How can I darken my Red Wine

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Dcdeangelo

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Hi, I am in the process of making a Cabernet from grapes. My primary is complete but the wine is a bright red rather than dark red or purple. Skins were in contact for 8 days and were punched down 3 times a day. Is there anyway to make it darker?... thanks
 
Hi, I am in the process of making a Cabernet from grapes. My primary is complete but the wine is a bright red rather than dark red or purple. Skins were in contact for 8 days and were punched down 3 times a day. Is there anyway to make it darker?... thanks


Is it bright red after stirring or before? Usually the sediment will make the wine look brighter/lighter red than it really is. I suggest you wait a few days for it to settle and see how dark it is... good luck!
 
Hi, I am in the process of making a Cabernet from grapes. My primary is complete but the wine is a bright red rather than dark red or purple. Skins were in contact for 8 days and were punched down 3 times a day. Is there anyway to make it darker?... thanks


Did you use an enzyme to break down the skins or a tannin to extract the color from the skins? Most folks here will recommend lallzyme-ex and opti red in the primary. This is my first wine-from-grapes experience, so I'm no expert. But, if you've added as suggested, and gotten your wine above 75-80* during your ferment, I think you've done all you can.

I'd you haven't done the additions, I wonder if it would do you any good 8 days in, when you should be pressing.
 
I am by far no expert, having NEVER made wine directly from grapes, but I have heard of people putting a small amount of petit syrah in their wines to make it more red. I've also heard about something called mega-purple which the cheap commercial wine makers use to increase the color in their wine. Of course, you may consider this cheating, or even evil. Shrug.
 
Did you use an enzyme to break down the skins or a tannin to extract the color from the skins? Most folks here will recommend lallzyme-ex and opti red in the primary. This is my first wine-from-grapes experience, so I'm no expert. But, if you've added as suggested, and gotten your wine above 75-80* during your ferment, I think you've done all you can.

I'd you haven't done the additions, I wonder if it would do you any good 8 days in, when you should be pressing.

I did add pectic enzyme at the beginning of primary. I was probably at 70-73 degrees and never made it to 75-80 so maybe that's why. I've already pressed and am seeing the lighter color. It looks fine I was just hoping for a darker wine...thanks for the reply
 
Like @pebbles2015 said, add a darker wine or look into Mega Purple. I'm not even sure if Mega purple is available to us 'little guys'.

One thing to note: even though you've pressed, there are a lot of solids in your wine and that will lighten the color. 24-48 hours after press, you should rack off the gross lees. Another 24-48 hours from there, and the wine should be looking darker (though it will continue to darken a little more as the last of the solids fall out).

Edit: I found some. But it ain't cheap.

http://thevintnervault.com/index.php?p=view_product&product_id=4177
 
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The yeast still floating around will give a milky appearance, but when it settles, and the wine clears it should be darker. In a week or two or three. After transferring to the carboy from the bucket, I usually rack after 2 or 3 weeks, then get on a schedule of racking every 3 months with the addition of potassium metabisulfite (K-meta for short) at each racking.
 
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