How do I leave residual sugar in a full bodied red?

[winemaker81]

I have been making wine and doing MLF for awhile and have never found that k-sorbate adds off flavors in reds - have you had that experience? @winemaker81, have you had that issue? I ask because k-sorbate is a widely-used ingredient so easy to get and work with. K-sorbate is what I use when back-sweetening.

I backsweeten few wines and haven't experienced problems with sorbate. I read research papers for information.

My risk tolerance for my wines is low, so I don't take unnecessary chances.

 

[sjjan]

For my white and rosé wine I stop the fermentation in some cases with some residual sugar left by cold crashing to close to 2-3 degrees C, then wait a bit for some tartaric acid to drop out (if that is what you want), then to filter with a plate filter including sterile filter plates to take out the yeast cells.

In the bottling line I would include a sterile filter again.

 

[GalleonsLap]

I have not found this to be true in my wines. All my reds get MLF, sorbate (even without back sweetening), and 12+ months of bulk aging with no problems. This summer I opened my last bottle of 2017 Barolo and it was outstanding.

Good to know. Thanks for the info. Why do you add k-sorbate even if you aren't backsweetening? Just to ensure no bottle activity?

 

[winemaker81]

I backsweeten few wines and haven't experienced problems with sorbate. I read research papers for information.

I need to find those research papers again. It would be really helpful to know how much sorbate was necessary to cause a problem. Beyond MLB, a common truism bandied about is that too much sorbate produces a geranium smell and/or flavor, but I can't recall any figure regarding "how much?".

Quite a few years ago I recall a lab experiment caused cancer in rats by feeding them milk. Sounds really bad, right? I can't recall the exact figure, but they fed the rats the equivalent of a human drinking 20 gallons per day for 1 year.

It's entirely possible that lab experiments regarding sorbate may use amounts we (real winemakers) consider ridiculous.

 

[Ohio Bob]

Good to know. Thanks for the info. Why do you add k-sorbate even if you aren't backsweetening? Just to ensure no bottle activity?

Correct.

 

[Jusatele]

back in the day
before we had a plethora of winemaking stores and the internet
I learned to bulk age and rack
the alternative was sulfates
So I bulk age in 60mto 68 degree F