The sulky thread regarding my riesling

[choosybeggar]

The story begins last October. SWMBO and I purchased 100 lb Eastern WA riesling. Everything went well until conditioning/back sweetening about 2 weeks ago.

Before conditioning/back sweetening, The wine was cold conditioning/clarifying. It tasted clean and fruity but too sour to leave dry (?low initial pH). SO2 was 20-25 ppm by titrets. I degassed, bumped the SO2 to 30, added Ksorbate, and corn sugar to taste (1.010 SG) topped with CO2, replaced the airlock and back into the keezer for 2 weeks.

Fast forward to today. The wine tastes raisiny and oxidized

Maybe too much mixing (additions/mixing performed with a drill/degassing want in a bucket)? Too low a volume in the carboy?

Man am I disappointed.

 

[Yooper]

It was probably the degassing. Most wines (except for kit wines) don't need degassing, and if they do it should be undertaken very carefully and with sulfites at least at 50 ppm or so.

 

[choosybeggar]

It was probably the degassing. Most wines (except for kit wines) don't need degassing, and if they do it should be undertaken very carefully and with sulfites at least at 50 ppm or so.

Would it have been better to add the K-sorbate and sugar in solution, stir gently, then bottle?

 

[Yooper]

Would it have been better to add the K-sorbate and sugar in solution, stir gently, then bottle?

Normally, once the wine is completely clear and no longer throwing any lees at all after 60 days, it's racked onto the sorbate/campden mixture and allowed to sit for at least a few days. Then, it can be sweetened to taste and allowed to sit a few more days. Then it's bottled. Sorbate is best not in the same step as sweetening. You want to make sure it "works" before adding sugar to avoid fermentation occuring in the bottle.

But, the degassing in a bucket with a wand is most certainly the cause of the oxidation anyway. That's more of a tip for next time.

 

[choosybeggar]

Will have to try again next year. Until then, what shall I do with 24 bottles of oxidized riesling?

 

[choosybeggar]

Any thoughts as to what I should have done at the outset of fermentation knowing the juice pH was a little low? My plan was to just go with it and back sweeten if too sour. Is that the best option?

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

i had a kit reisling that i degassed very gently in the secondary carboy after adding sorbate and 1/8 tsp of kmeta (this was 2 months in the secondary, dont have a measurement though), let sit in a carboy for a month after, and it tasted too sour or acidic. mixed in some sweetener and more kmeta it was ok before bottling.

transferring to a bucket and a lot of degassing sound like it.

 

[Yooper]

Any thoughts as to what I should have done at the outset of fermentation knowing the juice pH was a little low? My plan was to just go with it and back sweeten if too sour. Is that the best option?

Sometimes "sour" in a young wine is simply dry, and not really sour. With a little age, it often turns out just fine. This was a very young wine, and the flavor may have been better with some bulk aging first (and that also allows for natural degassing).

But if you want to sweeten later, that's fine as well.

I've used calcium carbonate to drop acidity in the must when a grape is too acidic, but I also find that usually cold stabilization can drop quite a bit of the acidity too. Also, for some wines MLF is a good way to soften the tartness.

 

[Inner10]

Does it look oxidized? If it's golden colored it's shot.

I had a batch that had to much head space and that happened. It was crap, but still tasted ok for cooking.

So...hope you like mussels.

 

[novalou]

The story begins last October. SWMBO and I purchased 100 lb Eastern WA riesling. Everything went well until conditioning/back sweetening about 2 weeks ago.

Before conditioning/back sweetening, The wine was cold conditioning/clarifying. It tasted clean and fruity but too sour to leave dry (?low initial pH). SO2 was 20-25 ppm by titrets. I degassed, bumped the SO2 to 30, added Ksorbate, and corn sugar to taste (1.010 SG) topped with CO2, replaced the airlock and back into the keezer for 2 weeks.

Fast forward to today. The wine tastes raisiny and oxidized

Maybe too much mixing (additions/mixing performed with a drill/degassing want in a bucket)? Too low a volume in the carboy?

Man am I disappointed.

Once fermentation is complete, you need to keep the carboy topped up, no more than two inches below the rubber bung. Either add wine to top up or transfer to smaller carboys.