backsweeten wine with extra wine juice

[corinth]

I am about to pick my Zante Corinth grapes(they have seeds) and was wondering about backsweetening.
In the past, I have used the simple syrup method to backsweeten but I would like to try holding back some of the juice which is very sweet and use it instead to add back some of the sweetness and flavor that these grapes have.
I have read various options or methods but I need your expertise.

1. should I freeze the juice until I decide to backsweeten ?
2. should I use sorbate, then add the juice and then clarify it?
3. I have picked about 1lb of grapes and pressed them and the juice is very thick and sweet. Would this be an issue that clarifying would remedy?
4. I have heard of simmering the juice down into a concentrate but also read somewhere that this may increase the acidity?

Help
thank you,
Corinth

 

[ffemt128]

I am about to pick my Zante Corinth grapes(they have seeds) and was wondering about backsweetening.
In the past, I have used the simple syrup method to backsweeten but I would like to try holding back some of the juice which is very sweet and use it instead to add back some of the sweetness and flavor that these grapes have.
I have read various options or methods but I need your expertise.

1. should I freeze the juice until I decide to backsweeten ?
2. should I use sorbate, then add the juice and then clarify it?
3. I have picked about 1lb of grapes and pressed them and the juice is very thick and sweet. Would this be an issue that clarifying would remedy?
4. I have heard of simmering the juice down into a concentrate but also read somewhere that this may increase the acidity?

Help
thank you,
Corinth

I'd say there is no issue with using fresh pressed juice to back sweeten. It will add sugars but also enhance the flavor to that of the original grape. If it were me, I would probably freeze or at least refrigerate the juice you are going to back sweeten with. This will prevent it from going bad while you ferment your initial juice. Once all fermentation is complete, add k-meta and sorbate at appropriate levels to stabilize the wine and then back sweeten. I would estmate this to be a 1.5 months into the process. I would add the back sweetening juice when I racked out of the carboy for the first time (1.5-2 months). You should not have a problem clearing the wine even though the juice is thick. Simmering will concentrate the juice into a stronger batch with less volume hence not reducing the etoh of the wine and not reducing the body.

 

[Turock]

Something to consider is that you shouldn't be using sorbate in cloudy wine. When we do this, we wait to add the juice close to bottling time so the wine is free of the bulk of the yeast cells, which is when you can safely add sorbate and expect it to work. So I would bulk age for 1 year--then add the juice and sorbate and let it sit for a while to clear off any debris from the added juice, then bottle.

 

[manvsvine]

this is similar to what the germans call the suss reserve technique .

how I do it is I drain off and freeze some of the juice before pitching the yeast in the fermenter.

I keep this reserve juice in the freezer untill the main wine has been racked , sulfited and is clear and stable.

then I thaw the juice add 4g/carboy sorbate and 1/4 tsp sulfite (assuming this is a 5 gallon carboy.)to the juice and mix it up

then add the juice to the carboy of the clear wine.

if it doesn't clear on its own in a few weeks , you can filter or fine it.

then cold stabilise and rack , bulk age, adjust so2 then bottle .

 

[corinth]

Thanks for all the feedback.
A couple of follow-up questions:
Manvsvine(hope I got your your name right)
Help me understand something. Are you saying that you add sorbate plus the k-meta to the juice first before you add it to the wine so it does not start to ferment once it is added to the wine main carboy?
Turock: once again, thank you for the cloudy info--need to remember that.
ffemt128: thanks for all the detail I really appreciate it.

follow-up 2: when it comes to fruit, would we sorbate the extra juice also prior to adding it to the carboy once the wine is stable.

thanks,
Corinth

 

[Tom_S]

I often save back some of the juice in the fridge and use it to top up and help backsweeten.

 

[manvsvine]

Yes thats right , I do that to manage the risk of it refermenting.

adding it after the wine is rack and clear and sulfited reduces the yeast population, , if you left the wine sitting on the lees bed before you add the juice you might get a refement even with the sorbate and sulfite added.

you don't have to wait a year , just ensure the wine is clear , racked and stable .many times i've made white wines in Septemeber , and it was ready for adding the reserve in January and we were drinking the wine in June.

Seb

 

[corinth]

Thanks for the follow up
Corinth