Fermenting Syrah Too Dark?

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Tom Benjamin

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Second time making wine from fresh Syrah grapes and a few days in I am seeing some massive differences. Of course, every vintage is different but the color differences between my Syrah last year and my Syrah this year seem extremely different. This year's Syrah is almost black vs. last year's which had a more magenta color (see photos for this year vs. last year). These grapes are coming from the same vineyard, and were picked relatively around the same brix (24-25 brix). The wine tastes OK and seems fresh, but its certainly not as 'juicy' as last year's Syrah was at this stage. Anything insight helps!

Hoping someone can provide some insight into:
1. Why this might be happening.
2. If this is an issue for the finished wine.

IMG_7104.jpgIMG_3835.jpg


A few reasons I can theorize for why this is happening:
- I used slightly less sulfite this year than last after crush - but still 50ppm this year.
- This year's ferment was slightly hotter than last years off the bat (sat around 84 degrees for 24-36 hours due to a heat wave)
- I crushed the grapes more thoroughly this year.
 
Hotter fermentation will bring out more color and tannin from the skin. Also more thoroughly pressing of the grapes will do this. I believe the young wine will taste more harsh because of these differences. Also some delicate flavours can have dissipated from the hotter fermentation and other can have been more present. Time will show if the new wine is worse or better than the first one, when the tannins have smoothened and the wine is more mature.
 

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