I have a batch of 100% strawberry that is just about ready to bottle. At
the most recent racking it had a nice straberry flavor but with a somewhat
tart finish - the tartness was kind of nice and not an unpleasant
bitterness. My question is will sweetening the wine a touch mellow this
tartness, or will the tartness mellow with aging making the sweetening
unnecessary. I prefer my wines dry so I would like to avoid sweetening also
with the amount of fruit I have used the "sweet" flavor of the fruit stays
on the palate so I am afraid that a little bit of residual sugar might make
the wine sickly sweet. Any advice from others who have been here before?

Thanks-

JJ

It sounds like all you are trying to do is balance it out, you can add
sugar until the tartness is mellowed and it not taste sweet in my
experience. The predominant acid in Strawberries is citric, I doubt
it will mellow over time, at least not from cold stabilization.

Strawberry tastes great a little sweet by the way. (Not Boones Farm
sweet, just a little...) ) You could try some trials to figure out
where to stop.

I make a lot of northern white from grapes and the acid is usually
pretty out of control, especially when it's a rainy season. I get rid
of as much acid as possible, shooting for a range of 7 -8 grams/liter
with a pH under 3.6.

The higher the acid the more sugar I need to balance it in the end.
It can be set up so that most people would not know there is any
sugar, they are pleasantly balanced.

I have a high alcohol Riesling right now that everyone likes and
thinks is a little sweet. It's bone dry, less than 0.2% RS. The
alcohol makes it taste sweet.

Just some thoughts.

Joe





"JJC" > wrote in message news:<9KbXc.311378$a24.101441@attbi_s03>...
> I have a batch of 100% strawberry that is just about ready to bottle. At
> the most recent racking it had a nice straberry flavor but with a somewhat
> tart finish - the tartness was kind of nice and not an unpleasant
> bitterness. My question is will sweetening the wine a touch mellow this
> tartness, or will the tartness mellow with aging making the sweetening
> unnecessary. I prefer my wines dry so I would like to avoid sweetening also
> with the amount of fruit I have used the "sweet" flavor of the fruit stays
> on the palate so I am afraid that a little bit of residual sugar might make
> the wine sickly sweet. Any advice from others who have been here before?
>
> Thanks-
>
> JJ

> I have a batch of 100% strawberry that is just about ready to bottle. At
> the most recent racking it had a nice straberry flavor but with a somewhat
> tart finish - Any advice from others who have been here before?

JJ -

I made a 100% strawberry in 2003. It is now in the bottle for one
year. I too was shooting for as close to dry as the wine would allow.
This turned out to be 3.8% RS or about 1.010 on the hydrometer. It is
only slightly sweet, which as Joe points out does bring out the flavor
of strawberry.

The wine had just a tad of harshness that did take the full year to
soften. It is quite a lovely wine and I enjoy it (cold) with acidy
'red' foods like pasta w/marinara, pizza, or even hamburgers.

Roger
Quinta do Placer

> I have a batch of 100% strawberry that is just about ready to bottle. At
> the most recent racking it had a nice straberry flavor but with a somewhat
> tart finish - Any advice from others who have been here before?

JJ -

I made a 100% strawberry in 2003. It is now in the bottle for one
year. I too was shooting for as close to dry as the wine would allow.
This turned out to be 3.8% RS or about 1.010 on the hydrometer. It is
only slightly sweet, which as Joe points out does bring out the flavor
of strawberry.

The wine had just a tad of harshness that did take the full year to
soften. It is quite a lovely wine and I enjoy it (cold) with acidy
'red' foods like pasta w/marinara, pizza, or even hamburgers.

Roger
Quinta do Placer

>I prefer my wines dry so I would like to avoid sweetening also
>with the amount of fruit I have used the "sweet" flavor of the fruit stays
>on the palate so I am afraid that a little bit of residual sugar might make
>the wine sickly sweet.

If you only like dry wines I would not reccomend making strawberry. It
NEEDS residual sugar and can not be realistically palatable as a dry wine.
It would taste like eating a fresh strawberry that has no sweetness.

>I prefer my wines dry so I would like to avoid sweetening also
>with the amount of fruit I have used the "sweet" flavor of the fruit stays
>on the palate so I am afraid that a little bit of residual sugar might make
>the wine sickly sweet.

If you only like dry wines I would not reccomend making strawberry. It
NEEDS residual sugar and can not be realistically palatable as a dry wine.
It would taste like eating a fresh strawberry that has no sweetness.

Sweetening is about the easiest way to ballance out a acidic fruit wine. If
it is very acidic, you may need to do a lot of sweetening. As a side
benifit, sweetening will also bring out the original flavor of the fruit
used. So your strawberry will probably be far more strawberry-ie.

As a comment, I got a bottle of very strong strawberry wine made from 100%
juice some time back. It was nicely ballanced but was far too sweet for my
taste. What to do with it? I had a brain storm and mixed it 2/3's wine
with 1/3 cream. Strawberries and cream. It was delighful as a dessert
beverage. If you find you need to sweeten it more than you want, this would
definately be something I would suggest you try.

