What does on lees taste like?

[Rice_Guy]

I just finished racking an apple mead which has 1% aronia (choke berry). The top of the primary tested at 1.010. It has apple notes with a weak astringent / this was the target flavor.
The yeast off the bottom of the primary surprised me. It has front bitter notes and a long and strong astringent.

This brings up two questions:
1) what is the flavor of wine that has sat on gross lees?
and 2) would yeast cells concentrate bitter and astringent notes? 3) a lot of white grape wines have a low level bitter note. Is the low level bitter in whites caused by yeast byproduct?
OPINION? . . . .

 

[back2it]

Darn it, I didn't know I was supposed to be tasting the lees as well

 

[winemaker81]

My thoughts:

1) I've let a few wines set on the gross lees too long, and I got a musty, slightly bitter aroma and taste. Some of my early mentors were adamant that wine needed to be off the gross lees ASAP. Those are reasons why EM was a hard thing for me to accept, and I'm still not doing it for any length of time.

In recent years I've had reds set on gross lees for 3 weeks post-pressing, with no adverse effects.

My current line of thought regarding wine setting on gross lees for extended periods is "it depends" ... on the wine itself. Heavier wines can handle things better than lighter ones.

2) I don't think the yeast cells introduce bitter or astringent notes, but I also haven't done a full sur lie / battonage on whites. I will be starting 2 carboys of Vidal in a month or so. I may try leaving one on the fine lees and the other not.

3) I haven't tasted bitterness in whites, but it's not a flavor I'm sensitive to. When we conducted the K&C test, the bitterness introduced by K&C had to be obvious for me to notice it. [I'm far more aware of it now]

Darn it, I didn't know I was supposed to be tasting the lees as well

You'll learn something new on this forum every week. Fortunately, there will NOT be a test.

 

[BigDaveK]

I had a couple sit on gross lees much longer than advised. I was worried because of what I read but I didn't notice any adverse qualities. So I'm wondering - do the fine lees usually associated with sure lie act as insulation? OR is the effect subtle and only noticeable in some kind of side-by-side comparison?

Darn it, I didn't know I was supposed to be tasting the lees as well

There are culinary recipes using lees. I've tried a couple. Worth exploring!

 

[MiBor]

My current line of thought regarding wine setting on gross lees for extended periods is "it depends" ... on the wine itself. Heavier wines can handle things better than lighter ones.

I agree with Bryan's statement. I don't think a mead has anything to gain from sitting on gross lees. If anything, it will loose the crisp taste it's supposed to have and gain some yeasty notes that don't go with the style.
Just my $0.02...