I've been trying a few home made wines this year as I have a lot of
fruit in the garden, have some gooseberry on the go and am just about
to try a recipe for elderberry and blackcurrant in the hope that it
might turn out a bit shiraz-y! However one of the problems I find with
home made wines that I've tasted (assuming that its a reasonable
taste),is the smell, or bouquet, or rather the lack of it, I actually
think the smell can often be as important as the taste,or maybe I'm
just a nose-y sort of person..I read that adding rose petals can help -
does anyone know of this is the case?

How long are you bottle aging. A lot of the bouquet develops through
aging under cork. Do not drink the wine too young.

Also keepyour fermentation temp cool, taht will help retain some of the
bouquet/aroma.

As far as ameoleriating to improve bouquet/aroma, you can add any
fragrant thing you want, but it will have affects on other areas as
well. So if you puyt in rose petals, it will smell like rose petals,
not blackcurrant or elderberries or gooseberries.

Kathy - I sure wouldn't put rose petals in my wines unless I wanted them to
smell (and therefore confuse the taste buds and taste) like roses. Do some
research on the enzyme AR2000. This enzyme will release aroma compounds in
wine. Here's the web site - http://www.dsm-enology.com/en/html/index.html
for the company that makes it. Send them an email...they are very nice and
will explain how to use the product.

Bill Frazier
Olathe, Kansas USA

"kathy doyle" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> I've been trying a few home made wines this year as I have a lot of
> fruit in the garden, have some gooseberry on the go and am just about
> to try a recipe for elderberry and blackcurrant in the hope that it
> might turn out a bit shiraz-y! However one of the problems I find with
> home made wines that I've tasted (assuming that its a reasonable
> taste),is the smell, or bouquet, or rather the lack of it, I actually
> think the smell can often be as important as the taste,or maybe I'm
> just a nose-y sort of person..I read that adding rose petals can help -
> does anyone know of this is the case?
>

thanks bill, I will have a look at that site, also as regards bottle
aging, most of the wine I have tried has been at county shows and that
kind of thing, so I don't really know how old it would be, my
gooseberry is fermenting on the kitchen windowsill so just normal room
temperature, which I hope will be ok. I can see that wine smelling of
roses might not be everyones ideal, but sometimes wine does smell of
things that the original grape didn't - at the risk of sounding like
jilly goulden, sometimes a waft of vanilla, or something that wasn't
presumably detectable in the original grapes, - the ones in my
greenhouse certainly don't seem to smell of anything much at the
moment. Thanks for the helpful suggestions.

I believe that a common fault in "new vintners" is that they expect the
wine, that they make, to taste like the raw fruit from which it is made.

This happens very rarely -- Strawberry wine is a good example of the
exception to the rule and I am sure there are many others. Certainly
dandelion wine doesn't taste of dandelions and a meld of Blackberry and
Elderberry has nuances of a claret after a couple of years aging!

Certainly when making "country" or "fruit" wines I feel it is necessary to
age ( in bulk preferably) for about 2 years before the wine becomes really
drinkable --- but the wait is worth while!!!!!!!!!!!
"kathy doyle" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> thanks bill, I will have a look at that site, also as regards bottle
> aging, most of the wine I have tried has been at county shows and that
> kind of thing, so I don't really know how old it would be, my
> gooseberry is fermenting on the kitchen windowsill so just normal room
> temperature, which I hope will be ok. I can see that wine smelling of
> roses might not be everyones ideal, but sometimes wine does smell of
> things that the original grape didn't - at the risk of sounding like
> jilly goulden, sometimes a waft of vanilla, or something that wasn't
> presumably detectable in the original grapes, - the ones in my
> greenhouse certainly don't seem to smell of anything much at the
> moment. Thanks for the helpful suggestions.
>

In article . com>,
Droopy > writes
>How long are you bottle aging. A lot of the bouquet develops through
>aging under cork. Do not drink the wine too young.
>
Does bouquet also develop while the wine is stored in bulk waiting to be
bottled.?
--
Alan Gould. North Lincolnshire, UK.

Kathy and Bill,
Keep in mind AR2000 is only for use in whites, it can cause browning in
reds. I was going to use it on reds too and realized it would be an
issue after contacting Gist Brocades.

Cool fermenting really helps in regards to fruitiness and aroma, time
in the bottle too; you probably were sampling younger wines.

There is an experiment used often where people clamp off the nose and
taste different things; they have a hard time determining what they are
sampling. I would agree you want the wine to have a pleasing aroma,
whatever that might be.

The vanilla you smell may be from oak contact by the way. Oak does all
kinds of good things for a wine as far as I am concerned.