Ray


"JJC" > wrote in message
news:9KbXc.311378$a24.101441@attbi_s03...
>I have a batch of 100% strawberry that is just about ready to bottle. At
> the most recent racking it had a nice straberry flavor but with a somewhat
> tart finish - the tartness was kind of nice and not an unpleasant
> bitterness. My question is will sweetening the wine a touch mellow this
> tartness, or will the tartness mellow with aging making the sweetening
> unnecessary. I prefer my wines dry so I would like to avoid sweetening
> also
> with the amount of fruit I have used the "sweet" flavor of the fruit stays
> on the palate so I am afraid that a little bit of residual sugar might
> make
> the wine sickly sweet. Any advice from others who have been here before?
>
> Thanks-
>
> JJ
>
>
>
>

Sweetening is about the easiest way to ballance out a acidic fruit wine. If
it is very acidic, you may need to do a lot of sweetening. As a side
benifit, sweetening will also bring out the original flavor of the fruit
used. So your strawberry will probably be far more strawberry-ie.

As a comment, I got a bottle of very strong strawberry wine made from 100%
juice some time back. It was nicely ballanced but was far too sweet for my
taste. What to do with it? I had a brain storm and mixed it 2/3's wine
with 1/3 cream. Strawberries and cream. It was delighful as a dessert
beverage. If you find you need to sweeten it more than you want, this would
definately be something I would suggest you try.

Ray


"JJC" > wrote in message
news:9KbXc.311378$a24.101441@attbi_s03...
>I have a batch of 100% strawberry that is just about ready to bottle. At
> the most recent racking it had a nice straberry flavor but with a somewhat
> tart finish - the tartness was kind of nice and not an unpleasant
> bitterness. My question is will sweetening the wine a touch mellow this
> tartness, or will the tartness mellow with aging making the sweetening
> unnecessary. I prefer my wines dry so I would like to avoid sweetening
> also
> with the amount of fruit I have used the "sweet" flavor of the fruit stays
> on the palate so I am afraid that a little bit of residual sugar might
> make
> the wine sickly sweet. Any advice from others who have been here before?
>
> Thanks-
>
> JJ
>
>
>
>

Thanks to all for the help. It sounds as if it is a good idea to
sweeten it a bit. I'll let you know how it turns out. Thanks again.

"Ray Calvert" > wrote in message m>...
> Sweetening is about the easiest way to ballance out a acidic fruit wine. If
> it is very acidic, you may need to do a lot of sweetening. As a side
> benifit, sweetening will also bring out the original flavor of the fruit
> used. So your strawberry will probably be far more strawberry-ie.
>
> As a comment, I got a bottle of very strong strawberry wine made from 100%
> juice some time back. It was nicely ballanced but was far too sweet for my
> taste. What to do with it? I had a brain storm and mixed it 2/3's wine
> with 1/3 cream. Strawberries and cream. It was delighful as a dessert
> beverage. If you find you need to sweeten it more than you want, this would
> definately be something I would suggest you try.
>
> Ray
>
>
> "JJC" > wrote in message
> news:9KbXc.311378$a24.101441@attbi_s03...
> >I have a batch of 100% strawberry that is just about ready to bottle. At
> > the most recent racking it had a nice straberry flavor but with a somewhat
> > tart finish - the tartness was kind of nice and not an unpleasant
> > bitterness. My question is will sweetening the wine a touch mellow this
> > tartness, or will the tartness mellow with aging making the sweetening
> > unnecessary. I prefer my wines dry so I would like to avoid sweetening
> > also
> > with the amount of fruit I have used the "sweet" flavor of the fruit stays
> > on the palate so I am afraid that a little bit of residual sugar might
> > make
> > the wine sickly sweet. Any advice from others who have been here before?
> >
> > Thanks-
> >
> > JJ
> >
> >
> >
> >

Thanks to all for the help. It sounds as if it is a good idea to
sweeten it a bit. I'll let you know how it turns out. Thanks again.

"Ray Calvert" > wrote in message m>...
> Sweetening is about the easiest way to ballance out a acidic fruit wine. If
> it is very acidic, you may need to do a lot of sweetening. As a side
> benifit, sweetening will also bring out the original flavor of the fruit
> used. So your strawberry will probably be far more strawberry-ie.
>
> As a comment, I got a bottle of very strong strawberry wine made from 100%
> juice some time back. It was nicely ballanced but was far too sweet for my
> taste. What to do with it? I had a brain storm and mixed it 2/3's wine
> with 1/3 cream. Strawberries and cream. It was delighful as a dessert
> beverage. If you find you need to sweeten it more than you want, this would
> definately be something I would suggest you try.
>
> Ray
>
>
> "JJC" > wrote in message
> news:9KbXc.311378$a24.101441@attbi_s03...
> >I have a batch of 100% strawberry that is just about ready to bottle. At
> > the most recent racking it had a nice straberry flavor but with a somewhat
> > tart finish - the tartness was kind of nice and not an unpleasant
> > bitterness. My question is will sweetening the wine a touch mellow this
> > tartness, or will the tartness mellow with aging making the sweetening
> > unnecessary. I prefer my wines dry so I would like to avoid sweetening
> > also
> > with the amount of fruit I have used the "sweet" flavor of the fruit stays
> > on the palate so I am afraid that a little bit of residual sugar might
> > make
> > the wine sickly sweet. Any advice from others who have been here before?
> >
> > Thanks-
> >
> > JJ
> >
> >
> >
> >