sweet barrel

Now I have noticed the sweetening effect of my 20L barrel for two batches. After topping off 2L to the barrel over time, the concentrated wine tastes much sweeter than the unconcentrated wine. Anyone noticed the same?

What kind of wines are we talking about? My kits always kinda taste sweet but my old vine Zin port made from grapes, which ended up at 1.030 actually tastes less sweet. On the other hand, my cab/Merlot grape wine has actually thinned out. It seems all over the map. Do you think the barrel is adding vanilla undertones?

A 20L barrel is a lot of surface area contact with the wood, wouldn't surprise me if it's imparted a lot of flavour into the wine (keeping in mind that commercial wineries usually use barrels that are like 225L and up).
Sweet = vanilla = American oak?

I don't have experience with using barrels but maybe if you want some oak characteristics but not as much as what you're getting it would make sense to keep in the barrel for only a small time then transfer to an inert glass vessel..

I wouldn't so much say I find a sweet taste from my barrels as much as an elimination of the dreaded KT, leaving behind more noticeable fruit and oak. Also making my wines much more approachable and that certainly is a "sweet" thing.

Just re read my post. Sorry should have stated "after barrel aging" for all those wines.

By "sweet" I mean sugar like. The first batch I noticed this is from CA Cab Sauv. The second batch is Chilean Cab and Syrah 50-50 mix. All fresh grapes. My end SG are all below 0.99. It has to do with concentration. Once I re-hydrate it by 10% the sweetness goes away.