Unbalanced Finished Wine

[Stressbaby]

...sweetness of the wine affects if you taste the acidity, does it not? A lemon and Coca Cola have the same pH yet one is sour/acidic and the other is sweet. That's what I meant about my wine, had I not let it get so dry the acidity wouldn't be so dominant, right? I meant that it was an indirect result. But, since I want a dry cab, I just need to let it age to finish properly.

You are correct.

Also, technical point, while MLF does affect pH and TA in the way @FreddyC mentioned, it is not for the reasons given. One malic (four carbon) turns into just one lactic (three carbon) plus CO2. But the malic which has 2 hydrogen to give is converted to lactic which has only one hydrogen to give.

 

[therealjohnsquad]

Can he not just bottle it and allow it to age in the bottle? Is there a benefit to bulk aging?

 

[CabSauv]

Can he not just bottle it and allow it to age in the bottle? Is there a benefit to bulk aging?

I could but bulk aging allows a slower rate of oxidation. If I were to part out the wine into bottles, there would be more head space per volume of wine. Also, it's best to age, test, and let the wine clarify, (and fix as needed/if needed) in bulk before bottling. The wine should be completely finished and clear before bottling. If I were to bottle now, I'd probably end up with a partially cloudy wine with crystals forming in the bottle over time.

 

[CabSauv]

Well, this weekend was racking weekend for my first 2 batches that have been bulk aging since April. The last time I tasted my wine was 2 months ago and as this thread shows, I've been worried and scratching my head over a sharp bite in my wine. I had my dad in town to help me and to our pleasant surprise, the first batch which I had thought was headed down bad batch lane until everyone reassured me to "just wait", tasted absolutely amazing. When I took a splash with the wine thief to look, smell, and taste here is what we found:

Sight:
The clarity was bright and clear, and I saw very little cloudiness. The color had clearly started to slightly change from deep purple to more of a ruby color. The only remaining cloudiness/sediment was from the oak cubes I put in for the first 3 months of bulk aging (now removed). Always love seeing the legs on wine, especially on a wine I made.

Smell:
We swirled the wine and took a proper sniff and at first had us worried because we could still smell the same sharpness/bite which is what I opened this thread about.

Taste:
All I can say is wow...no sharpness or bite! It was amazing and I can honestly say I was surprised to see such change in just 2 months. I wasn't expecting that considering we could still smell a hint of it. My dad and I were half tempted to go back in for another sip but I decided against it because I didn't have much in the open bottle to top off and I didn't want to create too much head space.

Overall:
My wine has a savory dry start to a rich full bodied tannin finish. I was actually quite impressed. The slight hint of sharpness is barely hanging on but I have complete confidence it will subside as aging continues. My dad and I agreed that this is a wine we could drink every day as is and we can't wait to see how it continues to improve with age come bottling time and even after a year in the bottle.

I also racked batch 2 and while I didn't do a full sight, smell, and taste assessment, I did give it a taste only test. With this batch of wine, since I added plums and blackberry to the primary fermentation, I was able to see it as more of a fruit forward and smoother finish, less tannin in this one. Still dry, but definitely not as savory or oaky as batch 1. It's on track to be great too, in it's own regard. Both will finish in the 13%-13.2% ABV range by my estimates, which is a good start.

Thanks to everyone who reassured me...I'm happy to report that YOU WERE RIGHT!!

 

[jgmann67]

Okay - so now you have an idea of where your wines will land if you do nothing else but let them sit and bottle them when they're ready. The question becomes, do you want to change the flavor of your wines at all? From your last post, it reads like you want to leave Batch #1 alone, rack it in another 3 months and maybe bottle it then. But, with Batch #2, with big fruit and no tannin, it reads like you are thinking about putting it on oak cubes and/or some tannin complex for another 3 months before you decide when to bottle.

These are good problems to have...

 

[CabSauv]

Okay - so now you have an idea of where your wines will land if you do nothing else but let them sit and bottle them when they're ready. The question becomes, do you want to change the flavor of your wines at all? From your last post, it reads like you want to leave Batch #1 alone, rack it in another 3 months and maybe bottle it then. But, with Batch #2, with big fruit and no tannin, it reads like you are thinking about putting it on oak cubes and/or some tannin complex for another 3 months before you decide when to bottle.

These are good problems to have...

Exactly. I'm still planning on bulk aging until December at the earliest, then I can bottle while off for Christmas and New Years. For batch 2, the ball is in my court to alter if I want, but I'm heavily leaning towards leaving it as is since it will be a nice contrast to batch 1. Having around 30 bottles of each cab, and both having different profiles will be a nice problem to have.

 

[Mismost]

2 months? I'm trying to get two years! We had a year old bottle the other night and we both just going WOW! WOW! Bigger bolder and smoother too. I have a case stashed and it is going to be hard to wait another year now that we know how much it has improved.

 

[CabSauv]

2 months? I'm trying to get two years! We had a year old bottle the other night and we both just going WOW! WOW! Bigger bolder and smoother too. I have a case stashed and it is going to be hard to wait another year now that we know how much it has improved.

I'm not saying it's done after just 2 months, I just mean that the sharp bite that was in it has disappeared and it's delicious. I'm going to continue to age it until December at the earliest either way.

And for the record, I am absolutely shocked that it changed so much in just 2 months. I'm not sure if it's just the conditions I'm storing it in or because I didn't use sorbate, or I nailed the fermentation and additives for finishing. I don't know if I got lucky or just nailed the process...?

 

[CabSauv]

UPDATE:

Just an update on this kit. Since I am running extremely low on my first batch ("Contre le Vent") and I'd like to keep a few bottles for longer keep, I'm thinking the 5-7 year mark, I hesitantly pulled out a bottle of my second batch. This is the wine mentioned in this thread as having a sharp unbalanced finish. WOW. It has calmed down and the sharpness is gone and very few flaws compared to what it was before. It's nearly balanced to what I was hoping it would be and it was very pleasant to drink. I wish I knew chemically what changed in the 2.5 years that it's been aging in the bottle but I am really impressed with what it's turned into. Just goes to show that time does wonders for a wine. The only thing I did notice in the bottle I had this time compared to the last one I had a year or so ago was that this bottle had tartrate crystals in the bottom.

 

[Johnd]

UPDATE:

Just an update on this kit. Since I am running extremely low on my first batch ("Contre le Vent") and I'd like to keep a few bottles for longer keep, I'm thinking the 5-7 year mark, I hesitantly pulled out a bottle of my second batch. This is the wine mentioned in this thread as having a sharp unbalanced finish. WOW. It has calmed down and the sharpness is gone and very few flaws compared to what it was before. It's nearly balanced to what I was hoping it would be and it was very pleasant to drink. I wish I knew chemically what changed in the 2.5 years that it's been aging in the bottle but I am really impressed with what it's turned into. Just goes to show that time does wonders for a wine. The only thing I did notice in the bottle I had this time compared to the last one I had a year or so ago was that this bottle had tartrate crystals in the bottom.

Though not a chemistry heavy article, it’s a short, easy read on some of the basic changes that ocurr.
https://www.winemag.com/2018/10/09/what-happens-wine-ages/