Making an offdry wine. 363Alright. Next (related) question. Seems like ferment to dryness is the most popular method. Now, what if I were to say that I'm looking to make an icewine come...
Danny wrote "Our second endeavor is a blackberry wine which we started by picking
Dan - The tart taste is due to high acid. The easiest thing for you to do is to bottle the wine dry after you are sure no more sediment will settle out. No hurry to bottle...give it some time. Be sure to add a proper amount of sulfite in the form of potbuttium metabisulfite or Campden tablets before you bottle. Then, keep some sugar syrup on hand and sweeten the wine before you have a glbutt. Van's suggested 2 parts sugar-1 part water will keep for ever in the frig. The high concentratin of sugar inhibits microbial growth. A little sugar syrup will offset the tart taste. Also, it will bring out the fruit taste.
If you must sweeten the wine before bottling you will have to add about 0.8 grams-gallon potbuttium sorbate (about 200 ppm). This will prevent any remining yeast from reproducing. It doesn't kill yeast. You will also have to add adequate sulfite, depending on the wine's pH. The sorbate will add a taste to the wine that some people don't care for but it seems to fade with time.
Bill Frazier Olathe, Kansas USA
