back sweeten

[trevor]

I have a small vineyard (chardonnay)
I usually use natural fermentation, because I am surrounded by vineyards, and the results are pretty reliable.
Result: a dry wine about 11.5 %
If you are drinking it every day, this is boring.
For a pleasant, sunny day, drink I probably need to back-sweeten a bit.
Please do not suggest stabilizing and adding sugar ... that just tastes like dry wine with added sugar.
Adding concentrated grape juice is a non-starter because you cannot buy it out here.
Usually, I blend. But that means buying in other varieties.
I had thought of stopping fermentation early. But at what level? ...
To get a decent alcohol level, my grapes would be mouldy before reaching a high enough Brix !
Any suggestions, please?
Thanks

 

[GreginND]

Trying to stop a fermentation before it's complete is very difficult. You could chill the wine down to below 40 degrees or colder and let it clear when cold. Most of us home winemakers don't have facilities to do that. Any wine with residual sugar would be vulnerable to re fermentation when warmed up without stabilizers. Sterile filtration is also not very possible without very expensive commercial equipment.

Added sugar does integrate with a wine if you properly balance the levels. If you are insistent in not using stabilizers you must keep your wine refrigerated or sweeten it when you serve it regardless of how you end up with a sweeter wine.



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[jensmith]

I have a small vineyard (chardonnay)
I usually use natural fermentation, because I am surrounded by vineyards, and the results are pretty reliable.
Result: a dry wine about 11.5 %
If you are drinking it every day, this is boring.
For a pleasant, sunny day, drink I probably need to back-sweeten a bit.
Please do not suggest stabilizing and adding sugar ... that just tastes like dry wine with added sugar.
Adding concentrated grape juice is a non-starter because you cannot buy it out here.
Usually, I blend. But that means buying in other varieties.
I had thought of stopping fermentation early. But at what level? ...
To get a decent alcohol level, my grapes would be mouldy before reaching a high enough Brix !
Any suggestions, please?
Thanks

Try fermenting with fresh or frozen fruit. That will change the flavor. You can buy fresh or frozen 100%juice at any food store. Add either at start of fermentaion or as you drink. Back when I bought wine at the store I was more often then not finding myself adding a splash of frozen fruit juice to each glass to make it drinkable. Cranberry will not oversweeten by way! I prefure dry wines, but not bland ones.
Suger added by the glass does taste sugery if the wine does not age. Agave syrup in small doses does not make the wine tast like you just dumped suger in it.

If you want to sweeten but not drink right away.... Sweeten up just one galleon or less at a time and keep it airlocked. That way if it starts to referment you can just drink it then. With no bottle bombs. If you have a wine that has aged several years with no sedament, the yeast may have died off. Personally I would still put it back under airlock to make sure!



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[trevor]

thanks

Some new ideas here for me to try.
Thanks.

Stabilizing does not worry me. As I have white wine, I keep a good stock of sulphite and I check levels regularly. I also have a large, empty, fridge. But back-sweetening with sugar just tastes 'juck'