I just bottled my first batches of wine. I did about 4 different kinds, I was having fun with it. I tasted some when I bottled it and it doesn't seem to taste the best. If I had to describe it, there's a strong alcohol taste as well as maybe a bitter taste. I don't really taste much of the actual flavors of fruits I used. Is that common for a wine that is young and hasn't aged? I'm just wondering how does again affect the taste?
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ShadesManna
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Young wines can taste like you describe: young. Strong tangs of alcohol, bitterness, and other mouthfeels are indicators that the wine might improve with some aging. Once these fade with aging, the more subtle notes and flavors can shine through more.
Take some of each wine, make sure they're properly corked, and store them somewhere dark, cool, and out of the way. When you remember them a few months later, try some. Then try some a year from now. They will be different wines.
Take some of each wine, make sure they're properly corked, and store them somewhere dark, cool, and out of the way. When you remember them a few months later, try some. Then try some a year from now. They will be different wines.
bernardsmith
Well-Known Member
Good wines when aged become better. Poor wines when aged just get older. What fruits or grapes did you use? What was the starting gravity? What was the finishing gravity? What yeast/s did you use?
Typically, even if your wine making protocol is excellent many fruits when fermented absolutely bone dry - no sugar left highlight the alcohol and the acidity of the fruit. Often, you need to back sweeten such wines with some sugar that will not be fermented by any remaining yeast , so you need to stabilize the wine and this sweetness tends to bring the fruit flavors to the front and makes the wine a far more enjoyable drink.
But as ShadesManna points out a green wine ( a wine that has not been allowed to age) will not have had time for all the compounds and flavors to blend together so even if you crack open a bottle and pour yourself a glass and experiment to see if adding sugar might help and if it does how much sugar a glass might need and when you can determine that "sweet spot" , how much added sweetness the whole batch might need, the optimum flavors may not shine through for 6 months or a year or even longer because wines are alive and even when they are in the bottle all kinds of chemical reactions are taking place and all kinds of compounds are dropping out of solution and are binding with other compounds and acids are bonding with alcohol and some acids may be transformed into less harsh acids.
Typically, even if your wine making protocol is excellent many fruits when fermented absolutely bone dry - no sugar left highlight the alcohol and the acidity of the fruit. Often, you need to back sweeten such wines with some sugar that will not be fermented by any remaining yeast , so you need to stabilize the wine and this sweetness tends to bring the fruit flavors to the front and makes the wine a far more enjoyable drink.
But as ShadesManna points out a green wine ( a wine that has not been allowed to age) will not have had time for all the compounds and flavors to blend together so even if you crack open a bottle and pour yourself a glass and experiment to see if adding sugar might help and if it does how much sugar a glass might need and when you can determine that "sweet spot" , how much added sweetness the whole batch might need, the optimum flavors may not shine through for 6 months or a year or even longer because wines are alive and even when they are in the bottle all kinds of chemical reactions are taking place and all kinds of compounds are dropping out of solution and are binding with other compounds and acids are bonding with alcohol and some acids may be transformed into less harsh acids.
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