Homemade wine too dry - what to do?

[Jabhead]

Hi guys,

I made a batch of white wine from a grapevine growing in the garden.

Everything has gone fine but the resulting wine is very dry and sour - not vinegary, just very sour.

What would people recommend? Sweetening? Blending with something else? Perhaps carbonating the wine? Throwing it away?

Thanks!

 

[Clann]

If it is too dry then you will need to stabilize and then sweeten to your taste.

 

[Dekowski411]

I would look into pitching some Malolactic Bacteria to address the sourness:

Dry Culture - Lalvin Bacteria
or
Wet Culture - White Labs Inc.

Then to address the dryness I would add a similar juice that hasn't been fermented, Welches Concord or whatever you think is similar and/or will complement. Make sure you sterilize and stabilize before adding the juice... or else it might kickstart fermentation again making more dry wine!

If your really concerned about your batch; post a PH Reading, before/after Specific Gravity, and about what your primary and secondary temps are or were!

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Another option would be to just rack it off the lees when it needs it & let it age a bit. I've had wines that were waaaaaay too tart actually age the tartness out all by itself & turn out to be VERY tasty. Takes a while,depending on the type & the level, but it does happen. I had a black currant wine age out VERY nicely, but it took 2 years.
Regards, GF.

 

[evalero2]

Would adding a non-fermenting sugar like glycerin, or stabilizer with sugar be out of the question?

 

[ejr]

i would sweeten it to taste placimg 2oz per gallon in part of the wine boiling the suger to disolve then place in ice till sweet enough you may have to do this more than once then place back in a sanitize carboy and let it work if you like to make it stronger then once it stops if its not sweet enough repeat this process you will have a strong semisweet wine you want it on ice because this is how you will srink it and it will taste a tad sweeter on ice thats the way i do it if i dont stablize it if youve use plenty of suger already one time should do it

 

[ejr]

my typing in terrible

 

[Dekowski411]

Would adding a non-fermenting sugar like glycerin, or stabilizer with sugar be out of the question?

A wine conditioner could be used... Wine Conditioner is a mixture of glycerin and potassium sorbate, which potassium sorbate will keep from a renewed fermentation. I've used a wine conditioner before when I like the amount of alcohol in my wine but I need it to be a little sweeter, thus not diluting the wine with the added juice...

my typing in terrible

You can always edit your pevious posts by clicking the edit post button in the lower right of the post

 

[JebCkr]

So, no one has asked how old this wine is. I sort of get the feeling it's 5 weeks old or something, in which case the advice would be give it at least 3 more months.