oaking catawba?

[RevA]

Hi,

I know Catawba wine is usually semi-sweet or sweet, but I'm going to make a dry rosé catawba and would like to oak it with oak chips. Has anyone done anything similar or have suggestions?

 

[Runningwolf]

The dry rose' sounds good. What are you going to blend in with it to get the color? I personally don't think I would like it oaked, but have never tried it. I would suggest you do a bench trial. Put several oak chips in a bottle ( about 20% of what you will be putting into a gallon of wine) and set the bottle a side for a few days and try it. You might even try a few bottles with various amounts of oak. This won't give an exact flavor but it'll be as close as you can get to see if you'll like it or not.

 

[RevA]

Thanks sounds like a good plan will try it that way with a test batch. Either going to see if it might work to just crush and leave the grapes in for a day or two as though it was a red wine or use some left over vinters reserve merlot for colour and body

 

[RevA]

Just tried a glass from bottle that had 1oz per gal oak and was made on skins then crushed. Tastes a little young, but very good for a first attempt...