Jalapeño-Mint Wine - Bulk age or Bottle

[PCharles]

Greetings friends,

I have several wines underway and would appreciate some feedback on aging, finishing, oaking.

Wine 1 – Jalapeno Mint – In early September I put this wine together. It is made from several gallons of apple cider, jalapenos, and mint. This wine is now sitting a 3 gallon carboy. It is perfectly clear, hasn’t a particle of sediment, tastes very nice (no off taste), and has been sulfited.

My first question is do I need to add clearing agents to a wine that is already clear? I’ve put my vacuum pump on the carboy. There was very little gas off this one. It looks to me as if racking has done enough to clean this wine up. I don’t have a filtering system, so that’s not a consideration now.

I’m toying with bottling this one, but wondering if I should try adding oak or extending aging. I tasted the wine this morning and it is very nice. It is crisp with a good bit of heat, but not a torcher. The mint is subdued… next year I’ll add more mint. I don’t plan to sweeten so bottling has been on my mind. Bottle aging would free up my 3 gallon fermenter.

Should I consider oaking?

Should I continue to bulk age and bottle later?

Wine 2 – Scuppernong – I have 5 gallons of scuppernong in secondary. I’ve racked it several times and it is clearing nicely. Recently I added K-meta and Sorbate and I plan to add an F-pac from additional scuppernong grapes. I may also back sweeten this one. I figure the f-pac will add some additional sediment that I will need to rack out. I have clearing agent to use if need be. In addition to the f-pac and back sweetening, do you have any suggestions such as oaking to enhance this wine?

Thanks for your suggestions,

Paul

 

[Rocky]

Wow, Paul, Jalapeno-Mint sounds interesting! I could just see that with some hors d'oeuvres, cheese and crackers.

Sounds like it is clear and degassed, so I would not add anything to it but that is up to you. If my wines are clear, I do not add fining agents and I have not had a problem.

Regarding oaking, why not split the batch and oak half just to see what it tastes like? If you like it, you could oak the other half, it not, you saved half.

One of these days I am going to have to find out just what the heck a Scuppernong is!

 

[PCharles]

Good Feedback

Thanks for the feedback Rocky... that's good advise, split it and try some oak. I also for the suggestion someone made to add a single mint leaf to each bottle. I think I can scrounge up a few leaves to do that.

I need to stop by the wine shop today and plan to pick up some oak. I'm thinking a light toasted American would be best with this.

Paul