Sour wine

[mikejapan]

I started my first batch of wine from my backyard Frontenac grapes last fall. I now am pretty sure I picked the grapes too early because at this point I have 15 gallons of sour grape wine. S.G. is .998. If I add 4 teaspoons of sugar to 6 oz. of the wine it becomes drinkable and the S.G. is 1.40. I don't really understand what these readings are telling me. I would appreciate some guidance on what to do.
.

 

[Brew and Wine Supply]

Too early to tell, Frontenac will taste sour when young. check your pH and TA, you may need to do some acid adjusting. Did that to some Norton and it turned out wonderfull.
Do you want a sweet or dry wine?

 

[Julie]

As Doug stated, check the acid, can you post up what all you have done so far? I am assuming when you said 1.40 you meant 1.040? The wine is very young, check the acid and ph and leave it age for awhile.

 

[mikejapan]

I syphoned it from secondaries after 2 months and have left it in carboys since (about 4 months). I will check acid and get back.

 

[mikejapan]

Yes, by the way 1.040

 

[Brew and Wine Supply]

Yes, by the way 1.040

But that is after you add more sugar?

 

[mikejapan]

Yes, .998 before.

 

[mikejapan]

Too early to tell, Frontenac will taste sour when young. check your pH and TA, you may need to do some acid adjusting. Did that to some Norton and it turned out wonderfull.
Do you want a sweet or dry wine?

At this point ph is 3.17 and TA is1.2percent. I wound rather have a dryer wine but slightly sweet would be o.k. I understand this is not a simple fix but all these charts and chemistry are a bit much for me. I would just like to end up with something that is drinkable.

 

[Wiz]

I am making right now 26 gallons cab sauvignon from Italian concentrate. The TA is .90 and I have no way of measuring ph. I added 3.4 grams/gallon of Kbicarbonate and reduced the TA to .80. I have no way of chilling. Any other solutions to lower the acid?

 

[altavino]

I would do mlf and once that is done cold stabilise the wine for a month to drop out some of the tartaric acid.

you may also consider adding some biolees durring the mlf , this will help the mlf but it also helps take some of the sharpness out of the wine and smooth it .

frontinac also blends well with vinifera , 10% merlot , syrah or cab can make a big diffenrence.

IMO all of these would be preferable to a sweet frontinac .


for the concentrate wine , you could try the mlf and biolees .

 

[mikejapan]

Is mlf still an option after being in carboys for 10 months?