Cellar Craft Ok to sweeten at bottling?

[waygorked]

My CC Syrah is now 6 months old at bottling. It is good but just a touch down in sweetness compared with a really great one. I corked last weekend, but am considering popping them and titrating in a bit of wine conditioner to increase the sweetness. Good/bad idea?

 

[GreginND]

It may be easier just to add a little sugar to the bottle when you open it for serving.

 

[bkisel]

You would empty all the bottles then back sweeten, right? If back sweetening and then immediately bottling again I would add some sorbate to the batch before doing so.

 

[tonyt]

That's a tough decision. Either pour it all back in a carboy add sorbate and syrup to taste. Then let sit a few days till bottling. OR leave it as is and decant and add sugar or syrup when opening for serving. Let it breathe and incorporate the newly added sweetener. Good luck.

 

[cimbaliw]

If you've already added sorbate, wine conditioner is a waste of money, just use simple syrup or some type of fruit juice.

If you haven't added sorbate do so and use simple syrup. Wine conditioner is often problematic as it doesn't have enough sorb to prevent refermentation.

As you can tell, I'm not a fan of wine conditioner. Search around the web, it gets a fair amount of bad press.

BC

 

[vacuumpumpman]

It is alot of work to do what you are wanting to do - especially at such an early wine that can change within the next 6 months or so.

I vote for leaving it and adding if needed once opened - unless time repairs everything !!

 

[mmadmikes1]

dont add a second dose of sorbate(ever), maybe some k-meta. I would wait at least 3 days after backsweeting before bottling. It may cloud up and need to re-clear. It may start fermenting again(probably not though), but until you have wine stains on floor and heard cooks popping in middle of night , you haven't lived