Questions regarding Muscat Wine

[djrockinsteve]

Last year I fermented a Muscat. I never made this before so I have no idea of the taste or smell.

Tonight I racked it off of the tartaric acid crystals and back sweetened a sample to 1.000 as a starting area. It smells different than other whites if not any wines. It doesn't smell bad but I'm questioning the entire smell all together. At 1.000 it's not to bad as a wine (semi dry) but could also taste pretty good a little sweeter.

I used Lalvin yeast K1-V1116 and had a starting ph of 3.28 and a gravity of 1.084
It was always sulfited and had virtually no headspace of air. Fermented and cleared like all my other wines.

Has anyone else fermented a Muscat and or has experienced this. Hate to waste 5 gallons of California wine.

Thanks
Steve

 

[Rocky]

Steve, I think I know what you mean about Muscat. I has an unique taste which at times almost seems "off." Some people sweeten it somewhat higher than you did, and serve it as a dessert wine. I use it strictly for blending with other wines, in particular Zinfandel. For example, I blend it 3 Zinfandel to 1 Muscat, as my Father-in-Law did and I call the wine Ricetta di Stefano (Steve's recipe) in his honor. I was fortunate enough to be awarded a Silver Medal for the wine this past March at the Pittsburgh Amateur Winemaking Competition. If you have a bold red lying around you might want to give it a try.

 

[djrockinsteve]

Rocky I have many a bold reds and after several years have come up with some that I'm told are really great.

I'm going to give it another day and "sniff" it to see if it has changed after degassing.

The wine tastes okay it just smelled like when grapes start to turn bad.

I don't think it smelled like this when I bought it. Could be the yeast I used or just a phase with this wine.

I can sweeten it more and I have a bit of head space so I want to rack or add to it tomorrow so it doesn't turn. Maybe it needs to age longer. It's been a year already

Thanks for replying.

I recalled after I posted yesterday Julie added orange to a muscat and she said it was good. May split the batch and blend half and mix orange with the other half.

I'll let you know what I do as soon as I can.

 

[Rocky]

Good luck with all that Steve. I made a batch of Albicocca-Moscato (apricot-muscat) last year and it turned out fine. Just a little sweet for my taste, but some people liked it. I used an Apricot puree for the flavoring.

 

[Julie]

Steve, the orange gave the wine a sharper taste and I liked it. Another thing you could do is making a sparkling wine or keg it.