Light Punch Colored Wine

[DirtyJersey]

Hey all. I made 6 different wines this year, and made them all the same way.

Cab,syrah, zin, Sangiovese. These all turned out great!


one week later, I grabbed some Malbec and merlot.

I bought all of these in early September and am already drinking the first 4 I mentioned.

The malbec and Merlot, 6 months later have a very high fruit smell, decent alcohol level, but the color is a light fruit punch color. It doesnt even look like wine.

Will this darken with age? or did something go wrong with primary fermentation. I have a feeling a may have mixed the yeast in too hot of water?

Curious to your thoughts and appreciate the ideas.

 

[Arne]

I am thinking if you had skins with them you did not leave the skins in long enough. If just juice, they didn't get the color out when they pressed them. If it tastes good, smile wisely and pass me a glass. I am fairly sure it won't get any darker. If you get it in light for too long, it might get a abit lighter in color. Have fun and enjoy it. Arne.

 

[Matty_Kay]

I had a similar experience with a Merlot from a juice bucket 2 years ago. I now use FT Tannin Rouge, added pre-fermentation to stabilize color.

 

[DirtyJersey]

I am thinking if you had skins with them you did not leave the skins in long enough. If just juice, they didn't get the color out when they pressed them. If it tastes good, smile wisely and pass me a glass. I am fairly sure it won't get any darker. If you get it in light for too long, it might get a abit lighter in color. Have fun and enjoy it. Arne.

Hey Arne, yeah, I purchased the cases of Grapes and had them de stemmed and pressed there. same way I have done several other times.

put it this way, I can drink it, but its not drinkable lol.. They color is light pink, and the taste seems, like a one week old wine..Something happened to both of these batches at the same time. I have a feeling I overheated the water used to re hydrate the yeast...sound like a possibility?

 

[Boatboy24]

If you destemed and pressed immediately, you'll have a Rose on your hands. And a light one at that. Reds need time on those skins.

 

[DirtyJersey]

If you destemed and pressed immediately, you'll have a Rose on your hands. And a light one at that. Reds need time on those skins.

Hey...yeah, I have never let it sit on the skins and the last 3 years and 8 wine types tuned out great, and color was perfect.

Same methods this year in my second batch look like rose wine...not sure what happened.

 

[Arne]

If you got your yeast too hot, you killed it off. Did you check it with a hydrometer to make sure it fermented? Arne.

 

[Turock]

When doing reds, you also want to have to a warm ferment to pull the color from the skins.

 

[DirtyJersey]

If you got your yeast too hot, you killed it off. Did you check it with a hydrometer to make sure it fermented? Arne.

thats what I am thinking. I should probably test the sugars, and compare to my notes prior to fermentation.

Can you re-ferment an already fermented and settled wine?

 

[grapeman]

It is very, very unlikely that you killed the yeast and that is why it is light colored. Fermentation just wouldn't have happened and you would have no alcohol. It would have spoiled. It is simply because the juice was pressed off immediately without any chance of getting real color. Next time have the grapes crushed and destemmed, ferment on the skins and then press (either by hand if a small amount or rent a press). This wikk allow for better color extraction.