Comments on: Franc-ly Puzzling

By: Le Kraut du Cote de Soleil

Le Kraut du Cote de Soleil — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 01:41:05 +0000

I guess I thought that you might be experimenting with blended wines, and was wondering if there was any way to “slow” down other barrels or batches so that one could add something to the “flat” wine and adjust it. Any thoughts on this?

By: Ziraud

Ziraud — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:18:03 +0000

And to answer your question about adding all that stuff later, I think you’re on the right track about balance — if the Franc’s not the wine we’d like it to be, we’d blend with it in its less than stellar state. Esp if the Franc could be improved, that would mean we’d have a skewed blend.

I know a lot of winemakers have told me that you want to add acid as early in the process as possible, so it’ll have time to integrate into the wine and not just taste like a bunch of acid on top. The best time to do that is during fermentation, which is way in the past, of course. But certainly, getting it in there now so it has at least a month or two to think it over before bottling will probably help.

By: Ziraud

Ziraud — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:11:51 +0000

Thanks for your suggestion, Herr Kraut. That you even have a chem book to crack puts you way ahead of any competence I might have with chemistry. I think, though, that the theory might be that an oxidized wine tastes flat because oxygen has taken over the wine; therefore, keeping oxygen at bay by binding it up could potentially augment a feeling of liveliness. I know that too much sulfur spray in the vineyard too close to harvest can mean that once the grapes are in and fermenting, the result can definitely be H₂S0₄ (with its delicious rotten egg smell), as you suggest. Post ferment, your chem analysis also underlines that we have to be judicious in how much sulfite we add along the way. Anyway, no egg-scrable wine yet... I wonder if what you're indicating as possible results happen in order: up to a certain point added, your reaction is SO₃, but after a while, it's all bound so you get H₂S0₄? I tasted the Franc last night, after both S0₂ and acid adjustments last week, and it's definitely better. A post on that soon... Thanks much for your comments!

By: Le Kraut du Cote de Soleil

Le Kraut du Cote de Soleil — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:18:38 +0000

Er, one more comment. Why can you not just add the SO2 and some acid and just wait a while to do the blending? Is it because the other ingredients will be at their best? Can you slow them down or put them in some sort of stasis somehow?

By: Le Kraut du Cote de Soleil

Le Kraut du Cote de Soleil — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:15:14 +0000

Also, it seems like both the yeast theory and the heat theory could be pretty good, as even a degree or two of difference can significantly change any fermentation or acidification process.