Taste and smell are disappointing

Good Evening All,

I did some searching, but have not found something that helps me specifically. I have cleared and stabilized a batch of raspberry wine, but it smells and tastes very bitter. At one point after racking, it smelled like sulphur, but I was able to get rid of that smell with some additional potassium metabisulfite. The wine is quite clear and the final SG is 0.995. I have purchased some wine conditioner, but I have not yet added it. I am concerned about maintaining the fruit taste and not just making it sweet.

I guess my question is, have I completely ruined this, or should I wait a bit long and then add the conditioner? Is there a fruit back sweetener I should use? Thanks a lot!

I have not made much wine from anything other than grapes, cherry wine being the only exception. From what you have posted, that seems a very dry fruit wine. Do you still have a good raspberry taste? When you say bitter, do you mean sour like lemon juice (i.e. not sweet) or do you mean there is an off taste that is bitter like a lemon rind? I am not sure what you mean by wine conditioner unless you are referring to that white wine conditioner that is a type of fruit pack/sweetener. I would be concerned that you will get too much of a grape taste and lose the berry taste. If you have the patience, try doing nothing for a month or two and see what happens. If you want to sweeten it, I would do so by carefully adding simple syrup (2 parts of sugar dissolved completely in 1 part water). If you feel that you need to enhance the raspberry taste, add few drops of raspberry extract.

"I have cleared and stabilized a batch of raspberry wine"

So if wine conditioner is "a mixture of potassium metabisulfite, potassium sorbate and non-fermentable sugar." and you have already stabilized your wine, I don't think you want to "stabilize" again.

I've see folks talk about back sweetening fruit wines with sugar, white grape juice, frozen juice concentrate, honey, etc. To me, I'm not a big fan of adding more processed sugar, so I would suggest looking at natural sweeteners like the white grape juice or the frozen juice concentrates (Welchs, Old Orchard, etc.).

Opus

Rocky said:

If you have the patience, try doing nothing for a month or two and see what happens.

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This! ^^^^^^^

Usually we think there is a problem that we need to solve with an action when actually we do not need to do anything. I'm probably paraphrasing some Sun Tzu quote.

Opus

I thought wine conditioner was glycerin. I wouldn't think this would fix bitterness.

How old is the wine?

my first thought is that bitterness is excessive tannin, possibly from seeds of the fruit.
I would try fining with a clear gelatin, it can be found in the grocery store unflavored. use one packet for 5 gallons.
alternate do bench trials using sugar syrup to balance the bitterness. it will not cause a sweet wine just achieve balance. try about 50 ml of wine to about 1/4 tsp of sugar syrup.if that doesn't do it try 1/2 tsp to 50 ml . continue adding 1/4 tsp increments to a sample of 50 ml until you achieve desired taste. adding sugar syrup will also enhance fruit flavor. when you reach the result you desire calculate for entire batch. add potassium sorbate wait about a week then bottle.

My experience is that by adding some sugar, it will bring some flavor out and cut down on the bitterness.
Add some to bring it up to 1.000, taste it, and then go from there.
For me, when I make blueberry, strawberry, etc., I can't drink it completely dry and it is bitter and lacks flavor.

when you say bitter, is there a bite on your tongue or do have a pucker feel when you taste it. Do not use the wine conditioner, I used that once and it gave my wine a taste that I can't explain but did not like. Like wineforfun add a little sugar.

Yup...have to agree with most of what's been said. The raspberry seeds have astringent tannins, so that could be your culprit. But I wouldn't monkey around with anything to "fix" that until you've sweetened it a little. We've made a lot of fruit wines, and we haven't come across one that tasted good dry. I would sweeten to taste and let it sit for a while...judge it again in a few months. I'm assuming this is a brand new young wine, and time will make a huge difference.

I'm in agreement with the folks above who recommend that you wait a little while until you do anything, give the wine some time to settle down a bit and assess the situation in a month or two.

As stated earlier, lots of fruit wines don't exhibit their fruity taste until a little sweetness is added back to them, it seems to help the fruit flavors come through, just make sure you've added sorbate to your wine before you attempt to do any sweetening. You can sweeten using many different techniques, whichever you decide to use is your choice, personally, I just use good old sugar.

You could consider getting some more raspberries, freeze and thaw them a time or two, squeeze or press the juice out of them and add to your wine, you'll add sweetness and real raspberry flavor, although you will probably need to clear it again, and you can still add more sweetness if you like it sweeter.

jwmc1 said:

Good Evening All,

I did some searching, but have not found something that helps me specifically. I have cleared and stabilized a batch of raspberry wine, but it smells and tastes very bitter. At one point after racking, it smelled like sulphur, but I was able to get rid of that smell with some additional potassium metabisulfite. The wine is quite clear and the final SG is 0.995. I have purchased some wine conditioner, but I have not yet added it. I am concerned about maintaining the fruit taste and not just making it sweet.

I guess my question is, have I completely ruined this, or should I wait a bit long and then add the conditioner? Is there a fruit back sweetener I should use? Thanks a lot!

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fyi...all my fruit wines have been disappointing early on...apple was terrible, plum was mouth puckering tart, banana yuck, prickly pear was just nasty...all bad in the beginning.

8,9 months to year later, they are all much better...totally different, mellowed, smoother, fruitier...completely changed with add TIME. Time is the additive you're looking for.

I will add my 2 cents as well by saying just let it sit for a while. Young fruit wine tastes bitter and time will make a great improvement. You can always tweak the wine later if it's bulk aging.

Thank-you everyone for your advice, I really appreciate it.

Noontime said:

Yup...have to agree with most of what's been said. The raspberry seeds have astringent tannins, so that could be your culprit. But I wouldn't monkey around with anything to "fix" that until you've sweetened it a little. We've made a lot of fruit wines, and we haven't come across one that tasted good dry. I would sweeten to taste and let it sit for a while...judge it again in a few months. I'm assuming this is a brand new young wine, and time will make a huge difference.

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Thanks, yes it is quite new. Started about 30 days ago. I think you are right about the tannins, there is an astringent quality about it. I will wait amd see what happens.