age of fruit wines

[countrygirl]

i know this info has been touched upon, but i was looking for each persons personal experience and opinions...
what would be the ideal age of fruit wines?
do various fruits differ?
should fruit wines be consumed within a certain time frame?
what would be the maximum age before things go downhill?
just wondering

 

[AlFulchino]

others can chime in, but to get things started...i am new to fruit wines....only started two yrs ago....my high octane peach is still going strong at two yrs....i dont see why they wont give you a good several yr run if properly stabilized....i am sure those w more experience will let us know more

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

I really depends on what kind of fruit its made from, how the wine was made, how good a job the winemaker did in creating it. We plan to keep some of our elderberry wines for 10 years or more, our blackberry also. We tasted a 30 year old blackberry, the sides of the bottle was black from all the anythocyanins that precipiated out but it was so smooth and fantastic that rebottled some of it to keep another 20 years just to see what happens. I have had strawberry that was 10 years old, it had lost some flavor but the nose was very impressive. On the other hand I have had other fruit wines that konked out after just a couple of years. So it all depends on what kind of fruit you are using, and how you make the wine, how much fruit and how good you are at keeping everyting clean when you bottle. Crackedcork

 

[Tom]

Rule of thumb here is 6 months min aging. You will fruit wines can take longer to clear. Fruit wines can be drunk early. No bottle aging like big reds.
Also 1.085 max starting gravity.

 

[JasonH]

I've been making fruit wines almost exclusively for 8 years and I think crackedcork nailed it on the nose. If the wine is properly balanced, it probably depends solely on the fruit. I believe the natural tannins play a very big role in the aging/maturation process.

 

[Wiz]

I opened a 6 month pineapple last night that I had a real concern about. I had bulk aged it for 3 months and bottled. At bottling it was like jet fuel. I had finished it to semi dry. Now it is definitely drinkable with a nice pineapple bouquet and aftertaste. I think it needs another 2 or 3 months to be perfect to my tastes.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

No way Tom, you can drive it up as high as you want if you add enough fruit to give it body, we usually start at 1.095 or 1.100 and top off with syrup while its still fermenting, with more body from more fruit you dont get that hot taste you would if you were just say making 3lb/gal strawberry. Crackedcork

 

[tjbryner]

I have some fruit wines that were made by the guy I bought my house from.
They are atleast 10 yrs. old and are still good.

I would say being in a °50-55 basement with a dirt floor has helped to keep them stable. Most of what is left is Watermelon, Made with out any chemicals.
TJ

 

[Sirs]

No way Tom, you can drive it up as high as you want if you add enough fruit to give it body, we usually start at 1.095 or 1.100 and top off with syrup while its still fermenting, with more body from more fruit you dont get that hot taste you would if you were just say making 3lb/gal strawberry. Crackedcork

I agree the more fruit you use makes it where even when you fortify it up to 40% you still have tons of flavor of the fruit. I know I like alot of alcohol in my wines but I also don't care for a weak tasting or wine with no body to it. As far as the hotness you might have that right after fermentation but after a month or so it leaves and you got a really smooth wine.

 

[Tom]

Look body will help. But, some people think they can use 3# of fruit and 15% alcohol. Well thats Rocket Fuel. Once they see how many#'s per gal and cost of fruit they will go back to 10%+/-.
I use 6-8# of strawberry per gal and a 1.085 S/G. I am happy with that.
Choose your words carefully as people will take that out of context. yada yada... if you know what I mean.
A big red will be much better that a hi-test fruit wine.

 

[BobF]

I've been making fruit wines almost exclusively for 8 years and I think crackedcork nailed it on the nose. If the wine is properly balanced, it probably depends solely on the fruit. I believe the natural tannins play a very big role in the aging/maturation process.

Tannins are VERY important - whether from the fruit or added. The longer you want to age, the higher the tannon requirement (within reason, whatever reason is!).

 

[seth8530]

Im thinking that my apple wine might end up being rocket fuelish.. i hope it turns out ok tho...

 

[Wiz]

Sirs, I an intrigued by your frequent references to your high alchohol wines. How about starting a new subject with more information and recipes?

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

You can make a high test grape wine just as easily and ruin it. Good grapes and good fruit all cost money or time to get. We dont really do strawberry hill in our Wineyard or yada yadas either. I call some of our elderberry wines big reds, I know you can see thru them even with a laser. I was thinking my next project will be a 10lg/gal strawberry with some extra light dried malt extract thrown in just to make it thicker and a bigger red Crackedcork

 

[Sirs]

Sirs, I an intrigued by your frequent references to your high alchohol wines. How about starting a new subject with more information and recipes?

LOL my recipes are really simple I don't normally use any chemicals I only use fruit/grapes little water as possible and start my SG close to 1.100 and let it ferment on the natural yeast I let it go dry then make more simple syrup(with wine/juice) at about 2 to 3 pounds increments and keep letting it go dry till I get the amount of alcohol I want or till it stops I've had some go close to 24% abv most stop around 18 or so.

 

[Midwest Vintner]

^wow, i've fortified to 15~17% abv, but never higher. sounds like it would be rough to drink, IMO.

as far as aging goes, i've got about 80+ batches made over the last 6 years. longest i've let one go was 5 years. it was a blackberry merlot. holy smokes it was great. i think a combonation of answers here work. higher alc, more acidic, stronger tannin wines will age best. those protect the wine (tannins not so much). that said, the darker juice/ more # per gallon wines will benefit most combined with higher protections will benefit most. dark berry wines and mead can age for a long time, if made to do so (think 7+ yrs). as said, it's how you make it, what you make it with and HOW IT IS STORED!

 

[countrygirl]

thanks for the info...i'm going to try to hoarde up what's left of my blackberry and hide it back, at least until i can get more made. i just didn't want to do that if it wasn't going to be any good later.
i also have one bottle left of the blueberry, to save.

 

[winemanden]

When you make a wine that you think is suitable for ageing, if you have some empty spare half-bottles, bottle a few of those as well. That way you can open them at intervals, 1 year, 18 months, 2 years etc. I know that half-bottles mature at a different rate than full sized ones but it will give you a good indication as to how your wine is progressing.
The problem with ageing in Carboys or DJ's is that you get a different sort of maturing than you do with bottled wine, and if you take a sample out for tasting you need some of the same wine to make up the ullage.
Rightly or wrongly, I'm sure that tannins do help. I drink a lot of tea as well as wine and at a vintage 77, I'm not sure whether I'm well matured, tanned (as in leather), or pickled.

Regards to all. Winemanden.

 

[Sirs]

I think tannins help alot myself. I'm in agreement with what most have said tannins alcohol and proper making/storing the wine has more to do with how long a wine will last more than anything.

 

[jtstar]

Now Sirs you know your wine ages well because of the high octane it has