Hi All,
Just returned from my vist to family in Texas. Remember that Sauvignon Blanc I bottledon Christmas Eve? Well, I gave some away to family after New Years and over the past week several bottles were opened and drunk. But each bottle seemed to be not as good as the one before. In fact, now that I'm back and trying a new bottle (bottled 2 weeks ago), I'm thinking this wine doesn't seem nearly as good as it did 3 weeks ago when I tasted it the first time. So I did some testing and came up with the following in hopes that some of you can provide advice. Note: I only bottled 3 gallons of this kit. The remaining 3 gallons is aging, and I hope to make corrections to it at the next racking.
The taste is harsh with a somewhat bitter aftertaste. The nice herbacious bouquet that it had when I first tasted it is almost completely gone and so is most of the sweetness, not that it was very sweet, but we did back sweeten it to .75% residual sugar (clinitest).
Acid- I'm frustrated with the new acid test kits I got. I can't get an accurate reading because color change is so subjective, especially in that big fat medicine cup. I liked the test tube kit much better. However, the acid appears high between .75-.8%... and maybe just a bit higher, but who can tell. Also note that I mistakenly added tartaric acid to the must before fermentation because I did my first ever acid test wrong. I later corrected with calcium carbonate (I think that's what it was), and 3 weeks ago (first tasting) the acid was .65%. But it seems a lot higher now.
Sugar- Holding steady at .75%
PH- 3.43
Alcohol- I just got this vinometer, so I have little experience with it. Readings appear high. My initial and susequent readings were 17.5%. So I tested a wine marked 11% and it read 14%. I assume the actual alcohol content of my Sauvignon Blanc is therefore 14.5%. Wow, that's high for a white! We tried to cold ferment this wine and kept it covered (with an airlock) throughout fermentation (after it was going good) because we thought oxygen would be a problem even during fermentation. (know better now) I've since read that depriving yeast of oxygen can cause it to produce more alcohol. Is that correct?
Okay, so high acid and high alcohol. Sugar and PH seem fine. What can I do to my remaining 3 gallons to improve the taste and bouquet?
Just returned from my vist to family in Texas. Remember that Sauvignon Blanc I bottledon Christmas Eve? Well, I gave some away to family after New Years and over the past week several bottles were opened and drunk. But each bottle seemed to be not as good as the one before. In fact, now that I'm back and trying a new bottle (bottled 2 weeks ago), I'm thinking this wine doesn't seem nearly as good as it did 3 weeks ago when I tasted it the first time. So I did some testing and came up with the following in hopes that some of you can provide advice. Note: I only bottled 3 gallons of this kit. The remaining 3 gallons is aging, and I hope to make corrections to it at the next racking.
The taste is harsh with a somewhat bitter aftertaste. The nice herbacious bouquet that it had when I first tasted it is almost completely gone and so is most of the sweetness, not that it was very sweet, but we did back sweeten it to .75% residual sugar (clinitest).
Acid- I'm frustrated with the new acid test kits I got. I can't get an accurate reading because color change is so subjective, especially in that big fat medicine cup. I liked the test tube kit much better. However, the acid appears high between .75-.8%... and maybe just a bit higher, but who can tell. Also note that I mistakenly added tartaric acid to the must before fermentation because I did my first ever acid test wrong. I later corrected with calcium carbonate (I think that's what it was), and 3 weeks ago (first tasting) the acid was .65%. But it seems a lot higher now.
Sugar- Holding steady at .75%
PH- 3.43
Alcohol- I just got this vinometer, so I have little experience with it. Readings appear high. My initial and susequent readings were 17.5%. So I tested a wine marked 11% and it read 14%. I assume the actual alcohol content of my Sauvignon Blanc is therefore 14.5%. Wow, that's high for a white! We tried to cold ferment this wine and kept it covered (with an airlock) throughout fermentation (after it was going good) because we thought oxygen would be a problem even during fermentation. (know better now) I've since read that depriving yeast of oxygen can cause it to produce more alcohol. Is that correct?
Okay, so high acid and high alcohol. Sugar and PH seem fine. What can I do to my remaining 3 gallons to improve the taste and bouquet?