One Note Wine

[jas3019]

I'm curious what you all think about this. My Chilean Carmenere/Cab Sauv blend has been in the carboy a bit and taking a taste, the SO thinks it's a bit one-noted. Here's what I have so far:

6 gallons carmenere juice
1 lug (18 lbs) cab sauv grapes
ICV-GRE yeast

I crushed the grapes by hand and fermented together along with some fermaid k and goferm protect to start the yeast. Once fermentation was done, I added 2 oz hungarian med+ oak cubes, Bacchus MLB with some optimalo and actiml. Final alcohol is 13.1%, ph = 3.33 and TA is 7.5%. The oak was in for about 2 months and removed on August 10.

From then until a couple weeks ago I just let it sit. Tasting when I reracked is when it was tasted and just one-note. Plus the oak didn't seem to have made a huge effect. So I added another 1.5 oz of the same oak and just have it sitting.

Is there anything I could do now to up the dimension/complexity? Anything I should've done differently that I can do for next time?

 

[havlikn]

I did a Chilean carmenere as well. My wine was a little simple so I have added various oak cubes to hopefully add some complexity. With a portion of the wine I have tried turning into a port so I'll see how that turns out.

With the organization I am involved with that gets Chilean juice they say it is always a challenge to get quality wines

 

[jas3019]

That's a shame then! But I need to order some supplies from morewine so maybe I'll look into some american oak too...maybe some different toast levels too.

 

[TemperanceOwl]

Were both of your wines from grapes, or kits? If kits, may I ask which ones?
I've ordered the RJS Carmenere and am expecting it to arrive tomorrow. I've been looking forward to it. It's a 16 liter kit with grape skins, so I'm expecting it to be bolder and more complex than my previous lower priced red blend kit.

 

[jas3019]

No kits. The carm was a juice bucket and the cab sauv was actual grapes. I've actually never made a kit! I should try someday.


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[Boatboy24]

Is this a 2014? It's still young and developing.

 

[Treeman]

That's a shame then! But I need to order some supplies from morewine so maybe I'll look into some american oak too...maybe some different toast levels too.

I have similar situation with some chilean wines from 2013 that don't have the mouthfeel that I was hoping to achieve. I've been looking into inactivated yeast products (surlie, biolees, noblesse), tannins, and glycerol as possible bench trials...just have to sort out the options and try some out.


Cheers!

 

[JohnT]

I agree with boatboy, it is still a very young wine and needs some age.

I assume that you are using fresh grapes, If so, how long did you let the juice sit on the skins (maceration). I have found that wines with too short of a maceration can end up thin and flat.

I like oak and am not sure if you do too. If you do like the taste of oak, I would suggest a dose of at least 4oz per 5 gal batch.

 

[jas3019]

Thought I responded but guess it didn't go through. It is my 2014 and thought it'd be further along. I really didn't macerate prefermentation. Just fermented the grapes with the juice. Next time I'll try that.


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