What's my wine missing

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PTS_35

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First attempt was a blackberry wine. I used the wrong yeast and it turned out dry and "hot " with too much alcohol present. Now I have a bead on a sweet mead yeast that I'll try when doing this again. My second wine that I just bottled was a reisling from concentrate. Followed direction on can AND used a sweet white yeast. I like it but it seems "flat". No depth. I just feel like something is missing. I used 2 cans of Johannesburg reisling to make 4 gallon. Think it was 4 cups sugar and some acid blend. Don't know if there's something else to use or what. I used sparkalloid after about 2 months to clear it up. After a week on thar I racked and let sit for a month. Used glass carboy. Just curious if there's something I'm not using or doing
 
We have a hard time getting wine right...so we resort to adding grape juice to the finished product to hide or make up for any deficiency. Last years batch has the all to common hint of vinegar...which is not precieved by all drinkers but at least 50% of them and is considered by them to be a flaw. I cant smell it but I taste what they are talking about comparing store bout to ours it is very faint but there. Adding Grape juice to the finished product helps for body or thin tasting wine such as you have as well.

And for FWIW you dont always have to add chemicals to your wine when back sweeting or adding grape juice to keep it from re-fermenting either..It all depends on how well it cleared out. Add some to a bottle and watch what happens..chances are nothing.

Here is a snip it form an article.


Not All Wine Faults Are Actually Wine Faults
Volatile Acidity …aka Acetic acid

What it is: This can be one of the most common wine faults, known as vinegar taint, but it is also a tool used by some high quality winemakers to develop complexity in their flavor profiles. Very high levels of acetic acid taste like balsamic vinaigrette…but tastes vary from one wine drinker to another on how much is too much in the wine. In other words, some vinegar taint is on purpose and that style just isn’t for you. Some is a wine making fault; an accidental or inadvertent overdose of acetic acid.
 
The 'wrong" I think is that I feel it has a bit flat. It has some sweet to it but bitter too. I'm hopeful it'll lose the sour over time. I made some hard cider that was so sour first two weeks in bottle you couldn't stand it but after four months softened.
 
If you left the wine sit on the blackberry seeds for an extended period, you might be getting the bitterness from that. Kind of a tannin overdose.
 
Don't know that you can use a "wrong" yeast. Certainly different yeasts highlight and /or hide different characteristics and some yeasts add different characters to a wine but that does not mean that the yeast is "wrong". What can be a problem is if you ferment at too high a temperature (the yeast then produce fusel alcohol), or if the TA (titratable acidity) of the wine is too low (the wine tastes flat because not tart enough) or too high (it's too tart). Do you have a pH meter? Do you know how to use it to determine the TA (not the pH)? If you can you may want to measure the TA, but there are kits to "measure" TA using a color indicator (not nearly as accurate or reliable especially if you are measuring the TA of a red wine).
 
Never did get a titration kit. When I mentioned the wrong yeast for the blackberry....I used AMH thinking I'd get some fruit tones but spiciness as well but it didn't happen that way. Also I was advised later from a more experienced maker that he uses sweet mead yeast on his fruit wines to really get the sweetness and I am wondering if it would really be the missing piece with blackberry wine. Mine is not sweet at all and when I drank it I thought this wine would be 100% better sweet. So that what I meant by "wrong" yeast
 
you know if it's already in the bottle, leave it alone...for about a year. Bet you will be very surprised at the difference in the wines a year from now.
 
Its hard to know without a tasting, but from your description, I suspect a little acid might help. I happen to work for the world's largest Riesling producer and I like it acidic. Do you know from where the grapes were sourced (before concentrated) ? Did the directions actually say to add sugar?

Maybe add a little acid blend to a glass and see if that wakes it up?
 
Its hard to know without a tasting, but from your description, I suspect a little acid might help. I happen to work for the world's largest Riesling producer and I like it acidic. Do you know from where the grapes were sourced (before concentrated) ? Did the directions actually say to add sugar?

Maybe add a little acid blend to a glass and see if that wakes it up?

Don't know about where they were sourced, just that it's Johannesburg reisling. Also, directions on can is what I followed and it did say add sugar. I did add as directed and reached the OG on order to get 10%abv as indicated. As for adding some acid blend to a glass, I will definitely follow that advice, thanks. I did add some when I made it.
 
you know if it's already in the bottle, leave it alone...for about a year. Bet you will be very surprised at the difference in the wines a year from now.

Definitely hoping on that fact that time will improve it
 
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