Sparkling Concord (intentionally)?

[E-man]

Hello All,
I've been lurking on the forum for about a year as I can't seem to find any prior topic on this. Great stuff on here and extremely helpful forum on almost any topic, except I can't seem to find anything about this one.

Has anyone made an sparkling concord on purpose? If so, what methods were successful for you? I have about 3 gallons of homegrown concord fermenting and was thinking about trying to make a sparkling wine out of some of it as an experiment. I was thinking something like a high octane grapey cider might work well the varietal since concord is usually backsweetened.

Here's what I've done so far:
-started with about 50 lbs of grapes then did a sulfited rise and then froze (needed an available press)
-thawed and added pectic enzyme and waited 36 hours
-pressed off the skins to make a rose style and to avoid the foxiness of this varietal
-chapitalized from 1.045 to 1.088 and ph came right out at 3.4 so I left as is
-Add nutrients, .6 tsp of tannins and rehydrate/pitched RC212 yeast on 10/25/19
-stiring couple times a day and the ferment is still going strong

I've been making cider for about a year so I was thinking of using the xylitol method for back-sweetening to taste (somewhere around a semi-sweet level) and then dextrose with a pinch of EC-1118 in the bottles for the champagne type carbonation (in bottle 2nd ferment). Any issue with using EC-1118 after using a different type of yeast or try using xylitol with wine? So far both have been been fine in my ciders which are more on the dry side (ie not too much xylitol goes into them).
Any other methods that might be better to pull this off?
Thanks for the help!

 

[salcoco]

one method is similar to the carbonation of beer. do not add any K-meta or sorbate to the wine wait until it clears. add about 3/4 cup sugar per 5 gallons(prorate as necessary) stir well. add to beer bottles or champagne bottles. can crown cap champagne bottles similar to beer bottles. keep in warm place ambient about 70deg f. should have carbonation in about a month. keep bottles up right . care in pouring as some sediment will occur in bottom of bottle. there is no need to add additional yeast as some is still in the wine all it needs is some more sugar.

 

[jburtner]

I have some 1L beer bottles that take crown caps and also have grolsch style caps. Here's some carbonation methods worth noting:
https://vinepair.com/articles/sparkling-wine-champagne-methods/

Cheers!
-johann

 

[user 36973]

Has anyone made an sparkling concord on purpose?

I keg the Concord and force carbonate it like beer, but cold and at 30 psi. I bottle with a higher pressure counter pressure bottler

 

[FXibley]

here are some pics of my 2018 sparkling concord:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B2VBDo_p4JD/

I crush up at the grape farm (1600lbs), allow spontaneous ferment for 8 days with punchdown twice a day (35 gal brute trash cans), press, move to secondary (8 x 15 gal glass carboys), add 1/3 lb per gal of sugar on two separate occasions (total of 2/3 lbs per gal) to increase abv (Concord is a low-sugar grape), wait 8-10 weeks then rack and add malolactic bacteria (vp41), bulk age for 8 months, 2-3 weeks before bottling I add egg whites (fining and collecting remaining malolactic bacteria), rack and add 1/2 cup sugar per gal and bottle in champagne bottles. Takes about 8 weeks in bottle to become sparkling.

 

[E-man]

Thanks all for the input and links to the different carbonation techniques. The traditional technique looks interesting but I don't have the equipment to pull it off. Also, don't have kegging equipment so I'm left to carbing in the bottle.
sdibley - is it normal to do an MLF on this varietal? I hadn't planned on it but now I'm interested in how it changes the taste profile. It sounds like most people aren't trying to leave a residual sugar (ie non-fermentable back sweetening) unless they have the ability to force carbonate?
Thanks

 

[FXibley]

haha i dont think its normal. this varietal is usually super sweet. i wanted to make a semi-sweet version (non-sparkling) and had to find a way to deal with the malic acid. i like how it turns out plus the bit of creamyness and mouthfeel that vp41 impacts i think works well. I dont turn all the wine into sparkling, most i backsweeten at 1/2 sugar cup per gal and add potassium sorbate.