Shelf Life?

[Goose]

Once you are successful at making a homemade wine, not from a kit and have bottled it, what is the average shelf life? MY first wine I tried was made with white grapes and didn't go so well. I am now experimenting with different fruit wines and am seeing better results! I would just like to know how long they should mature in the bottle and if they need to be drank within a certain time frame. I am becoming addicted to this hobby and don't want to end up with too much sitting on the shelf! Not looking to make vinegar here!

 

[FTC Wines]

If ur sanitation & basic chemistry are in order U can easily have 18-36 mo shelf life. I don't usually enjoy my fruit wines till 18 mo. They are still good at 36 mo & I try to drink them up by 5 yrs of age. Same is true for my grape & kit wines. Roy

 

[JohnT]

It really all depends on the type of wine that you made and the closure you have used.

For wines with a strong tannic structure and good PH balance, aging for 10 or 12 years if just fine. Red wines typically have much more in the way of tannins than white wines or fruit wines. This is why they typically have a much longer shelf life.

I have some reds that taste great after 15 years (although the flavor has faded a bit).

Can you give details? Type of wine? PH? ABV? We can give you a more informed opinion if we knew more.

 

[Goose]

I am actually in the market for a new hydrometer, dropped it at my first racking! Oops! I can get ph on my batches later. Right now I have a mixed fruit red wine is secondary fermentation, things slowed way down! It consists of concord grape, purple plum, apple, black cherry, black raspberry, and I through in some raisins cause my total weight for fruit wasn't quite enough for the recipe.Basically I got an itch to make wine and used what I had on hand! It is clearing very nice! It smells very fruity! I did taste a little and it is a touch sweet, a bit dry?, and a little alcoholic. I experimented with what was left in my glass and added a touch of sugar with a little water to tone down the alcohol and it tasted great! I am guessing since it was dry that there are a lot of tannins. Should I leave this one alone to mellow out or go ahead and back sweeten when ready to bottle?

 

[Goose]

My next one is also in secondary. I found a recipe for all of the ripe pineapple skins I had. Also added orange juice, and instead of yeast nutrient the recipe called for lemon juice and strong black tea? I did it and things are going ok. I'm sure. The tea adds some tannins not sure what else? Primary went fairly well but towards the end went eggy. No nutrient! I splash racked it a few times, hit it with sulfites and someone even suggested running it over copper? Did that too and it seems to have cleared up the smell!? My first wine was white grape, it did this too only much worse and never recovered so it put me off from wine making for a bit!

 

[Goose]

My third, total experiment, is in primary now. It is chocolate cherry berry. Blueberries, tart cherries, and cocoa. Not sure if anyone can help with that one! It smells delicious though! Fingers crossed! It is fun experimenting and the family is excited, especially since the mixed fruit seems promising!

 

[JohnT]

Without use of k-meta, without knowing your acid level, and without knowing your ABV, your biggest risk is oxidation over time. Compounding the problem is that we are dealing with fruit wines which will have a much lower amount of tannins (which is sourced from the fruit and does not have much to do with how dry your wine is. I would get a cheap acid kit and adjust the acid to about a .65 to .75 level of acid (in grams per liter) and add some K-meta to help protect the wine.

At any rate, I would not expect these wines to age well. I would plan to drink them sooner rather than later.

 

[GreginND]

I have some fruit wines that are 12+ years old and tasting good.

 

[Goose]

I have used k - meta for all wines. My first wine, mixed fruit, I used K-meta, yeast nutrient, and pectic enzyme. The only thing really different is I found an article online about using strong black tea and lemon juice in replace of nutrient and I wanted to see how that would work with the tropical wine. I will probably plan on drinking them at 6 to 12 months of age but may hold onto a few bottles of the mixed fruit and chocolate to see how they age? I know I am probably not doing g things by the book, but I like to learn by trying different things. My first was pretty much by the recipe and is probably the reason it is turning out so well!

 

[Goose]

I have some fruit wines that are 12+ years old and tasting good.

Wow! That is much longer than I anticipated for a fruit wine! I was hoping for at least 3 to five years! Maybe I will be good at it some day and work more towards making a more technically sound wine in hopes that I too can produce something with a long shelf life! It would be nice to have something that is homemade to celebrate special occasions year after year!

 

[jswordy]

I have used k - meta for all wines. My first wine, mixed fruit, I used K-meta, yeast nutrient, and pectic enzyme. The only thing really different is I found an article online about using strong black tea and lemon juice in replace of nutrient and I wanted to see how that would work with the tropical wine. I will probably plan on drinking them at 6 to 12 months of age but may hold onto a few bottles of the mixed fruit and chocolate to see how they age? I know I am probably not doing g things by the book, but I like to learn by trying different things. My first was pretty much by the recipe and is probably the reason it is turning out so well!

Fruit wines are different than grape wines. Generally, fruit wines should be consumed by 2 years of age.

Most do not improve markedly after 6 months; a few will improve to a year. It is always fun to hold a bottle a year or two if possible, just to see.

When you get up to 2 years, the fruit flavors can start to diminish. Even then, old faded fruit wines are great to blend with.

The chief component of aging in a fruit wine is rounding of the alcohol flavor profile, which allows the fruit to bloom and be more prominent on the palate. Enjoy!

 

[GreginND]

Jim,

I respectfully disagree. I have several wines (apple, chokecherry, blueberry, rhubarb, plum, etc. etc.) that have aged nicely for 5-10 years. It may be the style. None of my wines are sweet. Many are dry or off dry up to about 2% RS.

I guess it matters what you mean by improve. If you are looking for the wine to taste like the ripe fruit - it will decline. But, like grapes, aged fruit wines become complex and interesting.

 

[JohnT]

Greg, Did you adjust the PH on them or add any tannins?

Goose, With all respect, I do not see how tea and lemon is a viable replacement for yeast nutrient. Yeast needs (among other things) nitrogen. Most yeast nutrients bring this foremost to the party. I do not believe that either tea or lemon is high in nitrogen.