Barefoot pink moscato, decided to buy a 1.5 liter, with the buy 6 discount is $6.99 each. The Mrs. and I did our testing after dinner and a few glasses of wine, so we may want to repeat just to makes sure.
I broke out the graduated cylinder and our mini tasting glasses and poured a few different Rose to Pink Moscato ratios.

1:0 confirmed undrinkable
2:1 too sweet
4:1 Ok
6:1 weakness showing
5:1 best this donkey will be

Choices at this point:
1. dump it
2. buy $40 of commercial wine, $80 of bottles/corks/labels and have 60 bottles of wine at $2 incremental cost to give away (few years?)

I had another thought. I’m assuming the whole corona thing will be at the point where we can safely get together with family this summer. We have family groups of 20+ from each side of the family over our house during the year and I suspect that will resume in 2021. Having this semi-sweet Rose would be a defensive move so that I can serve the less discriminating wine drinkers the Rose and not my Viognier and reds.

I hate giving my better wines to, as you so eloquently put it" less discriminating wine drinkers". They typically would prefer a sweeter wine anyway.

 

[NorCal]

Have you given up on letting it age?

I did lose sight of this and perhaps I should give it another few months before pulling the trigger. I don’t think time will do a lot to this light wine, but its winter and the wine would just sit in cases. I have nothing to gain by doing this now, besides getting it out of my hair, so I appreciate the reminder.

 

[VinesnBines]

It is early to be thinking of bottling but I understand a bee in the bonnet!!! Ignore it awhile.

 

[user 38734]

Those 17 brix Grenache grapes were obviously suboptimal, but like many have here have said - no need to dump it. Hopefully the overall ABV is ≥ 10.5.

Let it age another 4 or 5 months, then decide if you still want to alter it.

Deacidify.

Back sweeten with simple syrup.
Or,
Blend with a sweet white, either a cheap store-bought or Aaron's Muscat (I believe he's just two counties south of you?)
Or,
Alter with a commercial product - there are dozens of concentrates to choose from.

"Bench testing" is a great excuse for a party!

 

[Ajmassa]

It is early to be thinking of bottling but I understand a bee in the bonnet!!! Ignore it awhile.

Well done at lassoing this back to good ol ‘patience’. Even though rosé is typically ready early it’s still only January. I have one from the fall and have yet to evaluate. Still letting clear and giving it a dose of winter temps right now in the shed for CS.

Perhaps as it ages this cab/merlot/franc/grenache rosé could also benefit from CS. Could maybe knock back some of the acidity a bit which help the perception of thinness. Just a thought.

 

[NorCal]

Well done at lassoing this back to good ol ‘patience’. Even though rosé is typically ready early it’s still only January. I have one from the fall and have yet to evaluate. Still letting clear and giving it a dose of winter temps right now in the shed for CS.

Perhaps as it ages this cab/merlot/franc/grenache rosé could also benefit from CS. Could maybe knock back some of the acidity a bit which help the perception of thinness. Just a thought.

It spent a week in the fridge, some, but not a lot of fallout.