Remedy for over sweetened wine?

[Rocky]

I am 99% sure I know the answer to this, but I will ask anyway: Does anyone have a way to reduce the sweetness of a wine that has been stabilized and is too sweet for my taste, other than blending with a dryer wine?

I have two wines that are in this condition and it would take a lot of blending wine to correct the problems.

Thanks, as always, for your help.

 

[jet]

Other ideas:

1. Give it away
2. Raise the acidity to reduce the perceived sweetness

 

[vacuumpumpman]

What type of wines are they ?
I have made some excessive sweet fruit wines - served it warm over ice to help water it down - everyone enjoyed it

steve

 

[cpfan]

Ropcky...

care to tell us what these wines are?

Steve

 

[Stefani]

Ropcky...

care to tell us what these wines are?

Steve

I would rather like to know where these wines are?

 

[Rocky]

Okay, Guys and Gals, I am going to come clean on this whole thing. I sometimes wonder how I got this far in life!

The first wine started out as a 4 gallon batch of Moscato. It was doing very well and I got the bright idea to add a background flavor to it and I chose apricot. I added a can (49 oz.) of puree and this made it very sweet. I thought I could get the fermentation started again but could not. The wine now has an SG of about 1.020. It tastes really good, but is too sweet. I made up a 6 gallon batch of Muscat and have fermented it to an SG of 0.995. My plan is to blend either all or part of the Muscat with the Apricot-Moscato. If I do all, the SG or the "new wine" will still be just under 1.010. If I do about half of it, the SG of the new wine will be about 1.003 or so. I could then keep the rest of the Moscato for a nice dessert wine.

The second wine is a little more complicated. I had a 6 gallon bucket of what I bought as "Zinfandel" but was in fact "White Zinfandel." Before I realized the mistake I blended this prior to fermentation with 2 gallons (from the 6 gallon bucket used above) of Muscat juice. The color was too light for me so I added red grape concentrate and also added a bag of grape skins (Cabernet Sauvignon). Well, the color is nice but the wine is really too sweet. I have made two batches of Old Vine Zinfandel, intending to blend them with the "other wine" (which has been sorbated) but now I really like the OVZ and I am reluctant to put "good money after bad" and waste them on a blend. The OVZ's are both about SG 0.992.

That is why I am looking for another way to go. Thanks for your interest and help.

 

[JohnT]

I would airate and then try to kick off another fermentation using Lalvin EC1118.

 

[Arne]

If you decide to blend, try some small samples before you do the whole batch. Make sure you are going to like what results before you blend everything. Arne.

 

[UglyBhamGuy]

+1 on mixing small amounts at first.
keep track of ratios of each wine that will make mixing the "final" larger batch easier.

 

[robie]

I would airate and then try to kick off another fermentation using Lalvin EC1118.

I agree. If you didn't add sorbate, you should be able to get another fermentation started, if you use a yeast starter and slowly add your high alcohol wine to it over 4 to 8 hours. (Very slowly!)

A good yeast like EC-1118 (use 2 packets) should do it. With that much sugar present, no reason why it won't, unless you added sorbate. Keep the wine stirred well and give it some oxygen until it gets started.

Another alternative has already been mentioned about adjusting the acid level. If the wine is that sweet it is likely also out of balance. By adding some acid to a sample glass and taste testing, you might get the wine where you like it.

 

[Rocky]

Thanks for all the great info.

Arne and UBG, I have tried a 2 Zin to 1 "Chi cazzo sa" (which is what I call the "other wine") and it was good. The problem I have is I like it better than the sweet wine and not as much as the dry Zinfandel. So my issue is do I make 19 gallons of a wine that is "okay," using up 6 gallons of a wine that I don't like and 13 gallons of a wine that I really like?

Robie, my problem is that I have added k-sorbate to all of the wine in question. The conventional wisdom is that you cannot re-start fermentation once k-meta is added, but (and I need to check my notes on this) I think that I did this once with a cherry wine.

I am wondering if I took a small amount of the "good wines," added sugar and got a strong fermentation going and slowly added the sweet wine (with the sorbate in it) to the vigorously working yeast, could this work?

The real question I have, and I am afraid the answer is "no", is can the effect of k-sorbate be cancelled with the addition of something or by working with the wine, e.g. aerating, splash racking, heating, cooling, etc? I know that I am grasping at straws here.

Edited (Thanks, Flem)

 

[Flem]

Hi Rocky. You first said k-sorbate and then later said k-meta. Did you mean to say k-sorbate then too? I don't have an answer, I'm just trying to clarify for others. Mike

 

[robie]

Kmeta stuns the yeast, but does not necessarily kill them. Sorbate will render any yeast incapable of multiplying.
I would not expect fermentation to restart after adding sorbate. You need to look for another alternative.

 

[Rocky]

Yeah, Robie, I am beginning to think you are right. I think blending is the only way and as sweet as this wine is, it will take a heck of a lot of dry wine to cut it.

 

[SBWs]

Rocky, I tried adding acid to a sweet wine once to lower the sweetness and it didn't work for me. Ended up with a sweet wine that went bitter to the taste. But, that's not saying it won't work. Have you thought about adding some brandy and making the Apricot-Moscato a port style wine. The higher alcohol may cover some of the sweetness and port style wines are normally made sweeter.

 

[Rocky]

"Have you thought about adding some brandy and making the Apricot-Moscato a port style wine."

Hey, now, SBWs, that is a heck of a good idea! I will do some research and bench testing and do the Port thing on both of them. Thank you!

 

[Runningwolf]

Rocky, I am trying to think of something other then blending and the only other thing I can think of is use it for topping up and cooking.

Is this wine ony too sweet by your standards? I bet you have plenty of friends that just might love it just the way it is. I'm interested in knowing the final outcome of this delema.

 

[mmadmikes1]

I would airate and then try to kick off another fermentation using Lalvin EC1118.

Get a good starter going and add a little at a time, until you get the whole batch back in fermenter. Itr will work it you are patent and do add to much at the start. Also9 when it is finished you will not need to add sorbate it is still there from before. If you add more it will mess the wine up

 

[Rocky]

Rocky, I am trying to think of something other then blending and the only other thing I can think of is use it for topping up and cooking.

Is this wine ony too sweet by your standards? I bet you have plenty of friends that just might love it just the way it is. I'm interested in knowing the final outcome of this delema.

Dan, I guess I like dry wine and I don't like sweet wine. You make a very good point that some people may like it. I have about 8 gallons in carboys which will net about 7.5 gallons after the final racking. I will bottle some sweet, try some brandy, try some blending and make some vinegar. Topping of and cooking are great ideas too. Thanks.

 

[cpfan]

I am 99% sure I know the answer to this, but I will ask anyway: Does anyone have a way to reduce the sweetness of a wine that has been stabilized and is too sweet for my taste, other than blending with a dryer wine?

I have two wines that are in this condition and it would take a lot of blending wine to correct the problems.

Thanks, as always, for your help.

Just because a wine has been sorbated doesn't mean that it will never ferment again. There needs to be sufficient sorbate in the wine for the volume. So what would happen if you added 1 part of your sorbated wine to 2 (or 3 or 4) parts of currently fermenting similar wine? This may qualify as "a lot of blending wine", but hopefully it would ferment out some of the sugars.

Unfortunately, I have no idea if this will actually work, so could be throwing good money after bad.

Steve