Adding skins from a different varietal

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masic2000

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Has anyone tried adding cab. skins to other wine varietals during the primary?
I have about 5 lbs. of crushed cab. skins that i would like to try adding to merlot or zinfandel or even Barbera during the primary.
 
I can get 5lbs. crushed cab. or merlot skins for about 5$ each. Would 5lbs. be enough for a 6 gallon batch during primary?
 
I can get 5lbs. crushed cab. or merlot skins for about 5$ each. Would 5lbs. be enough for a 6 gallon batch during primary?

5lbs better than 0lbs. But 25lbs better than 5. The more the better. A common amount seen is
x1 36lb lug of grapes with x1 6gal juice bucket.
I add fresh grapes and/or once fermented skins to ferments all the time now and never really super concerned that the varietals match.
For example Grenache blend with Cab/merlot/sangio grapes, Syrah w/Malbec skins etc. Anything helps. And sounds like all varietal combos would work well with what you mentioned.
 
I fermented 100 lbs of co-inoculated Petit Verdot, pressed, added nutrients and then fermented 200 lbs of Cab Franc on the PV skins. The CF was the darkest CF I’ve ever made (no surprise), was good, but the PV dominated the wine and was not as good as if I did the CF alone. I ended up blending it with a 60 gallon barrel of Cabernet Sauvignon.

I know this is different and in different proportions you are talking about, but my point is that you would need to be ok with your wine being different than the single varietal would have otherwise been.
 

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