Plum Wine question

[stormbringer]

I'm making my first friut wine from plums. These are small plums; about the size of muscadines. I adjusted the brix to 22 prior to fermentation and everything has gone well. I made my final racking tonight and the wine is a beautiful ruby color and remarkably clear.
But -- the wine tastes very harsh. It lacks a "fruity" flavor. I'm wondering if this has to do with the wine being young since this is my first "from scratch" undertaking. Could be the variety of plum. I made 5 gallons of wine. My yield from the plums was just over 1 gallon of juice and I let the cap float for about 5 days in the straining bag.


I have a couple of bottles of conditioner and some recipees to sweeten the wine before bottling. The wineshould be drinkable and it definitely hasgood alcohol content. I took a small sample tonight during racking and experimented with the conditioner and sugar and I can't seem to get it right.It just lacksthe body, sweetness,and fruitiness that I associate with the other (kit) wines at this point in the making. I'mafraid something is not right and I seek your help.


Anyone have any suggestions? Edited by: stormbringer

 

[Waldo]

storm, what you are experiencing is the youth of a good wine. Let it mature and age after you have sweetened it to taste. The Plum is going to take a minimum of 8 months in the bottle or bulk aged to begin to really devellop. Did you have to make any adjustments to the PH of the wine prior to fermenting ? I like my Plum to have a little more bite to it but that is just my personal preference.

 

[Wade E]

Did you adjust acid amount to your liking or just go off a recipe as
everyone has different tastes and might require just a little more to
give the tart taste you are looking for. fruit wines take alot longer
to develope their flavor and back sweetening will bring out a litt;e
more fruit flavor. The rest will come through with age.

 

[Bert]

Fruit wines seem to need some time to come around to a nice drinking wine...Adding a sweetener can help things along, but time is the answer....Adding sweetener to a young wine, be careful not to add to much...The sweetness seems to come out more as the wine matures or the harshness disappears, bringing out the sweetness....Good Luck

 

[stormbringer]

Thanks to all for the good advice. I now feel better about the wine's development. Since this is my first friut wine, I'm learning as the wine progresses. I'm fortunate to have your experienceand this forum to help. And it is a very big help.





I ran three seperate acid titration test on the must at the beginning. I did not add any acid blend due to the test results showing the acid content to be a little high. I don't remember the numbers but according to a chart (somewhere), the results were expected to produce a wine slightly sweeter than what I normally drink but in an acceptable acid range. This wasmy concern about the present taste because of my lack of knowledgeabout the developing young wine. If all progresses as expected I ought to have it in the bottles in about three weeks. Then I'll age it at least 8 months. I'm looking forward totasting the plum wine.