Joe

Hello,
We're all different, with different taste buds as well as different
abilities to smell. I've had what I consider to be some very smelly wines -
dandelion, watermelon, but those were aged longer than a year. I don't know
that I would add something to a wine to make it smell better, you might end
up overwhelming the original fruit. Plus, I would check whether those petals
were poisonous or not. You could try making your wines with a bit more
fruit, adding one can of Welch's 100% grape juice to your batch, or bananas,
or raisons for more body. These additions should enhance your batch not
overwhelm your main fruit.
Good-luck.
Darlene

"kathy doyle" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> I've been trying a few home made wines this year as I have a lot of
> fruit in the garden, have some gooseberry on the go and am just about
> to try a recipe for elderberry and blackcurrant in the hope that it
> might turn out a bit shiraz-y! However one of the problems I find with
> home made wines that I've tasted (assuming that its a reasonable
> taste),is the smell, or bouquet, or rather the lack of it, I actually
> think the smell can often be as important as the taste,or maybe I'm
> just a nose-y sort of person..I read that adding rose petals can help -
> does anyone know of this is the case?
>

Pinky is exactly right. Many people expect fruit wine to taste like the
original fruit. But let me assure you that a good Cabernet does not taste
or smell like the original fruit. However, with many country wines, if you
stabilize and add a bit of sugar back after fermentation, a hint of the
original fruit often returns. If you want your wines bone dry, this is no
help.

Also, fruitiness in wines is generally stronger in young wines. Less than 2
years. After 2 years they mature and the fruitiness us usually gone.

Many country wines, much like many good white wines, will start declining
after a period of time. For some country wines this period can be as short
as one year. There is nothing sadder than making a good country wine and
then aging it too long. My recommendation, especially when making a new
country wine is to start drinking it at about 6 months but make enough to
lass for 2 years. Keep notes on the taste so you can determine if it is one
of the short ager's.

More to the point, if your wine really has some off smells, I have found
that with many beginners, the most common cause of off smells is bottling it
when it is not completely clear. It may seem clear but still have a slight,
hard to detect haze. This can cause off smells in the bottle. You might
try a more stringent fining program to be sure it is absolutely clear.
Especially for my short age wines I like to hit them with SupperKlear
shortly be fore bottling. This will take just about anything that will
cause off smells out.


Ray



"Pinky" > wrote in message
. uk...
>I believe that a common fault in "new vintners" is that they expect the
>wine, that they make, to taste like the raw fruit from which it is made.
>
> This happens very rarely -- Strawberry wine is a good example of the
> exception to the rule and I am sure there are many others. Certainly
> dandelion wine doesn't taste of dandelions and a meld of Blackberry and
> Elderberry has nuances of a claret after a couple of years aging!
>
> Certainly when making "country" or "fruit" wines I feel it is necessary to
> age ( in bulk preferably) for about 2 years before the wine becomes really
> drinkable --- but the wait is worth while!!!!!!!!!!!
> "kathy doyle" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
>> thanks bill, I will have a look at that site, also as regards bottle
>> aging, most of the wine I have tried has been at county shows and that
>> kind of thing, so I don't really know how old it would be, my
>> gooseberry is fermenting on the kitchen windowsill so just normal room
>> temperature, which I hope will be ok. I can see that wine smelling of
>> roses might not be everyones ideal, but sometimes wine does smell of
>> things that the original grape didn't - at the risk of sounding like
>> jilly goulden, sometimes a waft of vanilla, or something that wasn't
>> presumably detectable in the original grapes, - the ones in my
>> greenhouse certainly don't seem to smell of anything much at the
>> moment. Thanks for the helpful suggestions.
>>
>
>

Just want to add that the aroma can be diminished significantly if the
wine is served too cold.

If the wine is at or near room temperature and the aroma is still weak,
then there are a few possibilities:

1) Decant, or let the wine sit in your glass for 10 or 15 minutes--air
contact often opens up the bouquet.

2) Bottle age. If you can sense the aromas you want in the bouquet but
they are just too faint, bottle age should intensify the aromas, as
well as produce more complexity.

3) The fruit or winemaking techniques just didn't result in an aromatic
wine. It happens--sometimes by fluke and sometimes you can predict it
(ie a cool fermentation for whites increases floral and citrus smells).

4) Oak age. For whites, it can take away much of the floral and citrus
notes and replace them with more austere vanilla and smoky scents
instead. For reds, this is often desirable but rarely for whites (of
course oaked Chard or Sauv. Bl would be exceptions here).


If you fermented cool, aged with no oak, bulk-aged then bottle-aged at
least a couple of years, served the wine at room temp., and let it get
some air in the glass or decanter, and it still has very little aroma,
then I would look to the ingredients you used...generally it is
preferable to get the most out of the wine you are trying to make
rather than "artificially" augmenting the bouquet or flavours by adding
other materials...

Thanks very much for all these suggestions, I only hope my novice
efforts will live up to your expertise!!