Sour Blood Orange Spice Wine

[mhopkins]

I am not new to wine making (32 batches to date), but still have much to learn.

Background: I made an Orange Spice wine in 2019 – delicious!

I am currently making a 6-gal batch of Blood Orange Spice Wine. Note: the spice is accomplished by adding home-made cinnamon clove extract, as before.

The current batch has finished quite sour and tart.

First batch was made with canned orange puree; current batch with fresh pureed blood oranges.
The base is white grape juice for both batches.
Included 16 oz. lemon juice in both batches.

Current batch:
Starting sp. grav. 1.110; finished at 0.997, so ~15.35 ABV.
The pH is 3.2
It has cleared nicely.
Back-sweetened with 2 C sugar so far. It needs another 1-2 C sugar (first batch I back-sweetened with 4 C sugar).

Will addition of the sugar this diminish the sour/tarte taste?
Do I need to consider adding some Potassium Bicarbonate?
Other recommendations?

Grateful for any input!

 

[cmason1957]

One way to help you decide if the sugar will help the taste is to pull off 100 Ml of you wine and add predetermined amounts of sugar. 4 grams of sugar = 1 tsp, so 1 gram = 1/4 tsp. Add some, taste, repeat. only way I know to know for sure.

 

[mhopkins]

Okay, then. Next step . . . bench testing. Thanks!

 

[mhopkins]

One way to help you decide if the sugar will help the taste is to pull off 100 Ml of you wine and add predetermined amounts of sugar. 4 grams of sugar = 1 tsp, so 1 gram = 1/4 tsp. Add some, taste, repeat. only way I know to know for sure.

Thanks . . . it turned out well! Turned out a little thin/watery. Will add a bit of Arabinol (Liquid Gum Arabic) to enhance the mouthfeel. A good batch!

 

[mhopkins]

Bottled last night. A great batch!