Süßreserve Pack for Vignoles

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Tovis

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I had an idea, and no ideas in wine making seem to be original anymore. Sounds like those crafty Germans have been doing it for a bit. I guess the method is called Süßreserve or Süssreserve. With this method, it sounds like you ferment your wine slowly and attempt to get the alcohol content a bit higher than usual. When it is done fermenting you sorbate and kMeta it and chill it. That is when you pull your handy reserved juice or Süssreserve pack out of the freezer and dump it in gently.

Has anybody used this method? I plan to use it with Vignoles and I'd like feedback on how much to add in.

When I use the champagne method, I make a dosage that is similar right after the disgorging and prior to corking. For this I add sorbate, acid, and a simple syrup. I know that some of the yeast will still be active in the bottle so I overshoot the sugar to taste plus a bit because I know some will turn to alcohol and CO2. I am fine with this because it restores the bubbles to what they were if not a little stronger than prior to the disgorging.

With a Süßreserve pack, I know I will not and should not bottle right after the addition because some fermentation might take place with the yeast that is still active. I'd rather not boil it to sterilize it because that might add notes of carmel and such which would be undesired. Would this be needed though, should I just heat it enough to kill any yeast or bacteria and add KMeta and Sorbate?

Oh, the reason you aim to ferment with a higher level of alcohol is because you dilute it with unfermented juice.
 
This method works well. I like to freeze 1 gal of reserve for 5gal of wine. This gives a spatlaese level of sweetness to my riesling.

When I thaw the reserve, I invert a gallon jug over a pitcher and collect about 1/3 to 1/2 gallon of thawed juice. This is typically 35-40 brix and doesn't dilute the wine as much as a full gallon.

As you mentioned it is important to have clear and sorbated wine before you add the reserve.
 
What do you mean by "I invert a gallon jug over a pitcher and collect about 1/3 to 1/2 gallon of thawed juice"?
 
I freeze some of the juice in 1 gallon plastic jugs. When I thaw the frozen juice, I place the frozen jug upside down on top of the pitcher. A high brix (35-45) juice will thaw first dripping into the pitcher and leaving mostly water/ice crystals behind in the jug. Once the brix from drops of juice falls below ~20 on refractometer, I stop collecting.
 
Ah, I was wondering if one could concentrate something using a method like this. I noticed when I froze a Mountain Dew, the syrup almost seemed to separate from the water.

How do you invert it from one jug to another with a tube or something. I currently have them frozen in plastic milk jugs.
 
I just turn the jug upside down on top of a juice pitcher providing some support so the pitcher doesn't tip over. The thick juice will drip through the ice layers and collect in the pitcher. I test the juice dripping out occasionally with my refractometer to follow the brix.
If you don't have a refractometer then just stop collecting after you get 1/3 to 1/2 of the starting frozen volume.
 
Thats great. I was following what Treeman suggested and it made sense. I know wineries that make an ice style wine with apple juice this way and even with grape juice.
 
So the wine just went from an awesome sweat heavenly drink to a bold somewhat acidic and almost like a hint of sour candy. I hope the sweetness returns a tad as it matures but curious to see how it evolves.
 
Temperature of the wine can play a bit with the perceived sweetness. Did you add sorbate to prevent fermentation?
 
Thats great. I was following what Treeman suggested and it made sense. I know wineries that make an ice style wine with apple juice this way and even with grape juice.


I've made both apple and grape Vin de Glacière using this method. My biggest issue has been controlling TA levels because acids also concentrate with the sugars during the freeze-thaw process. It seems that malic is much more soluble than tartaric acid so you can end up with TA levels over 1.0 if the juice is high in malic acid before freezing.
 
Yes I added Sorbate to prevent bobble bombs I did want it to fizz a little though which it did perfectly. I think it may just need age to tone the acid down. It is a great wine, just maturing as wines do.
 
Just chilled a bottle and watched white crystals form at the bottom. Tasted even better might chill proof in bottles and rebottle or figure out something.
 
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