Red wine question

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jkrug

jkrug

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When I buy wine in a restaurant or store(rarely in a store), seems those wines have a deeper color and much more body than mine. I use homewinery juice. My wine is more transparent than that. Much less body. Flavor is typically lacking also. I add sugar they are ok, but not the dries. I drink dry not sweet, thats for my wife. I age my reds at least 1 yr in carboy and 6 months in bottle. Any suggestions appreciated.
 
It is because you are using juice and not whole grapes.

The juice is extracted from the grapes with limited contact with the skins. I let my juice sit on the skins for a minimum of 6 days and always get wine that is big and bold.

There are options when using juice. One is to simply add whole fruit to your juice and allow to ferment. I also have heard of products like freeze dried grape skins that you could also use.
 
jkrug said:
When I buy wine in a restaurant or store(rarely in a store), seems those wines have a deeper color and much more body than mine. I use homewinery juice. My wine is more transparent than that. Much less body. Flavor is typically lacking also. I add sugar they are ok, but not the dries. I drink dry not sweet, thats for my wife. I age my reds at least 1 yr in carboy and 6 months in bottle. Any suggestions appreciated.
Click to expand...

More flavor and body, deeper color and bigger nose typically come from the skins. You'll get more of those things in a kit with skins (compared to a kit without skins) and why commercial wines (that do it the old fashioned way) are typically bigger than kit wines, even when the kit comes with skins.
 
So it sounds like you wonnt get rhat quality from straight juice. So any fruit like cherries, plums etc. Will help with body, flavor and color?
 
M & M wine grapes sells grape packs to add to your juice. They do a pretty good job of "thickening" up a red wine.
 
Another option would be to buy a higher end kit that comes with skins.
 
Jkrug, I make a lot of Home Winery wine, just got 4 jugs today. I too thought it was thin in the beginning, but now we kick it up. I use one pint per gallon of water, ( instructions say 4 pints per 5 gals) sometimes 6 pints per 5 gals. I also add a pound of ground raisins, at least a cup of oak chips in the primary, & sometimes add fresh fruit or used grape skins into the mix. The cost of all the above equals an inexpensive kit. But I can say I made the wine from grape concentrate, not a kit. I do make kits too, but prefer concentrates, juice buckets, & real grapes. Roy
 
Thanks for everones input. I ordered grape skins last night. One last question can thhe skins be used after fermentation? I have a pinot noir aging now that is going to have the same issue that all my reds have had in the past.
 
They would probably restart fermentation due to their sugars, so it might be worth a shot.
 
FTC Wines said:
Jkrug, I make a lot of Home Winery wine, just got 4 jugs today. I too thought it was thin in the beginning, but now we kick it up. I use one pint per gallon of water, ( instructions say 4 pints per 5 gals) sometimes 6 pints per 5 gals. I also add a pound of ground raisins, at least a cup of oak chips in the primary, & sometimes add fresh fruit or used grape skins into the mix. The cost of all the above equals an inexpensive kit. But I can say I made the wine from grape concentrate, not a kit. I do make kits too, but prefer concentrates, juice buckets, & real grapes. Roy
Click to expand...


The difference between a kit and concentrates is a couple of bags of additives, which you are adding...Any way you look at it, your wine comes from a kit, either a one-box kit or an assembled kit.

Either way, its all good...
 
It's hard to beat wine made from fresh grapes. I think as you deviate from that you are making trade offs and compromises, which is ok, but should play into your expectations of the resulting wine.
 
I have had some success in buying a few lugs of Cabernet Sauvignon or Zinfandel, stripping the grapes off of the stems and putting them and the resulting juice in freezer bags. I keep them in my freezer until if get a juice bucket and then thaw and add a bag (5 pounds or so) to the juice bucket in a strainer bag in primary. I also make it a priority to squeeze the bags at least once but preferably twice per day while in primary. At the end of primary, though, I discard the bags and have never tried to reuse them.
 
Rocky, that sounds great, but in STL MO area I cannot get anyone to sell me their grapes. If you know someone that would ship for a reasonable price please let me know.
 
I received my skins this week. Do you recommend putting them in my fruit bag and then in my bucket or straight in the bucket (fermentation). Wanna get this rolling this weekend.
 
jkrug said:
I received my skins this week. Do you recommend putting them in my fruit bag and then in my bucket or straight in the bucket (fermentation). Wanna get this rolling this weekend.
Click to expand...

I put them in my fruit bag. Easier to squeeze and easier to remove when racking.
 
jkrug said:
I received my skins this week. Do you recommend putting them in my fruit bag and then in my bucket or straight in the bucket (fermentation). Wanna get this rolling this weekend.
Click to expand...

I put them straight into my fermenter, scoop out with a strainer and press as fermentation comes to an end.
 
Do the skins look like juice, in bag that you order from M&M? I hope this will do the trick.
 
I lieu of the particular grape skins for the type of wine, I've used dried fruits often described as a flavor in a particular wine. Dried Black Currant, Dried Cherries, Dried Raisins (red and white), Dried Dates, as examples, They can help bolster the mouthfeel
 

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